PART 1.] 
Medlicott: Geology of North-Weal Provinces. 
13 
local origin, the application of the first two methods might be sufficient. But with an 
inexhaustible and ever renewed source of the salt, such as is supplied by river and canal 
water (both being drainage water), it seems evident that efficient drainage is the only suffi¬ 
cient remedy. 
II.— The Himalayan region. 
Physical and Geological divisions. —In Kumaon and Garhwal the boundary of the 
Province extends up to the great snowy range, the frontier of Tibet. West of the Ganges, 
the District of Dehra-Dun (including Jaonsar) comprises only a small portion of the Lower 
Himalaya. The mountain-area, presents three well-marked physical zones. There is a 
naiTOW fringe of low hills, which, from their analogy to similar ridges in other countries 
named after the range to which they are subordinate, have been called the Snh-Himalayan 
range. North of these the mountains rise abruptly to an elevation of 6,000 to 7,000 feet; 
and from here there is a broad belt, some fifty miles wide, of ridges having this elevation, or 
hut very little over it, up to the base of the great snowy range. This middle zone has been 
designated the Lower Himalayan region. The geology of the hills has as yet been only 
cursorily examined. The rocks that appear within the limits of this province may he noticed 
under three heads: 1st, the Sub-Himalayan series, corresponding in distribution, at least in 
its upper groups, with the lower hills designated by that name ; 2nd, a limestone and slate 
series, occurring very constantly in a belt of varying width along the margin of the Lower 
Himalayas, as at Naini Tal; and 3rd, a metamorphic series with granitic protrusions, form¬ 
ing the rest of the Lower Himalayan region, and also the line of snowy peaks; close upon 
the northern flanks of which, beyond the frontier, there rest the Palseozoic and Secondary 
rocks of Tibet. 
The Suh-JIimalayan Series. —The youngest of these divisions, the Sub-Himalayan 
series, includes a wide range of the Tertiary period ; from the nummulities up to the Miocene 
Sivaliks; and these are closely connected with the Pliocene deposits of the plains. Tn this 
series three well marked physical stages have been described. In point of elevation the order 
of sequence of these has been reversed—-the oldest being highest and the youngest lowest, 
in their respective zones. This has not taken place by inversion; nor yet (it has been 
argued) by upheaval in steps, through faulting. Appearances are best explained by the 
supposition, that during successive periods of elevation an irregular scarped line of erosion 
was weathered out along the newly raised strata (like the present eliffed face of the Sivalik 
hills); and that against this, as boundary, the newer groups of deposits were accumulated, 
just as we see the bhabur slopes of the present day. As would result from such a process, 
the oldest group has been most elevated and longest exposed, and so has suffered most from 
denudation. Only remnants of it are left along the margin and on the flanks of the 
higher hills. 
The Subdthn group. —The typical area in which all the sub-divisions of the lowest 
group are seen lies out of the North-West Provinces, to west of the Jamna. The hill 
stations of Kusaoli, Dagshai, and Subathu are on these rocks, which take their name from the 
last of these places. The base of the group consists of brown clays with limestones and 
fine sandstones, passing up into thick red clays and strong sandstones. The age of the 
lower portion is well characterized by abundant nummulitic fossils. Only a very small 
remnant of these beds has yet been observed in these provinces. It occurs on a gap of the 
ridge bounding the Eastern Dun, close above Rikikds, and just north of the village of 
Bone. The ^ills of Kumaon and Garhwal have been only cursorily examined, and other 
outliers of this group may yet be found. 
The Ndhan group. —The middle group of the series is largely developed in the hills 
immediately at the base of the mountain range, as spurs of which they might be hastily 
