734 MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF INDIA : DESCRIPTIVE. [PaRT IV : 
The manganese-ore deposits occur only in the north-western portions 
, . , , , of this district, and are situated partly in the Bhan- 
Physical characters ' 
and geology of the dara (Nos. 1 to 4, 7, and 10 to 14) and partly in the 
manganese ore belt. _ii • i ^ -t ,j,t - r. r^^ mi • 
! hirora tahsil (Nos. o, 6, 8, 9). This area forms, to- 
gether with the manganese-ore zone of the Balaghat district, an extension 
of the manganiferous belt of the Nagpur district. The Bhandara man- 
ganese area is 20 miles long (Asalpani to Chikhla II) and has a maximum 
width of 18 miles (Pachara to tiitapathur). The chief topographical 
feature is the rather high range of quartzite hills starting from the west 
end of the district at Bhandarbori and running east by a little north to 
Ambagarh, where it reaches an elevation of about 700 feet above the 
plains. It then curls round to the north-east through Chandpur and 
finally sinks to the plains 4 miles north-east of Rampaili, the total length 
being thus 34 miles. In addition to this range there are numerous small 
hills and hill ranges with peaks up to 500 feet above the level of the plains. 
The plains between and surrounding these hills are at an average elevation 
of about 1,000 feet or a little more above sea-level. The hills are usually 
clothed with a fairly thick tree -jungle ; whilst the plains are partly, where 
alluvial, given up to the cultivation of rice and other crops, and partly, 
where stony, covered with thin tree-jimgle. This area is drained by the 
Bhawanthari and Chunni rivers ; these discharge their waters into the 
Wainganga river, which, near Chandpur, comes to within 4 miles of the 
south-east foot of the above-mentioned quartzite range. 
Geologically the manganese area of the Bhandara district is a continua- 
tion of the Nagpur manganese belt. The rocks exposed at the surface 
all over this area are quartzites, gneisses (both acid, epidotic, and pyrox- 
enic), and mica-schists, with pegm.atitic intrusions. 
The manganese-ore deposits nearly all occur in the hillocks and 
hill-ranges noted above, the highest outcrop of manganese-ore being 
on the top of Bhamasur Hill (see Chikhla I), which rises to about 540 feet 
above the plains. The manganese-ore deposits form, together with the 
associated manganese-silicate rocks of the gondite series, lenticular bands 
enclosed parallel to the strike in the quartzites, schists, and gneisses. 
They are in every way similar in mode of occurrence, origin, and mineral 
constitution, to tho.se of the Nagpur district. 
