128 RANIGANJ COAL FIELD. [CHAP. V. 



a few inches to 10 or 15 feet, and occasionally contain thin beds of 

 white felspathic sandstone, with mica. The ordinary sandstones, which 

 form the bulk of the Panchet formation, much resemble those in the 

 higher portion of the Raniganj series, but they are even more false- 

 bedded, the stratification being frequently confused in the most extra- 

 ordinary manner, and sometimes appearing even contorted. Small 

 rolled pieces of silt occur, and these beds have clearly been deposited 

 by a rapid and shifting current, such as that of a large river. In 



EesemblancetoTalchir some respects the Panchet beds re-call the Tal- 

 beds " chirs; very similar greenish and muddy shales 



occur in places, and the sandstones, although far coarser than they 

 usually are in the Talchir group, resemble the latter in the circum- 

 stance of the large quantity of felspar, which they contain, being in 

 general undecomposed. The sandstones are thus rendered more fusi- 

 ble, and the hardened and semi-fused rocks, at each side of the dykes 

 which traverse these beds, stand up above the decomposed trap 

 between them, and form long wall-like lines stretching across the 

 country, as is well seen between Pusathanpur, Hiraptir, and the Damuda. 

 The Panchet series throughout is highly micaceous, and some beds 

 occur in it almost solely composed of mica. 



At the base of this group there is everywhere found about 250 to 



300 feet of grey and greenish-grey sandstones 

 Base of group. . 



and shales, oiten micaceous, and very thin 



bedded, resembling strongly the middle beds of the Talchir series, 



and in some places, almost re-calling the muclstones of that series. 



These beds are extremely constant, and are well seen wherever the 



lower beds of the Panchet group are exposed in section. They are 



succeeded in ascending order by the coarse false-bedded felspathic 



sandstone, in thick beds, with interstratification 



Coarse sandstones and 



red clays. f re d days, the typical rocks of the formation. 



Even when no sections can be seen, the color of the surface soil 



