194 FOOTE : GEOLOGY OF THE BELLARY DISTRICT. 



and would yield a splendid pigment for the mere trouble of collecting 

 and grinding it. The outcrop of the parent bed is not visible where the 

 ghat road between Ramandrug and Narayan Devar Kerra crosses it. 



Similar argillites of delicate CFeam, pinkish lilac and other tints, 

 are to be seen at various points lying between the different haematite 

 beds, and offer material suitable (apparently) for the preparation of 

 pastel pigment in great variety if a*iy demand for such existed in India, 



b. Manganese. — The Manganese ores met with in the district 

 are all of the same kind and may be described as an oxide somewhat 

 poorer in oxygen than common dioxide. 



The ore was met with in four different localities in sufficient 

 quantity to be worth exploiting, and small traces of it are of common 

 occurrence in the haematite beds of the Dharwar series. 



The first of the localities occurs on the western slope of the 

 Ramandrug plateau, the north-western sec- 



Ram a a n n g d a rug? ^ ""' tion of the Sandur hill group. The schist beds 

 in which the manganese ore occurs in the form of 

 compact earthy-textured, dark grey or black concretionary nodules, 

 lie rather more than half-way down the ghat road which leads to 

 Narayan Devar Kerra. The schists are drab in colour, and the nodules 

 show up distinctly, It would be easy to quarry the nodules along 

 the outcrop of the schists if they prove of sufficient value when the 

 place has been opened up. 



A fair specimen of this ore, which was analysed quantitatively 

 in the Survey Laboratory (Calcutta) by Mr. 

 Philip Lake, B.A., was found to have the follow- 

 ing composition : — 



Insoluble matter and Si 2 . . . . 33*96 



Fe 2 O s + Al 2 O3 12-82 



Mn 2 42-90 



CaO . . . . . , . . 078 



H 2 O (combined) . . . . . . 3*16 



H 2 O (hygroscopic) . . 067 



99-29 



Available 0=7*33 P er cent - equivalent to 39"86 per cent, of dioxide. 

 ( *94 ) 



