TALCHEER COAL FIELD. 37 



surface of the ground, contains, in addition to the schorl crystals,* 

 (sometimes I5 inches in diameter), crystals of apatite, beryl or a 

 pseudomorph of that mineral, and a transparent yellow mineral, pro- 

 bably chrysoberyl. The essential minerals of the rock are adularia 

 felspar, some crystals of which ar.e 6 to 8 inches in length ; quartz ; and 

 well-crystallized and honey-colored mica. In the bed of a nullah, 

 which crosses the Ungool and Cuttack road near Rasul, a granite 

 vein occurs, containing good crystals of zircon much resembling the 

 Arendal variety ; also a black mineral, probably titaniferous iron- 

 Pegmatite (probably of recent origin) occurs in the gneiss to the West of 

 the Coal Field near Ampul, rather in irregular strings than in well-marked 

 dykes ; but it does not appear in contact with the sedimentary rocks. 

 No basaltic or other dykes of any kind are found traversing the 

 No dykes, &c. in the sedimentary rocks in this district, and the fact 

 sedimentary' deposits. ^f ^^^^^ ^^^^^ absence is very interesting when 



considered in comparison with their abundance in the Coal Fields of the 

 Ganges basin and the West of India, and the immense prevalence of 

 trap in Nagpur and further to the West. Apparently the district of 

 Cuttack lay beyond the area of tertiary volcanic action. 



The granite ( the pegmatitic variety perhaps excepted) is unquestionably 

 of prior date to the sedimentary rocks of the district, 



Age of the granite, &o. 



although no pebbles of the largely crystallized 

 varieties have been observed in the coal measures. They however are 

 of so decomposable a character, and the masses of individual minerals 

 composing them so large, that, if subjected to denudation and subsequent 

 attrition, they would probably yield little else than quartz pebbles, such 

 as do frequently occur in the conglomerates in question. The granite, of 

 which pebbles are so numerous in the lower beds of the coal measures, is 

 not the granite of this district, but much more finely crystallized than any 



* These crystals of schorl, however, appear to be in this district only exceptional, and 

 none were found approachuig in size those said to occur in the country to the North . 



