RECONNAISSANCE IN CENTRAL TURKESTAN. 
THE MESOZOIC-TERTIARY SERIES. 
163 
Lying unconforinably on the eroded surface of the folded Paleozoic strata is a 
thick series of Mesozoic and Tertian,- formations, the sequence of which at various 
places is shown in Table I. These begin with ver)- coarse conglomerates, which 
gradually become finer and are interstratified with sand. Then, by gradual transi- 
tions, the sand passes into the shale of a coal-bearing series, which is probabh- 
Jurassic, .•\bove these there seems to be a slight unconformity by erosion. When 
deposition was renewed the first strata were conglomerates of fine te.xture, and a 
brick-red or vermilion sandstone, which in some places shows a peculiar cross- 
Fig. 122. — Folds in the Limestone in the Sugun Valley west of Shor Kul. looking west. 
bedding on a large scale. Everywhere, with one doubtful exception, the vennilion 
sandstone passes conformably into a series of fossiliferous limestones and marls of 
Cretaceous and early Tertian- age, which vary considerabh- from place to place, 
although the other strata are ver>' uniform over large areas. The overlying Tertiary 
layers consist of red sandstone, which often forms a bright carmine band one or 
two hundred feet thick, a heav\- pink sandstone, a brown .sandstone, and a thick 
brown conglomerate. These strata form a single series, and pass gradually into one 
another witli no unconfonnities, e.xcept a slight one between the pink and the brown 
sandstones which was noticed in the fine section near Sunguu, west of Shor Kul. 
The term "sandstones," as applied to all these formations — the red (carmine), the 
