CHAPTER III. 



Identification and relations op the hock groups. 

 Vitidhyan Series. — This series was first recognised in the valley of 

 the Wardha by Mr. Blanford, and was shown by him to occupy a very 

 large area beyond the bounds of the coal field. It extends far to the 

 south, and has been identified by Mr. King as the Karniil series of 

 the Madras Presidency. 



Tdlchir Group. — There can be no question regarding the identifi- 

 cation of this group, it being characterised by the same features in the 

 Wardha valley as in Bengal and elsewhere. The confirmation of Mr. 

 Blanford's original supposition as to the mode in which the boulder 

 bed was accumulated, is one of the most important results which 

 has rewarded the labors of the Survey, and the prevalence of glacial 

 conditions in a remote geological period over a large portion of the 

 Indian Peninsula must be admitted. 



From the few fossils that have been found in the Talchirs, it is 

 evident that they are of fresh-water origin and probably fluviatile. 

 This hypothesis, rather than a lacustrine origin, preserves the general 

 analogy of the conditions under which the other members of the 

 Gondwana series were deposited ; the Damudas and Panchets, as pointed 

 out in previous Memoirs, being most probably river deposits. 



Bardkar Group. — As with the Talchirs, so in the case of the Barakar 

 group, the lithological resemblance of the rocks containing the thick 

 coal in this field to those of the Damuda valley Barakars cannot be 

 doubted. 



KdvilM Group. — The deposits classed under this head are identical 

 with those described by Mr. Blanford in his Memoir on the Geology of 

 ( 94 ) 



