s, was probably extruded over the
Northern Peninsular region during late Cretaceous times. The sea
now began to retreat, and by the close of

137

the Eocene, it had moved westward to Sind and Baluchistan. The
movements of the Earth's crust were attended by intense volcanic
activity, and great volumes of granite were injected into the
sediments, followed by dykes and outflows of basic lavas.

The Tethys vanished to return no more. It survives in the
Mediterranean of today. The mountain-building movements continued
into Pliocene times. The Nummulite beds of the Eocene were, as
the result, ultimately uplifted 18,500 feet over sea level, a
total uplift of not less than 20,000 feet.

Thus with many vicissitudes, involving intervals of volcanic
activity, local uplifting, and extensive local denudation, the
Himalaya, which had originated in the sediments of the ancient
Purana sea, far back in pre-Cambrian times, and which had
developed potentially in a long sequence of deposits collecting
almost continuously throughout the whole of geological time,
finally took their place high in the heavens, where only the
winds--faint at such altitudes--and the lights of heaven can visit
their eternal snows.[1]

In this great history it is significant that the longest
continuous series of sedimentary deposits which the world has
known has become transfigured into the loftiest elevation upon
its surface.

[1] See A Sketch of the _Geography and Geology of the Himalaya
Mountains and Tibet_. By Colonel S. G. Burrard, R.E., F.R.S., and
H. H. Hayden, F.G.S., Part IV. Calcutta, 1908.

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The diagrammatic sections of the Himalaya accompanying this brief
description arc taken from the monograph of Burrard and Hayden
(loc. cit.) on the Himalaya. Looking at the sections we see that
some of the loftiest summits are sculptured in granite and other
crystalline rocks. The appearance of these materials at the
surface indicates the removal by denudation and the extreme
metamorphism of much sedimentary deposit. The crystalline rocks,
indeed, penetrate some of the oldest rocks in the world. They
appear in contact with Archaean, Algonkian or early Palaeozoic
rocks. A study of the sections reveals not only the severe earth
movements, but also the immense amount of sedimentary deposits
involved in the genesis of these alps. It will be noted that the
vertical scale is not exaggerated relatively to the
horizontal.[1] Although there is no evidence