66 FOOTE : GEOLOGY OP MADUE-A AND TINNEYELLY DISTRICTS. 



colour of the calcareous grit is a brownish cream colour, ranging to 

 decided brown in some cases, and to whitish drab in others. That 

 these beds extend north-north-eastward under the sands of the great 

 Megnanapuram teri is proved by shelly calcareous grits having been 

 cut through in sinking a well through the sand about half way 

 between Megnanapuram and Nazareth. An outcrop of brown calcareous 



Outcrop in the Teri 8"''^^ occurs at a considerable elevation above the 

 near Nazareth. general level of the country about 2 J miles south 



of Nazareth and in the high part of the teri close to the track leading 

 from Nazareth to Kayampulli (Koyambully). As the masses of rock 

 here exposed are low and lie in the furrow between two high waves 

 of the loose red sand, it is very likely that they may be covered up and 

 lost sight of at some future time. This is the last exposure of the 

 recent marine beds seen south of the Tambraparni river. 



To the north of the Tambraparni only two patches of this marine 

 formation were met with in Tinnevelly territory ; of these the first was 

 one of considerable extent and importance ; the second far too small to 

 be shown on the map. 



The first lies along the edge of the high ground which slopes up - 



Vedanattam calcareous westward from the coastal band of aU.ivium to 

 g^-it beds. ^jig southward of the Malattar odai (nullah). The 



rock is here also a calcareous gritty sandstone resting apparently on 

 the gneiss, the junction with which however was not seen owing to tho 

 thick stratum of cotton soil which here covers the whole country. The 

 most southerly indications of this bed of grit are found in well-sections 

 lying some distance south-west of the little village of Dalavaipuram 

 (Thullavapoorum) 9 miles north-by-west of Tutikorin. From the shape 

 of the ground, however, there is every reason to believe that the grit 

 extends a mile or more to the south-westward under the cotton soil. 

 It stops short, however, of reaching the Tutikorin-Ettiapuram high 

 road. To the north-east the grit extends up to the village of Veda- 

 nattam (Vaidanuthum) and then dies down under the alluvium of 

 the Malattar odai. The best sections of this bed are to be seen iu 

 ( 66 ) 



