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HUDLESTON: GEOLOGY OP PALESTINE. 
this includes the schists, gneiss and granite, which form the nucleus 
of three mountainous masses, viz. : the Arabian chain (in Egypt), 
the Sinai Peninsula, and the mainland of Arabia. The crystalline 
rocks are continued in the Mount Seir range, and probably re-appear 
in the ancient porphyry of Mount Hor. It is quite possible that 
these three gTanitic areas may have formed one continuous mass, as 
doubtless they still do beneath the surface. At present, as probably 
for many ages past, they are separated by that curious bifurcation 
of the Red Sea, which produces the broad and shallow Gulf of Suez, 
and the deep and narrow Gulf of Akabah. 
The next formation, or rather group of formations, is the 
Nubian Sandstone , which has an extensive development in connection 
with the granitic centres, from whose degradation it has in times 
past been largely derived. It is most extensively developed in the 
north of the Sinai Peninsula, where the upland plain of Ramlah is 
interposed between the chalky desert of the Till, and the rugged 
mountains of Sinai. Thence it may be traced all along the east side 
of the Arabah, through Petra, to the eastern cliffs of the Dead Sea, 
and even up to the Jordan valley, half way to the Jabbok, where it 
disappears and is not seen again until we arrive at the great hollow 
between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, which is a continuation of the 
Jordan depression. 
The age of the Nubian Sandstone as a formation, is a difficulty 
which we shall appreciate in coming to study it in detail. Mean- 
time, for us, it represents everything between the crystalline schists, 
and the Cretaceous beds. The meaning of these two wedge-shaped 
masses, s and e, in the vertical section, Fig. 2, I will explain presently. 
Now consider for a moment what a variety of rocks there are in 
our own country, between the crystalline schists and the base of the 
chalk. There is the Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, 
Permian, Triassic, Jurassic and Neocomian. This shows the funda- 
mental difference between the geology of England and of Palestine. 
Can the Nubian Sandstone represent all these ? Surely not, — yet it 
may well represent more than one of the great systems in time. 
Next in order and far more extensive are the Cretaceous and 
Nummulitic Limestones , which occupy such a large area in the map, 
