1G4 
Beeords of the Geological Surveg of Inilia. 
[vOL. XI. 
the Kliirtliar limestone, but have a reversed dip to the westward; then there is a 
fault with a considerable upthrow to the west, and, west of this, the cretaceous 
beds come in with a low western dip. They are exposed in a high scarp and 
form the second or intermediate ridge. From this point there is a gradually 
ascending section to the westward, the soft upper cretaceous and Ranikot beds 
cropping out in the valley between the inteimediato ridge and the western or 
main range, which is formed of Khirthar or nummulitic limestone. 
The lowest beds seen are a hard compact white limestone, white or grey in 
colour, pure below, but becoming gritty above. No nummulites occur: fossils 
abound, but are only seen in section, and they weather out so badly that only one 
fairly recognizable specimen has been obtained. This specimen, however, is of 
importance, as it appears to be a portion of a Hippurite, one of the most charac¬ 
teristic of cretaceous fossils. 
The pecuUar interest attaching to the discovery of this fossil, if the identifi¬ 
cation be correct, is due to the circumstance that the principal cretaceous 
formation in Persia is a limestone containing Hippurites, and that this limestone 
has been found extending over a large tract of country from Lake Urumiah in 
north-western Persia to south-east of Karman. This last locality, however, is 
about 700 mites from the spot where cretaceous rocks are found in Sind, and the 
Hippuritic limestone has not hitherto been recognized in Baluchistan, where, 
however, cretaceous rocks are certainly present. The bed in Sind differs much 
fi'om the characteristic form of the Persian rock, but the latter is of great thick¬ 
ness ; some 8,000 feet at least, in the neighbourhood of Karman, apparently 
belonging to the formation, and it includes many beds varying in mineral 
character. 
The gritty limestones on the top of the white Hippuritic limestone pass 
upwards into a grouf> of dark-coloured sandstones of considerable thickness, and 
forming the intermediate ridge of hills already mentioned. The dark colour of 
the beds makes these hills conspicuous from a distance, and enables them to be 
distinguished at once from the two whitish limestone ranges to the east and west. 
The sandstones are usually coarse, sometimes conglomeratic and often calcareous, 
the prevalent colour is dark-brown or purple, and many beds are highly ferrugi¬ 
nous, a few bands of dark-red shale, containing much iron, being interstratified. On 
the top of the sandstones is a thick bed of dark-coloured impure limestone con¬ 
taining oyster shells and some other fossils, amongst which are some large bones, 
apparently of reptiles, but all hitherto found were too imperfect for identification. 
In one place a bod of basalt about 40 feet thick was observed by Mr. Redden 
interstratified in the sandstones, and it is probable that this band may exist else- 
W'here, although it has been overlooked. The position of this bed of trap is about 
300 or 400 feet above the top of the Hippuritic lime.stone, and about twice that 
distance below the main band of basalt at the base of the Ranikot group. 
The hio-hest sub-division of the cretaceous rocks consists of olive shales and 
o 
sandstones, for the most part soft and fine-grained, but occasionally hard and 
calcareous. The beds of sandstone have very frequently an “ashy” appearance, 
as if they contained decomposed grains of basalt or some similar volcanic rock, 
or fine volcanic lapilli, or they may be an admixture of the products of submarine 
volcanic outbursts with ordinary sediments. Gypsum is of common occurrence 
