64 - 
Records of the Geological Survey of India. 
[vol. x. 
The next points in the inquiry (the possibility of these rocks directly overlying the 
coal-measures being thus admitted from analogy) involve a general description of the 
local conditions, which may therefore be conveniently noticed at once. 
The area occupied by these rocks covers about 60 square miles, spreading both to north 
and south of the Mahanadi Valley above Cuttack. It is covered with low hills and ranges 
which rarely, if ever, exceed 250 feet in height, and are generally of very much less elevation. 
Both the hills and the intervening valleys are covered with a dense, thorny, secondary 
jungle which, throughout a large proportion of its extent, is absolutely impenetrable. Indeed, 
the central portion of these hills is an unoccupied waste without villages or cultivation. 
The trunk road and its vicinity afford an opportunity of examining a cross section in one 
direction, while the Mahanadi river yields a more or less broken one in another. Otherwise, 
examination of these rocks has to be conducted round the edges of the area where, however, 
the junctions are, with a few important exceptions, concealed by alluvium or laterite. 
To the north of the Cuttack and Sambalpur road, between Kukkur and Daiserah, there are 
several ranges of small hills. Towards the east these are chiefly formed of laterite, owing 
to which, and the density' of the jungle, it is impossible to define the limits and nature of the 
underlying rocks; but even if these obscuring causes were removed, the surrounding 
alluvium would render exact demarcation impossible. Still, from the existence of meta- 
morphic rocks at no great distance to the north and north-east, there are known limits 
beyond which the sandstones cannot extend in those directions. Proceeding westwards 
through these hills, the laterite steadily lessens in amount, and towards their western termi¬ 
nation the jungle is the only agent in the concealment of the rocks. Here there are coarse 
and loose-textured conglomerates with ferruginous sandstones ; these rocks appear to be at 
the base of the group, and probably rest naturally on the metamorphic rocks which are seen 
not far off on the west. 
The same rocks are seen in a stream crossed by the road about a mile east of Daiserah, 
between which and some schistose gneiss at the river-crossing near Sonkarpur, no rocks are 
exposed on or near the road. South of the road a spur from the main ranges between it and 
the river terminates in an abrupt scarp below the village of Hontikul. The rocks exhibited in 
this scarp consist chiefly of loose-textured, coarse-grained sandstones with occasional pebbles. 
Towards the top are some white clay beds, in one short longth of which, and not elsewhere, I 
found the fossils described in a following paper by Dr. Peistmantel. The hills which occur 
to the south and south-west of Daiserah and between it and Malbadapur consist of white 
and ferruginous coarse-grained sandstones, generally capped by conglomerates, and invariably 
with horizontal bedding. At Malbadapur metamorphics appear, and the boundary, which 
seems to be quite natural, strikes southwards through the corner of the large lake or jkeel, 
and thence to the south-south-east, where it passes under the northern end of the Gopalpur 
hill, where the sandstones and conglomerates are seen at the top, hornbleudic gneiss forming 
the base. The sedimentary rocks alone appear at the southern end of the hill, where it 
impinges on the river, and are well exposed in section there. Prom the above it would 
appear that this portion of the boundary is natural, and that no beds exist between these 
sandstones and the metamorphics in this part of the area. It may be added that a similar 
section exists in the end of the hill which lies on the line of boundary between the rise at 
Gopalpur and the corner of the jheel, but owing to jungle, the section is less clear. 
In the river section a slight dip of the sandstones from the boundary towards the cast 
can be observed, but it is only a slight departure from the general horizontal position. 
