BHIMA SERIES. 163 



hard limestone to sink gradually down to the level of the gneiss ; but on 

 closer examination the view will not be found tenable. 



This breeciated limestone forms a homogeneous stratum, not a recent 

 agglomeration of fallen fragments, and appears to have been deposited 

 . normally in its present position. The extremely sharp angles and delicate 

 corresponding contours of the breccia fragments, which are cemented 

 together by calcspar, preclude the idea of its having been formed by 

 materials brought from even a small distance. It must have been fissured 

 in situ, and then reconsolidated by pressure and chemical action into a 

 tough and compact mass. In color this limestone is drab or cream- 

 colored, weathering to a grey tint. Its position cannot be considered due 

 to an overlap of the Talikot limestone beyond the shaley sandstone beds, 

 for its southern boundary is so near to the plateau ridge that those 

 shaley sandstone beds could not have thinned out in so short a distance. 



The littoral character of the basement of the Bhima series renders 

 it very unlikely that such a thoroughly pelagic formation as a pure 

 limestone should have been deposited at the same period in such close 

 proximity. The occurrence of many breccias of difierent characters in 

 the Kaladgi rock series further to the west points to a period when 

 similar comminuting forces were at work on a great scale, and there is no 

 prima facie improbability against the supposition that this limestone 

 breccia may be a remnant of former extensive deposits of that age, 

 removed by denuding agencies prior to the commencement of the Bhima 

 epoch. 



Another small limestone area which has been but slightly affected 



by the brecciating agency lies about three miles 

 Northern patch. <=> c ^ 



to the north of the Yeddihalli breccia bed, and, 

 like it, rests directly on the gneiss. Like the Yeddihalli area, this is 

 much obscured by the great spread of cotton soil, which renders it 

 very difiicult to trace the boundaries with any approximation to 

 accuracy. At the southern end the limestone, which is here somewhat 

 breeciated, appears faulted against the gneiss, the limestone itself being 



( 163 ) 



