'File 35/64 III Minerals in Oman. Madrasai geologists' researches' [‎42v] (93/276)

supply fuel for local purposes from surface workings,—and for this there is no'
local demand.
9. The outcrops just described are not the only ones that were seen in these
rocks. Close to the water hole at Musweh camp is a band of coal 18 inched
thick'; a band of shaly coal is found in the ravine south of the coal valley <
in a tributary on the opposite side of the main valley three seams of coal, of
from 4 to 8 inches in thickness, are found ; and about two miles down streafif
from Musweh camp a thin string of coaly shale was seen. Evidently the.
conditions, under which the coal-bearing rocks were formed, were sueh as?
favoured small accumulations of vegetable matter, but not the formation of
extensive coal seams.
10. The second locality visited was Jebel Khami, on the eastern slope of
the Musawi range. The coal occurs in rocks which belong to the same series'
as those in which the Musweh coal is found, but lower down in it. There
were a couple of thin bands of coal, associated with thick beds of carbonaceous
shale and evidently as inconstant as the Musweh coals.
11. Having examined the Jebel Khami and Musweh localities, we wettf
on to Mi gel, which is in the same field as Musw^eh, though in a different
drainage basin and separated by a ridge of about 500 feet in height. Here I
saw the outcrop examined by I)r. von Krafft, a good exposure of nice looking;
coal, which would have been regarded as very promising but for the experience
gained at Musweh. The anticipation that it too would thin out very rapidly;
was strengthened by the variation of thickness along the exposure: one
measurement gave 4 feet 9 inches, another 16 feet off gave 5 feet 1 inch, and a
third, obtained 12 feet further on by digging out the extreme end of the expo*
sure, gave 3 feet 2J inches. This pointed to a rapid thinning out. but I soon
found that the coal extended further than at first sight seemed ^ probable.
Up the valley I found two exposures on the same side, and about 800 yards
up, under a cliff, over which the water falls on the rare occasions when the
stream flows, there was a deep cut recess at the back of which an exposure of
carbonaceous shale was seen. On clearing this out and digging downwards
the coal seam was found, with a thickness of 4 feet 6 inches.
12. This coal seam can be picked up with ease, as it and the associated
shales are over and underlaid by two peculiar rocks. The overlying one is a
calcareous sandstone, passing into limestone, composed of large spheroidal con-'
cretionary masses of a blue grey colour set in a buff coloured matrix: the
underlying rock is a massive, hard, white sandstone. Led by these guides it was
found that the exposure of carbonaceous shale in the next ravine to the south,
mentioned by Dr. von Krafft in his report, was on the same horizon as the
original exposure, I had an excavation made here and found the coal was
only 1 foot 8 inches thick, overlaid by about 8 feet of carbonaceous shale; half I
a mile further up this stream I found another exposure of carbonaceous shale,
and, after digging down through 8 feet of it, found that the coal had dwindled
to only 9 inches in thickness.
13. No other exposure of the coal seam, or of rock on its horizon is seen
on this side of the valley, but about a mile to east-north-eastward of the camp
at Migel the white sandstone is found in the bed of a stream, and above it the,
rock composed of blue grey spheroids set in a buff matrix. On searching the v
ground between these two rocks I found an exposure of coaly matter in the
stream bed and another on the valley side. On opening out this exposure the
coal was found to be only 2 inches in thickness.
14. Besides the coal of the seam seen by Dr. von Itrafft I saw two others
in this valley, both at lower horizons. The lower of these is exposed about
half a mile up stream and the other further down, between the two coals
already mentioned; the lower coal is only 6 inches thick and the other
7 inches.
15. Prom the measurements recorded in the preceding paragraphs it will
be seen that von Krafft's coal seam, though more extensive than those at
Musweh, thin out in a short distance. The exposures seem to indicate,
however, that there may be an area of as much as a quarter of a mile square
with a thickness of 4 feet and more. This gives some 250,000 tons ox