( 2 ) 



10. Rock Laterite. This forms a cap to a group of beds, the lowest of which consists 

 of a coarse ferruginous sandstone formed of rounded grains of quartz, sometimes as large as 

 a pea, embedded in a hard ferruginous paste. Above this are some beds of fine ferruginous 

 earthy sandstones containing badly-preserved leaf-impressions. Eesting upon these, 

 in some sections, are found several feet of a rich oolitic iron ore, covered by red, white and 

 purple clays with bands of a coarse ferruginous sandstone interbedded. The rich limonitic 

 iron ores of the district are derived from these beds. Blocks 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 105, 106 

 and 113 are situated on this formation. 



1 1. Trap. Besides the varying forms of dolerite or basalt which generally characterize 

 the Deccan trap, secondary minerals of various kinds such as agate, jasper, bloodstone, stilbite, 

 apophyllite, calcite and others are here found in fair abundance. A considerable trade is 

 carried on in them by local lapidaries. This formation occupies almost the whole of the 

 Bargi and Dhanwahi ranges, as well as a fairly large portion of the Jubbulpore Kange (the 

 whole of Blocks 50 and 51 and parts of blocks 39, 40, 41 A, 42, 43, 44, 45. and 46) and of the 

 Sihora Kange (parts of blocks 30, 31, 33 and 34 and the whole of blocks 35, 36, 37 and 38). 



12. Lametas. These comprise a small group of limestones, sandstones and clays, known 

 as the Lametas from their occurrence at Lameta Ghat on the Nerbudda near Jubbulpore. The 

 limestones are the most persistent and characteristic beds and are used on a considerable scale 

 by lime-burners. The area occupied by the group in the district is comparatively small and 

 it only occurs in small patches in about 15 forest blocks, viz., Nos. 25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 

 37, 39, 40, 41, 41A, 43, 44 and 45. 



13. Upper Qondwanas. The Gondwana beds belong to the Jubbulpore group and 

 consist of clays, shales and earthy sandstones, with some thin beds of coal. The clays and 

 soft shales, which are the most characteristic beds of the formation, are pale-coloured, usually 

 white, lavender gray or pale red. The sandstones are generally coarse and conglomeratic. 

 Carbonaceous shales are sometimes met with, and occasionally one or more thin bands of jet- 

 coal. Blocks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 and portions of seven others (Nos. 25, 

 30, 31, 32, 33, 41 and 44) are situated on this group. 



14. Upper Vindhyans. Bhander and Rewah sandstones predominate here, mixed with 

 shales and limestones. The Bhander sandstones are the softer of the two and are very 

 fine-grained. The shales are generally thin, flaggy and silicious, sometimes micaceous, with 

 greenish or rusty tints. The limestones are generally impure and earthy, with grey, yellow 

 or reddish tints; when pure, they are compact and even crystalline. All our forests west of the 

 Jubbulpore-Murwara road in the Murwara Range (block 105 escepted), as well as blocks 100 

 and 101 in the Sihora Range, are situated on this series. 



15. Bijawars. The lowest strata are fine earthy slates of reddish tints, the upper beds 

 being associated with the quartzite which underlies the limestone and is intercalated with it. 

 Bedded trap occurs throughout the series. The rocks are in a high condition of metamor- 

 phisru, the limestone being generally crystalline, the schists highly micaceous and hornblendic 

 and the iron ore mostly a micaceous form of hematite. Blocks 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 

 99, 102, 103, 104, and portions of four others (Nos. 25, 32, 42 and 43) are situated on this 

 series, which extends over a considerable area of the district. 



16. The disintegration of the various rocks described above results in the formation of 

 soils of widely different characteristics, ranging from the loose sands of the Upper Gondwanas 

 to stiff black soil, with all intermediate grades represented. The prevailing class of soil, how- 

 ever, is a fairly fertile sandy loam, of some depth in low-lying localities, but shallow and 

 sometimes entirely absent on the tops and sides of hills. 



17. The importance of the iron industry for the district as well as for the forests would 

 seem to require a special paragraph on the kinds of ore obtainable and their distribution ; but 

 as this subject is exhaustively treated in Vol. XVI, Part 2, of the Records of the Geological 

 Survey of India, Mr. Mallet's Report printed therein should be read. The Geological map 

 referred to in para. 8 above shows where the principal workings of these ores are situated. 



ARTICLE 4. Climate. 



18. Broadly stated, the climate may be said to be dry and cool during the cold weather, 

 hot and dry during the hot weather, and damp and steamy during the rains. The hot wea- 

 ther usually extends from about the end of March to about the beginning of June, and the 

 rains from the beginning of June to about the middle of October. The cold weather is there- 

 fore comparatively long and sometimes severe, more particularly so in the north of the 

 district, where night frosts do considerable damage to young forest growth in low-lying lo- 

 calities. 



19. The mean shade-temperatures for the three months typical of the three seasons are 

 given below : 



Fah. 



May ... ... ._ . ... _ 91 



July ... ... ... .. ... ... 81 



December ... ... ... ... ... ... 62 



The highest shade- temperature recorded is 112 Fah. and the lowest 41 Fah. 



