Geology of the Punjab Salt Range

Abstract

MY first contribution to the discussions on the age of the Saline series or Salt marls in the Salt Range, both in the Punjab and in the trans-Indus area in Kohat, was published in 1928¹. Since then, several important papers on the subject have been published, by Messrs. D. N. Wadia, L. M. Davies, G. de P. Cotter, E. R. Gee, and others. These have been very ably summarized by Dr. W. D. West in a paper entitled "Some Recent Advances in Indian Geology: The Geology of Salt Range"². In the meanwhile, Mr. E. R. Gee has completed his seven years careful and systematic mapping of the Punjab Salt Range and its continuation across the Indus into the North-West Frontier Province. He, in 1939, finally arrived at the conclusion that the Saline series or Salt marls occupy a stratigraphical position below the marine Lower Palæozoic strata and should be regarded as pre-Cambrian in age. Now quite recently Prof. Birbal Sahni and his co-workers in palæobotany at Lucknow have announced the discovery of abundant microfossils in the Salt marls³.