Tuesday, 16 January 2018

GEOLOGICAL FORMULATION OF KOTLI SATTIAN

The mountainous tract is a part of Siwalik terrains which is formed of anticline. Mr. Wynne, in his Geology of Neighborhood of Murree Hill Station- Vol. III, page 66, has given a very good description of geological formation of Murree and it's surroundings. Relying on the referred books, the geological data of the subdivision is prepared.

Kotli Sattian is on the eastward side of Murree hill station and on the northward side of Kahuta. The syn-clinical areas of undulations seem to rise toward the eastward. Steady low dips in the opposite direction, are visible from Murree hill station in the precipitous flanks of some of the distant hills on this side of the Jhelum river, as in that supporting the Plateau of Narrar and others.


The mountains of the subdivision are largely composed of MIOCENE sandstone and EOCENE MUMMULITIC limestone. This zone has undergone very recent folding and faulting, including early PLEISTOCENE thrusting. In the earlier, territory zone strike-faults have disrupted anticlines and brought in massive PERMO-CARBONIFEROUS limestone's forming the higher ridges.


The most important rocks with which the hilly tract is made, consists of limestone, shale, sandstone and clay-stone. The sandstone of the Murree formation is medium to course-grained purple and greenish grey in colour. The clay-stone is thickly bedded. The coarse grained, greenish grey sandstone is soft and rich in iron contents. The purplish or reddish brown sandstone is hard and compacted. The grey sandstone, coated with purple tinge due to oxidation and quartz occasionally intersect the rocks, especially the clay-stone, which is massive and break with colloidal fracture. Some of the straits yield excellent building material and are quarried for road construction. Others, on exposure, decompose and crumble away.


The Narrar Hill (Panjpeer) is wholly composed of a hard white sandstone. Thin flakes of white calcareous matter and hollow nodules filled with clay are generally seen in these rocks. While in the beds of streams, especially towards the south, concentrations of coarse limestone are commonly met with small beds of fine conglomerates, which are also to be found here and there. Mixed or alternating with the sandstone, are often extensive beds of red bluish clay or shale. These, alone with the more or less decomposed sandstone gives character to the soil of the subdivision.


Reference : A HANDBOOK OF KOTLI SATTIAN    



                                                      Panjpeer (Narrar) Rocks


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