File:The Quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London (13206254374).jpg

344
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
.April 28,
The above rough section from Shah-Hussan to the crest of the
Hala Range, about sixteen miles (though not very correct), will I
hope be sufficient to give a general idea of the beds forming the Hala
Mountains ; the western beds, marked as vitrified sandstone, strongly
resemble the bone-beds, but bones at this point are exceedingly rare,
and I found but a few small broken pieces of them.
The conglomerate rises from beneath the clays of the valley at
Gaza-Peer, attaining an elevation of from 100 to 250 feet, and form-
ing a well-marked range, stretching north and south as far as I could
see ; it exhibits an arrangement into distinct beds, dipping to the
east at angles varying from 30° to 45°, the cement being calcareous,
and the stones mostly of nummulitic limestone. I found a few
minute portions of quartz and some Ostrese (broken) imbedded in it.
Moving west, across a narrow valley, I came upon a range equal in
height to the conglomerate at Gaza-Peer, with the same direction
and general dip ; it forms a mural barrier, passable only by those
occasional transverse, or east and west clefts, so common throughout
the Hala Mountains : the rock is of a rust-colour, the weathered
surface of the beds often polished and having the appearance of
vitrified sandstone. Next (moving west) came upon the Kurrachee
rock No. 6, with its usual fossils ; this also forms mural cliifs.
Further west there were mural barriers, composed of a hard sonorous
rock devoid of fossils, and also appearing like vitrified sandstone :
they form two or three parallel, wall-like ranges, and in some places
attain an elevation of 400 feet from their base. I found a few de-
tached and broken morsels of bone here, but no other fossils. Pass-
ing through these natural walls, I came upon a recent tufaceous
formation of great extent, reaching to the base of the highest range
of the Hala Mountains, about two miles. At first it was much broken
and intermingled with fragments of the neighbouring rocks, and
from the quantity of detached masses dispersed on the surface, even
to Gaza-Peer, I imagine that in former times it must have covered a
very wide area. Shortly afterwards I reached the tufa in situ,
nearly horizontal, containing casts of leaves, branches, &c., nume-
rous Pupse and Melanise. It is to be remarked, that the place thus
noted is one and a half mile from the waterfall of Peeth, a point
where this tufaceous rock is daily forming. Peeth is at the foot of
the central and highest range of the Hala Mountains, and when seen
1. Arenaceous limestones with numraulites, fossils indistinct.
2. Nummulitic limestone No. 8.