244 Geological position of Laterite in Beder. [April 



III' — ^ole on ihe Geological position of ihe Laterite in the vicinity of 

 JBedei; — By Lieut. T. J. Newbold, 23d Light Infantry. 



In presenting to the Societ}'^ an additional number of geological spe- 

 cimens from the Nizam's dominions, the Southern Maliratta^ountry, 

 and the western ghauts, 1 have deemed it necessary to offer a few ex- 

 planatory remarks on the geological situs of those collected in the 

 vicinity of Beder. It -was partly ^Yith the view of ascertaining the 

 relative position of the laterite with regard to other rocks, that I was 

 led to visit this ancient Mahomedan capital. 



From the village of Cummurapilly, twenty-six miles E. S. E. from 

 Beder, on the Hyderabad road, by Beder, to the western confines of the 

 Nizam's dominions, the only rocks observed are the overlying trap, 

 associated with amygdaloid, wacke, laterite, and a conglomerate formed 

 from the debris of the laterite, with the exception of a narrow^ zone of 

 grey limestone on the banks of the Bhima. The laterite is first seen 

 resting as a bed, about 100 feet thick, on a trap hill, shaped like a trun- 

 cated cone, near Sungum, about sixteen miles E. S. E. from Beder. 

 Thence it continues capping the trap elevations with little interruption, 

 forming the surface rock of the extensive table land on which the for- 

 tress and city of Beder stand. Here it rises in cliffs from 60 to 200 

 feet high, the trap appearing at their base, and continues capping most 

 of the higher summits by Calliany to Gulberga; while the trap is seen 

 forming the base of the phdn and lower hills, to the bed of the Bhima. 

 From this, across the frontier, the laterite and its conglomerate are occa- 

 sionally observed in the Southern Mahratta Country, at Ingleswara, and 

 in the vicinity of Bagwari and Belgaum, always overlying the trap on 

 its associated wacke or amygdaloid. 



The localities around Beder, where the best sections are afforded, ex- 

 hibiting the superposition of the laterite on the trap, are some of its 

 deeply sunk wells, and the base of the cliffs to the east, west and north. 

 The rocks near their junction, are more or less blended together, which 

 renders it difficult to draw a line of demarcation between the two. 

 The trap is generally in a soft friable state, and the laterite abounding 

 in lithomargic earth, — conditions, the explanation of which will be at- 

 tempted elsewhere. The former rock, however, is little altered in one 

 situation where it comes in contact with the laterite, viz. in the section 

 afforded by the well, called the Begum's bourie, which lies a little to 

 ihe S. E. of the mausoleum of the Mussulman Pir-zadeh, Shimilla 

 Ilussaini. 



