PHYSIOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS. 
155 
MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS ON THE LOWLAND PLAINS. 
In the region of Osh there are several high, nigged mountains of cn'stalline 
limestone rising as monadnocks from the waste of the plain. The Syr Dar)-a, where 
crossed between Khokan and Schust, was found to flow but a few feet below the 
level of the plains. The ruins of the ancient town of Ak-si are being cut by the 
river meandering, but no definite data as to change of level or relations was obtained. 
The waste of the plains on the northern border has been tilted up toward the 
mountains, dissected in its upper portions, and buried in its lower portions, in a 
manner similar to the southern border. 
Fig. 1 19. — TTie sharp peaks south ot the Alai Crest. Taken from a peak some versls east of Kalin-Art Pass. 
CONCLUSION. 
The results of the Pamir expedition have shown that the correlation of the 
recent geolog}' of the mountains and the plains in the field we covered is not only 
possible, but practicable, to attempt. We have already found a general connection 
between magnitude of the valley canning brought about by orogenic movements and 
distribution of corresponding depositions on the plains, and have, to a certain extent, 
found the glacial division of time in which these movements took place. When 
we consider the few^ days in which all this was found out, it seems that more detailed 
work on the terraces and dislocating zones ought to jueld remarkably anah^tic results. 
If work is to be continued in this field, the following plan is suggested : 
1. A detailed study of Sok Darja Vallc}', which heads in the two large glaciers 
in the heart of the Alai range and flows north on to the lowland plains of Fergana. 
2. Having found the relations of terraces to moraines and to the border 
of the plains in the Sok Dar^-a Valle}', proceed to study the great longitudinal 
valley of the Zerafshan, where artifacts are extreme!)' abundant. Then, if definite 
relations of artifacts to alluvium, to terraces, to moraines, are found, time units may 
be projected to erosion, and deposition units determined in the first valley. 
3. It would be of great interest to correlate the old expansion of Great Kara Kul 
with the glacial advances, and to make volinnetric and surface area determinations 
of each expansion and its sediments. A few approximate profiles would do this. 
4. A careful study of the Great Alai \'alle)-, and an attempt to detennine 
the thickness and age of its glacial debris and of the waste filling it. The entrance 
of the gorge at its outlet might be a good point of attack. 
