THE DAMUDA SERIES.. "15 



Distribution. — As reg-ards the coal-field now under description, it has 

 the structure of a comparatively shallow and somewhat oval basin, or 

 broad synclinal trough, with a general inward dip of the strata from all 

 parts of the periphery towards the centre ; but it is not exenipt from 

 local undulations. 



The extreme eastern part of the field is almost a little basin apart 



from the rest ; the coal-measures around Chano and 

 Chano basin. . . 



E-ikba being nearly cut off by an area of gneiss 



from the main body of rocks. The Barakars are well developed here. 



They rest naturally along their boundaries (on the crystallines) where 



they overlap the Talchirs, except in the case of the southern border. 



The bottom pebble beds and grits form a cliff of some size west of 



Hosi, and the sandstones east and south of Khapia are massed together 



in slightly sloping table-lands. I did not meet with much coal in the 



Barakars in this little basin ; for with the exception of a few outcrops 



in the Kowa river I failed to note any seams. The largest bed of coal 



is two feet thick where it shows in the bank of the stream. The dip is 



westerly and very slight in amount. 



I cannot speak of the quality of the coal or of the value of the 

 seam with any degree of authority. Its thickness appeared to me to 

 be too small to allow it a rank amongst the useful beds of fuel. Even 

 for local requirements I should be inclined to recommend the coals of 

 the Raniganj group in preference. 



Going down the Kowa river from this two-feet-seam to the junction 

 of the Chano stream, no coal bed of the slightest importance is visible, 

 and with the exception of one thin carbonaceous band to the east of 

 Rikba, there are no outcrops exposed of anything resembling coal in 

 this little basin, but those which I have referred to. 



Communication with this portion of the field is difficult, as it is 



Communicatiou diffi- suiTouuded by hills on almost every side. In the 



direction of Lurunga and Chano on the west, 



Rikba on the south, and Kosi and Khapia in the north and north-east, 



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