‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎200r] (404/470)

III.— Secondary Rocks.
As we proceed downwards in geological sequence, it becomes a matter of
impossibility to define the precise limits of the secondary rocks.
Organic remains are much more rare than in the tertiary formations, and
they are in such a crushed state as almost to defy the practised eye of the
palaeontologist. Sections are also more difficult to be met with, and the beds
are frequently so altered by their contact with igneous rocks near the
central axis as to render their determination during rapid travelling quite out
of the question.
In the upper part of the secondary rocks of the Zagros some portion of
the cretaceous series is certainly represented, but where to draw the line of
its basement is not easily determined.
In one locality the blue schists of this formation appear, however, to pass
downwards imperceptibly into the crystalline blue limestone which constitutes
the eastern portion of the mountain ranges on the frontier.
(1) Upper Secondary or Cretaceous Series.
In describing the nummulitic series, I have already referred to a few
sections in which the beds of the cretaceous age are apparently overlaid con
formably by those of older tertiary rocks.
Along the frontier no sections fell under my observation which were
sufficiently well developed to place this fact beyond a doubt; and it was only
in the interior of the Bakhtian Mountains that I was fortunate enough to
satisfy myself completely on the subject.
Section (fig. 6 ) from Mdl-i-Mir to Sar Khun, BaJchtian Mountains.—
This section is on the direct road between Kalah Tul and Isfahan [see Appen
dix A, pages 320 to 325). .
The crystalline (cretaceous) limestone forming the rangeof Kilgird (Gilgird
or Gurgxr) having been crossed from the plain of Mal-i-Mir by the Rah-i-
Sultan, the Kuran river is reached in a narrow valley, flowing through a grave
deposit which rests in a trough of the gypsum series. On quitting the J'l vel »
the road is carried by a steep ascent up the prettily wooded ravine o 1 a >
over reddish-yellow sandstones, blue and red marls, and gypsum, in e same
order of succession as elsewhere observed, the dip being slight y ov-aic s ic
Kuran, but a good deal disturbed. From the head of the ravine an un u a
plain of contorted sandstones and marls, well-wooded, is ciosse ^ . ie V1 a f. e
of Deh-i-Dfz, at the foot of the Mush-Kuh. The western side of the range is
composed of indurated cream-coloured clunch, without ossi s, ^ 10 >
the first steep ascent from Deh-i-Diz, forms an excellen ioa o e •
This rock dips at a great angle to the west, adapting i se c i un ch
shaped curvi of the central mass. Near the summit however ‘he cluneh
ceases, and the underlying rock appears from beneat i > until it
same vesterly inelinatioufbut gradually at the summit c^mg over until
dips at an angle of 45 ° in the opposite direet.on. J-ock (fig. 6 ,^)
is a hard, light grey, and indurated limestone, eongm„. After a
Upper Chalk, since I found in it a fragment ot a s P na3r
, . . “ 1 ami fnr a notice of the specimens of
* For remarks on radiolites (spharulties)m genera,. ^y 00( i w ard’s Memoir, Quarterly
hippurites which Mr. Loftus brought from the e ^ 8 * se T , \ a i: tv for the Asiatic hippurites
Journal of the Geological Society No. 41, February 1800. instead of the Bakhtian Moun-
there described should have beeh Hakim Khan in Turkey in Asia, instead
tains.— Editor.
4G