8a FOOTE: GEOLOGY OF THE BELLARY DISTRICT. 



in the bed of the Tungabhadra in low reefy outcrops with a west- 

 south-west strike. 



The greenish-yellow and drab schists (argillites) which form the 

 north-west corner of the Kunchur band are only seen in rain -gullies* 

 the general surface of the country being covered by high level gravels 

 belono-ino- to the old alluvium of the Tungabhadra, and these gravels 

 ao-ain in many places by cotton soil spreads. At Hira Bannimatti 

 on the Tungabhadra, 5 miles N. by W. of Hollai, these argillites aie 

 seen in cmllies opening into the river and there show a dip to the 

 south at a high angle. 



One of the special features of the Kunchur band is the nearly 

 complete absence of any contemporaneous traps. The only example 

 of the kind in the southern part of the Kunchur band occurs at the 

 eastern base of Teligi hill. In the northern part a large show of black 

 Contemporaneous trappoid occurs along the northern boundary, a 



traps. ijttle to east of Kotahal (Cotahall) pagoda 1 and 



with it is a small quantity of crystalline limestone which is of rare oc- 

 currence in most parts of the Dharwar system. The extent of the 

 trappoid cannot be traced, as the Dharwar boundary is completely 

 masked by a continuous thick cotton soil spread which extends close 

 up to Birrabbi (Beeraby), where drab and grey schists begin to 

 appear. 



The boundary in this part is probably a faulted one, the chief indi. 

 cation of this being the abrupt way in which the great haematite beds 

 of the Karrabagaddi set terminate at the northern end of Birrabi hill 

 about a mile south-east of the village. 



The basement bed of the series at Kotahal on the Tungabhadra 

 is a poorly ferruginous but well-bedded haematite quartzite. At the 

 Kotahal pagoda this haematite has undergone a great change, lost 

 much of its iron, and looks as if it had been exposed to the corrod- 

 ing action of thermal waters at a high temperature. Some parts 



1 Kotahal village lies on the high bank of the Tungabhadra quite a mile from the 

 temple. The village shown in the map at the western end of the name " Cotahall " is 

 locally known as Makrabbi. 



( 82 ) 



