74 TALCHEER COAL FIELD. 



There was also a much greater denudation of the lower beds towards 



the West before the deposition of the grits, as is 

 Denudation unequal. . • i i. 



evidenced by the lower beds being overlapped by 



the upper; but the amount of denudation in the district, since the 



deposition of these grits, has been probably greater than during any 



previous period. 



Scattered all over the Talcheer country, heaps of quartz pebbles from 

 the grit conglomerates and of boulders of the grits themselves abound, 

 while on some of the gneiss hills on the margin of the field similar 

 evidence of the former spread of these rocks exists. It becomes 

 therefore desirable to examine what evidence there is of the occurrence 

 of similar beds in adjoining districts. In the first place we have on ihe 



„..,,,. ,, East, in the vicinity of Cuttack, beds of a 



Similar beds in other ' ■' ' 



districts. composition similar to that of the upper grits, and 



forming doubtless an outlier of this field. 



To the South nothing accurate is known of any rocks not raetamorphic ; 

 but to the West a basin of sedimentary rocks occurs in the Gangpur 

 Bajah's territory,* and far beyond are the Nagpur beds described by 

 Messrs. Hislop and Hunter.f 



To the North again, there is a long break, so far as any but 

 the vaguest evidence is concerned, but basins of sedimentary strata/ 

 are probably dotted over the country. No description however has 

 been given of any nearer than the Eampur and Upper Uamoodah 

 Coal Fields, partially examined by Mr. Williams in 1848, and still 

 further to the East the Burdwan or Damoodah field. To the North- 

 west are the Coal Fields of Palamow, Sirgooja and others, and possibly a 

 chain of small Coal Fields connecting these with the great field, which is 

 stated to exist West and North-west of Sumbulpur. But of all these 



* Captain Saston . Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol. XXIV. p. 186, March 1855' 

 Captain Haughton's Geology of the South-west Frontier, p. 3. 



f Quarterly Journal Geological Society, Vol. XI. p. 345. Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal, 

 Vol. XXVI. i>. 157. 



