218 NERBUDDA DISTRICT. 



No characteristic either lithe-logical or mineralogical seems definitely 

 to belong to the traps of either of the first two periods, which cannot, as 

 far as I am aware, be paralleled in the third. And it will consequently 

 be readily understood that it is only in very exceptional cases that the 

 observer can be quite sure of any individual dyke being more ancient 

 than the period of the most recent intrusion. The great dyke above Bhera 

 Ghat, for instance, may belong to any of the three periods, as it is seen 

 in contact only with the most ancient rocks. This 



Example, Bhera Ghat. . 



is a remarkably fine dyke, and cuts across the 

 course of the Nerbudda, sending off a branch beautifully seen as it dis- 

 appears into the face of a cliff of white marble. But the course of the 

 river through these Marble Rocks is probably itself that of an ancient 

 trap dyke, from which the greenstone has been removed and the walls 

 of which now stand as vertical cliffs of white marble between which the 

 Nerbudda flows (see above Figs. 2 and 3, pages 135, 136). This is sug- 

 gested by a comparison of the face of these cliffs with the walls of the 

 Bhera-ghat large dyke, where the basalt still in part remains to show the 

 origin of the fissure, (a) 



Confining our attention for the present to the tabular basalt, or the 



most recent trappean period, the most striking 

 Most recent Trap. 



feature which it presents in our district, is the great 



regularity of the terraces formed by its layers. No 

 Aspect of. . 



where can this habit of Trap rocks be better seen 



than in parts of the Gondwarra range; the layers seem absolutely 



horizontal and of uniform thickness on the great scale. The aspect of 



the country round the old fort of Saolisurh is 

 Saoligurh. & 



very characteristic of the physical features or- 

 dinarily developed in the trap-area, and especially of this terraced 



(a) Sir C. Lyell quotes from McCulloch's description of Strathaird in Skye what seems 

 to be a similar case. Manual of Geology, fifth edition, page 481. 



