igo FOOTE : GEOLOGY OF THE BELLARY DISTRICT. 



the lower part of which underlies the surrounding cotton soil, while 

 the upper part (especially where the hill consists of an easily wea- 

 thered rock) may be seen to extend as a rain wash over the surface 

 of black soil. 



The cotton soil or regur of Bellary district is a very typical 



' , ., variety of this often described old forest humus. 



Cotton soil. J § ' 



and there is nothing specially new to say about 

 it. The greatest spreads of it occur along the valley of the Haggari 

 in the Rayadrug, Bellary and Alur taluqs. The Alur spread 

 extends north and covers a great part of the western half of the 

 Adoni taluq, while in the north-eastern part of the Adoni taluq there 

 is a broad spread of the black soil along the south bank of the Tunga- 

 bhadra. In the western part of the district there are several smaller 

 but yet important spreads in the south-western and south-eastern 

 and north-eastern parts of Haddagalli taluq. In Kudligi taluq the 

 regur spreads are met with mainly along the valley of the Chinna 

 Haggari river. 



A fair average of the thickness of the black soil in the principal 

 spreads is 4 feet, but much greater thicknesses are seen locally, 

 The soils derived from the direct decomposition of the granitic 

 rocks is everywhere a reddish loam more or less sandy according to 

 the larger or smaller percentage of quartz the original rock had 

 contained. White salty soils occur commonly enough along swampy 

 reaches of sluggish streams, but are nowhere sufficiently developed 

 to demand special notice. 



The soils derived from the decay of the different members of 

 the Dharwar system are in nearly every case loams of light 

 quality and more or less ferruginous according to their proximity 

 to the great haematite beds. 



CHAPTER X. 

 Economic Geology. 

 Excepting in the matter of iron, of which immense quantities 

 occur in the Dharwar rocks of Bellary district, and of excellent build- 

 ing stones, of which an inexhaustible supply is to be found, the district 

 ( 190 ) 



