50 RANIGANJ COAL FIELD. [CHAP. IV. § 2. 



West of Birkunti, in the neighborhood of Jainagar and Churalia, the 

 Lower Daumdas are fairly seen. Metamorphic rocks come in South of 

 the Adjai fault, but the North boundary of the field being here also a 

 fault, the whole thickness of the lower series is not exposed. The 

 beds consist of grits and coarse felspathic sandstones below, and, near 

 the top, of sandy shales, coarse and fine ferruginous sandstones, mica- 

 ceous sandstone, and occasionally coal. The highest beds beneath the 

 ironstones are very thin micaceous shales, sometimes containing black 

 band, as is well seen near Darbatdanga. Below these some ordinary 

 ironstone shales are seen, and there is an appearance, in this part of 

 the field, of a passage from the Lower Damuda group into the ironstone 

 shales, just as North of Taldanga there is an apparent passage from 

 the Talchir into the Damuda series. 



These rocks stretch across the high ground between several small 



streams running North to the Adjai. At Jai- 

 Coal near Jainagar. . 



nagar a quarry was once opened by a native,*" in a 



seam said to be 7 or 8 feet thick, and of good quality, but no reliance 



can be placed upon the information. The out-crop of the seam is seen 



for some distance in the neighborhood of a trap dyke, which, in all 



probability, throws off small irregular intrusions into the coal, and 



injures it. 



In the small stream due North of Churalia, three out-crops of coal are 



seen: of these, the lowest bed, near the boundary of 



And Churalia. . 



the metamorphic rocks, may be 8 or 10 feet thick, 

 and the out-crop can be traced for 2 or 300 yards to the West, close 

 to the boundary. This seam is perhaps identical with that seen 

 near Jainagar. The higher seams cannot exceed 3 or 4 feet in 

 thickness. They lie just above the thicker one, but all are extremely 

 ill seen. 



* It is frequently most difficult to ascertain by whom the numerous small quarries scat- 

 tered oyer the country were worked. 



