44 POOTE : GEOLOGY OF MADURA AND TINNEVELLY DISTRICTS. 



matioii, as might also be a patch of yellowish-brown, coarsely shaly, 



sandstones exposed in a well-section a little east of Tiruvauguneri, 



3 miles north-north-east of Shatan Kulam. Both patches lie in slight 



hollows which may well account for their having escaped the general 



deundation which removed so great a part of the Cuddalore group. 



In none of the outcrops or sections of the Cuddalore rocks or of the 



No traces of lignite unfossilifcrous sandstones of the Madura or Tin- 

 met with iu Madui-a aud ... c i- • t 

 Tiuuevelly. nevelly district have any traces or lignite been 



found as yet. In Travancore, however, in the Warkilli beds (which Dr« 

 King believes to be the equivalents of the Cuddalore beds), lignites are 

 a feature of some importance, especially in the lower part of the series. 

 The south-eastward extension of the Warkilli beds at Kolachell also 

 contains small quantities of lignite. 



The mottled gritty beds as a rule strongly resemble the typical 

 mottled grits exposed in the low scarps of the Cuddalore sandstone and 

 laterite plateau south-west of Cuddalore town, from which locality 

 their name was originally taken. The whitish grits bear a very strong 

 petrological resemblance to the white grits so well exposed in the low 

 cliflFs overhanging the Corteliar river, where it flows round the north- 

 western end of the Red hills plateau to the north-west of Madras. 



CHAPTEE, VI. 



THE LATERITIC FORMATIONS. 



The rocks which I class under this heading are very similar in gene- 

 Similarity to lateritic I'^l to thosc assigned to the lateritic group in 

 formatio.w elsewhere. ^.j^g ^^^.q northerly parts of the Caruatic. They 



consist of ferruginous conglomerates, gravels, and sands, which as a rule 

 follow each other in that succession from west to east. The conglomerates 

 and gravels occupy the higher grounds along the western side of the 

 lateritic area which forms a band of very irregular width lying between 

 ( 44 ) 



