14 hughes: wabdha vallky coal-field. 



At Deolwara, Winjhasan, Chirade'vi, and Telwisa inliers occur, and 

 they are well seen on the banks of the Wardha, south of Pipri. Red 

 shales are the predominant rocks. 



Limestone group. — As its designation implies, the rocks of this group 

 are more or less calcareous, and in many instances contain a sufficiently 

 high percentage of carbonate of lime to form a very efficient flux in the 

 treatment of iron ores. Occasional layers of ribbon jasper are met with, 

 and lenticular segregations of chert, but not in such abundance as in the 

 limestones of the inter and infra trappean series. 



They are usually thinly bedded, and of a pale or dark-grey or buff color 



seldom red, like their associates — the shales. They 



Kanddra limestone occur in two places within the field, one at Kan- 

 f or flux. 



dara, 6 miles north of Warora, and the other near 



Belsini. From the first of these localities it is proposed to quarry the 



limestone, if the project of establishing blast furnaces for the production 



of iron at Warora be carried into execution. 



A large tract of these rocks borders the western boundary of the field, 

 and magnificent sections of them are exposed in the Pern Ganga and 

 some of the small streams running into it. 



I have made no attempt to estimate even the approximate thickness 

 of the limestones, as the sections that came under my special observation 

 were imperfect, but there is a considerable thickness of them. 



No trace of organic remains has been found in any of the groups, 



though the physical conditions under which they 

 No organic remains. 



were accumulated, judging from the evidence 



which their representatives elsewhere afford, appear to have been favour- 

 able to life. There is nothing either to suggest the chance of subsequent 

 obliteration of organic remains, had they ever been imbedded and become 

 fossilised. 



( 14 ) 



