185 
PART 4.] Jf'^u(i(ien : jVole on lUe AtlocJc slulcs, 
neiglibourliood of Mount Sirban, and tliis absence possibly might account for 
tbe marked unconformity there between the Attock slates and the more recent 
formations. 
But also for these latter the determination of the Attock slates as of car¬ 
boniferous age would have a deciding influence, as then the geological horizon 
they occupy might aj)proximately be fixed. In the little memoir on Mount 
Sirban, Mr. Wynne and I have distinguished a group of rocks as “ Below the 
Trias,” consisting chiefly of cherty dolomite, to which arc subordinate red 
sandstones and quartzites. We have separated these rocks from the Trias for 
the simple reason that there existed no proof of any kind that they belonged to 
that formation, and as we then considered the Attock slates as of Silurian age, 
the number of formations to which those strata “ Below the Trias could have 
been assigned, was so very large, that it seemed only prudent not to express 
any definite opinion as to their age. Now the case is quite different: these beds 
would rest unconformably on the carboniferous Attock slates, and bo succeeded 
conformably by upper triassic or rhastio strata ; thus it becomes very probable 
that the strata “ Below the Trias ” represent the Lower Trias, viz., Muschel- 
kalk and Buntsandstein formations. 
In his more recent memoirs Mr. Wynne introduces the designation of ‘ Infra- 
triassic group ” for these strata, and most recently he considers this group as 
identical ■with his “ Tanol series,” which is extensively developed in the northern 
part of Hazara; but such a homotaxis can hardly be maintained. Wynne’s 
“Infra-triassic group,” or the group “ Below the Trias of our joint memoir on 
Mount Sirban, consists chiefly of cherty dolomites, and exhibits sandstones 
and quartzites in a subordinate manner only, whilst according to the sections 
published by Mr. Wynne, the Tanol series consists chiefly of slates, sandstones, 
and quartzites, to which the dolomitic limestones are subordinate. 
Besides this the thickness of the group “Below the Trias and that of the 
Tanols is so enormously different that a comparison between the two is bai’ely 
possible. 
The only formation to which the Tanol series seems to bear some resemblance 
is the silurian of the more central parts of the Himalaya (Milam pass, Niti 
pass), where the fossiliferous beds consist also of white sandstones. 
The apparent superposition of these Tanol rocks over the carboniferous 
Attock slates can be no reason for the rejection of such a parallelisation. Before 
it is possible to accept Wynne’s view that the Tanols are more recent than the 
Attock slates, and pass ujnvards into the gneiss which composes the central 
Himalayan chains, much stronger proofs, stratigraphical as well as palasontolo- 
gical, than those published in his memoir must be adduced; and until decisive 
materials are available, it will be much more prudent to consider the whole silurian 
Tanol series as overthrown and faulted against the Attock slates. Then the 
riddles of the geology of Hazara will easily be solved. 
