114 
Record# of the Geological Survey of India. 
[vol. VIII. 
subsequently to the denudation—may perhaps be a subject for speculation ; but even supposing 
that a certain amount of disturbance may have been due to this cause, the general steady suc¬ 
cession of beds from south to north, and the fact that the sandstones rest upon different mem¬ 
bers, of that succession in different places, must, I thinli, be regarded as indicating a period of 
disturbance and denudation between the deposition of the two series of rock. It may be 
added that whereas we find in the case of the Janjghir section, already alluded to, the upper 
sandstones passing from Barakars (at the base of the group) on to gneiss, the same rocks 
cover up the highest members of the Barakar succession which are exposed on the southern 
limits of the Barakar area between Bijana and Deogaon. 
In their lithological characters these beds differ in a marked degree from the Barakars. 
The first thing which strikes one about them is that they almost invariably present a reddish 
aspect from the freely disseminated iron. Be they conglomerates, sandstones, or clay shale, 
the presence of iron is generally prominently apparent. The soil, too, which is derived from 
their decomposition, is nearly always red and sandy. Notwithstanding this, ironstones of 
good quality are very much less frequently met with in this group than in the Barakars. 
I have been unable to see that the beds of different lithological characters occupy any 
definite succession. The red clay beds particularly seem to have a very capricious distribu¬ 
tion. Though not always present, they are generally found among the bottom beds of the 
group. Towards the top, too, they not uufrequently occur. In the ceutre they appear seldom. 
Often where one would expect to see them, they do not show the slightest indication of their 
presence. Conglomerates and sandstones alternate with one another without showing any 
regular sequence so far as I was able to make out. 
The conglomerates consist chiefly of small rounded quartz pebbles, bound together in a 
sandy ferruginous matrix with a varying amount of felspar. The pebbles rarely exceed 
6 inches in their greatest diameter, and sometimes they are uniformly, throughout particular 
beds, not larger than small marbles. Occasionally the pebbles are of gneiss. This is, of 
course, most frequently the case when the underlying rocks belong to the metamorphic series. 
The sandstones vary much in texture and color, but really fine-grained sandstones are 
rare, and white, or even grey looking, rocks are of unusual occurrence. Sometimes beds occur, 
both in the case of conglomerates and sandstones, which it is not easy to distinguish from 
Barakars. In such cases traces of associated carbonaceous beds are anxiously looked for as 
affording an almost infallible test of the age. The beds of sandstones, as may be seen in 
the scarped sides of the hills, occasionally attain very considerable thicknesses, narrow part¬ 
ings of shale occurring at distances of from 20 to 40 feet. The most common form of sand- 
stono is a rough brownish grit, which, even when under the constant action of running water, 
seldom shows a clean or smooth surface. Carbonate of lime is not often present in suffi¬ 
cient quantity to give rise to any marked form of chemical weathering. Mechanically 
formed pot-holes are, for some reason which I cannot explain, less common than in the 
Barakars. 
Shales or clays, generally red and sometimes passing into ironstones, include all the 
remaining forms of rock found in this group. In one direction these beds show a tendency 
to pass into sandstones, but as I have said, fine grained sandstones, properly so called, 
seldom occur. Mica occurs in abundance in certain layers. With the exception of some 
white beds which are occasionally met with, all are ferruginous, some highly so ; the latter 
are dense and heavy, but are seldom used as an ore of iron by the natives. 
The only beds of this group which have so far proved fossiliferous are the shales which 
have just been mentioned, and they are by no means universally so. The place where I 
