part 4] 



OX THE MIOCEXE OF CEYLOX. 



.581 



they ai*e seen to be foraminiferal limestones containing many 

 well-preserved organisms in a matrix of calcareous mud. From 

 these limestones the Miocene fauna was obtained. Above the 

 upper limestone-band is a stratum of clay, 6 or 7 feet thick, con- 

 taining pebbles which increase in number and size upwards. 

 Above this again lies a red deposit packed with ferruginous pisolitic 

 concretions, which vary in diameter up to a maximum of about 

 half an inch, large concretions predominating. Finally, the red 

 lateritic earth, so conspicuous throughout the low country of 

 Ceylon, occurs to a thickness of 15 to IS feet. Like the lo?ss of 

 China and the limon of Belgium, this stands vertically in the 

 cliff-face. 



The pisolite may represent an ancient bog-iron-ore deposit, while 

 the fluviomarine origin of the pebbly clay is not improbable ; 

 neither they nor the red earth above, which here seems to be an 

 ancient and lateritized blown sand, belong to the Miocene. All 

 three contain artefacts, and the lower two, at any rate, are probably 

 Pleistocene. 1 



The section may be tabulated as follows : — 



• 



Maximum 



thickness in 



feet. 



Type of 

 junction. 



Age. 



7. Soil 



6. Red earth 



? 

 18 



Conformable. 



Holocene. 



5. Pisolitic ironstone 



17 



Pleistocene. 



4. Pebbly clay \ 



3. Areno-argillaceousbeds. 

 with nodular limestone 



2. Ferruginous grit and 

 sandstones, etc 



1. Gneisses, etc. (generally 

 kaolinized and locally 

 separated from the 

 sedimentary deposits 

 by a bed of litho- 

 marge). 



25 



10 



Conformable. 



Unconformable. 



Miocene. 



Pre-Miocene 

 (probably pre- 

 Palseozoic). 



These Miocene beds appear to have been deposited in a small 

 basin. They have received a slight eastward tilt since deposition. 



Some 2 miles farther east, near Udapotana, areno-argillaceous 

 beds occur beneath red earth in a tall cliff. If lithology is to be 

 relied on, these also are Miocene. 



E. J. Wayland, op. jam clt. p. 99. 



