North-West Punjab Research Articles

Flintpladser i Bahrains ørken

Flintpladser i Bahrains ørken

The Cenozoic History of the Northwest Punjab

Uplift of the Himalayas began at the end of the Mesozoic and has continued until recent times. Tertiary sediments accumulated in a trough along the southern mountain border in what was once the western extension of the Tethys. These sediments are marine at the base, followed by transition beds and a vast thickness of continental deposits. The Salt Range was initiated by an overthrust at the close of the Eocene. At the end of the Tertiary the sediment-filled trough was uplifted and greatly deformed and compressed. This was followed by very rapid peneplanation. Uplift of the Salt Range in Pleistocene times, probably accompanied by igneous intrusion, produced ponded conditions between it and the Himalayas. Important modification of the main drain age lines was produced when this barrier was cut through. Recent deformation in the Salt Range and along the Himalayas has resulted in folding and faulting of the Pleistocene sediments.

The Early History of the Indus, Brahmaputra, and Ganges

The ideas expressed in this paper are the outcome of a study of the Punjab oil-belt. The principal hypothesis proposed has been advanced simultaneously by Dr. H. G. E. Pilgrim. F.G.S., in a paper still in manuscript, to explain the formation of the Siwalik boulder-conglomerates. That paper will, I hope, soon be published, but I have taken the liberty of following up an interesting point to which Dr. Pilgrim has drawn attention: namely, the frequent V-shaped course of the north-bank tributaries of the Ganges where they leave the belt of Siwalik deposits. Briefly, the hypotheses that I desire to bring forward may be summarized as follows:— (i) That in Eocene times a gulf extended from Sind northwards as far as Afghanistan, and thence curved eastwards and south-eastwards through Kohat and the Punjab to the neighbourhood of Naini Tal. (ii) That this gulf gave place to a great river, the head-waters of which consisted of the portion of the Brahmaputra flowing through Assam. This river flowed westwards and north-westwards along the foot of the Himalaya us far as the North-West Punjab, where it turned southwards along a line not very different from that of the modern Indus, and emptied itself into the Arabian Sea. In other words, the Assam Brahmaputra was once the head- waters of the Indus. (iii) That two separate rivers or two branches of the same river, debouching into the Bay of Bengal, cut back and beheaded this old Indus, the