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Journal of the Federated Malay States museums - Sabrizain.org

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fgifi.l ScRIVENOR on Pulau Pisang Rocks. 33<br />

There can be no doubt that <strong>the</strong>se rocks are from a junction<br />

<strong>of</strong> Chert Series rocks and granite and <strong>the</strong>re are two points<br />

concerning <strong>the</strong>m that are worth attention. The first <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se<br />

is <strong>the</strong> association <strong>of</strong> volcanic ash.<br />

The coarser specimens cannot be distinguished from some<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ashes <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Pahang' Volcanic Series, and this is <strong>the</strong><br />

third instance in which <strong>the</strong>se volcanic rocks have been found<br />

associated with chert. Ano<strong>the</strong>r instance is at Lubok Plang, on<br />

<strong>the</strong> Pahang River, where a bed <strong>of</strong> chert was found between a<br />

flow <strong>of</strong> lava and a layer <strong>of</strong> ash. Epidote occurs in <strong>the</strong> chert<br />

and in <strong>the</strong> volcanic rocks but in <strong>the</strong> Pulau Pisang chert it is<br />

more abundant. Radiolaria are more abundant in <strong>the</strong> Lubok<br />

Plang chert.<br />

The second known instance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> association <strong>of</strong> volcanic<br />

ash and chert was afforded by specimens taken from a stoneheap<br />

in Singapore. The radiolaria in <strong>the</strong> chert are in some<br />

cases at any rate preserved as casts <strong>of</strong> chlorite and <strong>the</strong> same<br />

mineral occurs in <strong>the</strong> ash. Nothing definite could be learned<br />

about <strong>the</strong> locality whence <strong>the</strong>se rocks came. One statement<br />

was to <strong>the</strong> effect that <strong>the</strong>y might have come as ballast from<br />

Mauritius, but that is very unlikely, and in view <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> nature<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Pulau Pisang rocks, <strong>the</strong>y may have come from a neighbouring<br />

island.*<br />

Generally <strong>the</strong> radiolarian cherts are found close to thick<br />

beds <strong>of</strong> quartzite and shale, and in <strong>the</strong> coarser quartzites<br />

pebbles <strong>of</strong> chert are abundant. Lately Mr. E. S. Willbourn<br />

has reported chert and quartzite to be interbedded in certain<br />

sections in Negri Sembilan. These three cases <strong>of</strong> ns^ociation<br />

with igneous rocks suggest that in some cases <strong>the</strong>ir origin may<br />

be <strong>the</strong> same as that put forward in <strong>the</strong> Geological Magazine<br />

for 191 1 (British Pillow Lavas and <strong>the</strong> rocks associated with<br />

<strong>the</strong>m—loc. cit. pp. 202-209 and 241-248) by Messrs. Dewey<br />

and Flett, who think that silicate <strong>of</strong> soda from volcanic<br />

eruptions was dissolved in sea-water and created conditions<br />

favourable for siliceous protozoa such as radiolaria. A^ <strong>the</strong><br />

eruptions that formed <strong>the</strong> Pahang Volcanic series were in part<br />

submarine, this may be a case <strong>of</strong> similar conditions ami similar<br />

results.<br />

The o<strong>the</strong>r point <strong>of</strong> interest is <strong>the</strong> resemblance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> pale<br />

grey rock (Nos. 7 & 10) to some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> boulders and pebbles<br />

found in Kinta with <strong>the</strong> boulders <strong>of</strong> tourmaline-corundum<br />

rock. These are light colored, sometimes oolitic, and some-<br />

times contain a little corundum and tourmaline. In a description<br />

-<br />

!" <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tourmaline-corundum rocks it was suggested that<br />

certain bodies in <strong>the</strong>m may be replacements <strong>of</strong> casts <strong>of</strong><br />

radiolaria, and a rock was found in Kinta actually showing<br />

• A fourth occurrence <strong>of</strong> chert associated with an igneus rock fs known<br />

on <strong>the</strong> Ginteng Sempah Road, Selangor.<br />

t Quart Journ Geol Soc. Ixvi 1910, pp. 435-449.

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