40 TALCHEER COAL FIELD. 



Hornhlendic Gneiss, 



or > Soft and laminated. 



Hornhlendic Schist. ) 



Quarts Schist, \ Occurs frequently in bands, separated by softer 



or > 



Schistose Quartz. ) micaceous layers. 



One variety prevailing in tlie Eastern part of the district, and 

 constituting the hills North and North-west of Cuttack, is granular 

 and quartzose, showing little indication of foliation, except when seen 

 in the mass, and containing abundantly red spots of peroxide of iron 

 which replace decomposed garnets. 



In the immediate vicinity of granite veins the gneiss is often 

 extremely micaceous, consisting indeed of little else than black mica, 

 the laminse of which are invariably parallel to the walls of the vein. 

 This character never extends for more than a few feet from the cheeks 

 of the granite vein, and must be regarded as an alteration of the gneiss 

 produced by the intrusion of the granite. 



To the North of the Talcheer Coal Field a highly quartzose gneiss, 

 with little or no felspar, and but a very small proportion of a pale silvery 

 mica, occurs. The mica, although so trifling in amount, is nevertheless 

 disposed in well-marked planes of foliation. The pebbles in the alluvial 

 conglomerate and gravel which cover the Coal Field chiefly consist of 

 this rock. 



Hornblende Schist occurs in bands generally of no great thickness at 

 various points to the North of the Talcheer Coal Field, but has been 

 nowhere observed on the Southern boundary. At the junction of the 

 Tengria Nullah with the Brahmini, half a mUe South of Bijgol in Talcheer, 

 this rock is seen, being there composed of well-defined crystals of acti- 

 nolite. More compact varieties, with a well-marked foHated structure, 

 also occur. 



A more typical variety of gneiss occurs over a large area to the South 

 of the Coal Field, and probably is of considerable extent in that direction. 



