54 TALCHEEB COAL FIELD. 



thickness of the alluvium and the denseness of the jungle rendered 



the sections few, and the beds could be only superficially examined. 



They were apparently cut off by a quartz vein, doubtless on a line of fault 



running East and West about two miles South-east of Konchoni- 



pur- but as no rock of any kind could be seen up the valley 



beyond the fault, owing to the depth of the alluvium, this is 



not quite certain. Near the fault shales were observed. Sandstones 



also appear near Laija, Gusirimal, &c., iu Eampur, but they are only 



slightly developed and very shaly. 



Still ascending in the series, these sandstones are succeeded by what 



, , have been called "blue nodular shales," consisting 



■ Blue nodular shales— ° 



3 a. of Section. Qf ^ considerable thickness (probably nearly 400 



feet) of bluish, dove-colored and greenish shales, very fine, with occa- 

 sional sandy beds. These constitute the uppermost beds of the lower 

 group of sedimentary deposits in the Talcheer field. Sometimes, as in the 

 vicinity of the Brahmini, they pass almost into the sandstone below them, 

 and their upper surface is much denuded, and a totally distinct series 

 of beds deposited upon them. Their presence is almost always marked 

 .by large quantities of small angular fragments of them being found 

 mixed with the sod ; and the jungles growing upon them, as upon the 

 lower sandstones, are thin and stunted, affording a means of discri- 

 minating between the areas occupied by them and by higher beds. 

 These shales do not occupy any considerable area. They are found 

 resting on the lower sandstone near Bijgole, and again West of Dereng 

 between the Dereng and Kerjang faults, where they dip slightly to the 

 West, till cut off by the junction of these faults near Porah. About 

 2 miles West of Kerjang Hill Station, they occur in the Tikiria Nullah, 

 dipping at very high angles (about 60°) to the Westward, but beyond 

 this they are covered up by higher beds. They re-appear, as already 

 mentioned, in Kehrakol, near the villages of Sirdapur, Deinchi, &c., 

 where they cover a considerable area. They continue thence along the 



