PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 6 



Owing to the weathered character of the coal at the surface, and the 



obscurity of most of the sections, he was not able to pronounce a very 



decided opinion upon either the size or quality of the seams that he saw, 



but he anticipated that the coal at Ballarpur would yield fairly useful 



fuel for all purposes, — an opinion which has since been confirmed. He 



strongly urged that a closer survey than he had the opportunity of 



carrying out should be made, and recommended 

 Borings recommended. . 



that, owing to the fact of the rocks being greatly 



concealed by superficial accumulations, borings should be resorted to, to 



prove the commercial value* of the field. 



Dr. Oldham's notices appeared at intervals in the records of the 



Geological Survey between 1869 and 1871. He 



gave the most recent information obtained from 



the borings commenced under his superintendence, and he sketched 



the outline of the general conclusions that the survey had arrived at. 



Mr. Fedden's paper refers to the discovery by himself of evidence 



bearing out the hypothesis of ice-action proposed 



Pedden, 1875 many years ag0 by Mr# Blanford to explain the 



mode of accumulation of the boulder bed of the Talchir period. 



Section II. — Physical Description. 



The Wardha coal field, as limited by an arbitrary line to the south 



and by its natural geological boundaries 



Area of field 1,600 j ^ eagt wegt an(1 ^fa covers an area of 



square miles. " ' 



about 1,600 square miles. It occupies the valley 

 of the river Wardha, throughout, a length of one hundred miles, and is 

 included between Latitudes 19° 28' and 20° 27', N. Longitudes 78° 50' 



and 79° 45' E. Its most northerly point is only 



Latitude and Longi- 16 mileg from the f amous cotton mar t f Hin- 

 tude. 



ganghat, and it extends southward to the third 



barrier of the Godavari navigation scheme. 



( 3 ) 



