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GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



"With regard to the frequency of occurrence of the three 

 natural orders of plants represented in the several patches of 

 Grondwana rocks, it may be pointed out that the ferns are most 

 common in the Trichinopoly beds, the cycads in the Yema- 

 varam (Ongole) beds, and conifers in the Sripermatur beds. 



From their condition it is clear that the plant remains 

 were carried into the sea in a fragmentary state, but imbedded 

 so rapidly that decay had attacked them very slightly or not 

 at all. The animal remains as a rule are in a much inferior 

 state of preservation. 



The earliest geological observers in the Grodavari valley were 

 Drs. Yoysey and Walker, but the work of the former was 

 of no great importance in this case, and the latter unfortu- 

 nately just failed to discover the real coal measures in that 

 quarter ; but he obtained some interesting fossil fish remains 

 from the limestones at Kota near Sironcha, These observers 

 were followed by Mr. Philip Wall, Mineral Yiewer to the 

 Madras Government, who made a careful and useful examin- 

 ation of the valley, but failed to discover the coal-bearing 

 strata. The first real light on the structure of that region 

 was thrown upon it by the Eev. Stephen Hislop, of 

 the Scotch Mission at Nagpur, whose contributions to the 

 geology of Central India were of high merit. One of his 

 papers, having reference to the geology of the neighbourhood 

 of Eajahmundry, will be referred to further on. 



The geological survey broke ground in the Grodavari valley 

 in 1870-71 when Mr. W. T. Blanford, Depy. Supt., first 

 connected the known rock formations of Central India with 

 those established by the Greological Survey of the Madras 

 Presidency. This was done by a number of careful traverses 

 from the neighbourhood of Sironcha down to the country 

 around Nuzed (Noozeid) . Much of Mr. Blanf ord's time was 

 devoted to the borings being carried out in the small patches 

 of Barakar rocks (formerly called Damudas, the Indian 



