PART 3.] 
Ncdlicoil, S/uqjar Coal-field. 
Rajmahals had not been rectified. Mr. Blanford accordingly, in correlating the groups of the 
lower with those of the upper Narbada valley (which he had not seen), affiliated the Lameta, 
ami with it the Mahadeva beds of the latter, to the cretaceous horizon of the former area. 
Tins view has been so far upheld as regards the Lameta group; but in November 1872 
(Records, Geological Survey, Vol. V, p. 115), the correction was pointed out as regards the 
-Mahadevas. In making so important a change it might have been thought better to adopt 
a new name, but if that were done the correction would not have been so apparent—the old 
name would have held on.in its false connection. Besides, the correction was made in the 
typical area: the Pachmari (Mahadeva) sandstone is now known to hold a middle horizon 
m a continuously superposed series, of which the Jabalpur (Rajmahal) group is the upper¬ 
most, and the Talchirs the lowest member. The original Mahadeva ground contains four 
well marked groups (Jabalpur, Bagra, Bemva, Pachmari) forming the present Mahadeva 
series. 
The correction just quoted led, of course, to tho view that there were no Mahadevas in 
True Mahadevas at Banvai. the lower Narbada area; that all the infra-trappean strata there 
either belonged to, or were closely connected with, the much 
younger cretaceous group of Bagb. The observation I have now to bring to notice is that 
there are true Mahadevas at Barwai, unconformable to the cretaceous beds of that place. 
The proof of this discovery is due to Mr. Moore, oue of the engineers at the railway viaduct 
on the Narbada. Mr. Moore has charge of the great quarries opened at Gratta, on the 
upland east of Barwai, on tho hanks of the Choral, and to which a temporary railway is 
laid from the viaduct. In the bottom of a small valley, about a quarter of a mile north, 
o! his bungalow, Mr. Moore discovered a number of fossil oyster shells in a shallow water¬ 
course. The ground being quite flat there was no section ; so at my request Mr. Moore had 
a shallow pit sunk, and has sent me the following description :— 
“ r 
6 '' 
9" 
3' 3'' 
4 ' 6 " 
entirely of oyster shells. 
Thin bed of conglomerate with fossils imbedded. 
Bed of soft white sandstone; first foot excavated with a pick; the rest 
harder and distinctly stratified with perfectly level beds. 
Thick bed (bottom not reached) of water-worn pebbles and small boulders 
imbedded in still yellowish-brown clay or loam.” 
From this spot, by sinking shallow pits, Mr. Moore traced the fossil-bed (without 
getting to the end of it) to within 400 feet of the scarped upland, about 80 feet high, 
formed of the massive sandstone in which quarries are opened over a very large area. 
It is a hard white rock with red streaks and mottling. Pebbles (chiefly of Vindhyan 
quartzite) are scattered through it locally so as to form a conglomerate; but even in the 
clearest sections in the quarries no regular bedding is visible, the strings of pebbles, however, 
indicating that tic mass is undisturbed. Well marked joint-planes traverse it in various 
directions. It is a thoroughly consolidated rock, though portions of it are much harder 
than others through infiltration of silica from the once superincumbent trap. No earthy 
ayer is found in it; and along the Choral it is seen resting directly on the nearly vertical 
-bijawar limestone and breccias. 
One could scarcely desire a more distinct case of a wide geological break than Is pre¬ 
sented m this section: the petrographieal contrast is evident enough from the foregoing 
csciiptiou, suggesting in the strongest manner the necessary distinction of the formations, 
c ease foi uneonfoimity may not he considered conclusive: a small fault between 
aland the scarp to east of it would account for the actual relative positions; 
coucea c sliaip ottryu in the bedding would have the same effect: or even it might 
