 Gondwana coal fields [250 million years old]

 Tertiary coal fields [15 – 60 million years old]

Gondwana Coal
 Gondwana coal makes up to 98 per cent of the total reserves and 99 per cent of the
production of coal in India. Satpuras, denudation [weathering + erosion] has exposed coal
bearing Gondwana strata.
 The carbon content in Gondwana coal [250 million years old] is less compared to
the Carboniferous coal [350 million years old][Almost Absent in India] because of its
much younger age.
 Gondwana coal forms India’s metallurgical grade as well as superior quality coal.
 The Damuda series (i.e. Lower Gondwana) possesses the best worked coalfields
accounting for 80 per cent of the total coal production in India. 80 out of 113 Indian
coalfields are located in the rock systems of the Damuda series [lower Gondwana Age].
 Coking as well as non-coking and bituminous as well as sub-bituminous coal are obtained
from Gondwana coal fields.
 Anthracite is generally not found in the Gondwana coal fields.
 The volatile compounds and ash (usually 13 – 30 per cent) doesn’t allow Carbon percentage
to rise above 55 to 60 per cent. [It requires few million years more if the quality has to get
better. Remember Gondwana coal is 100 million years younger than Carboniferous coal].
 Gondwana coal is free from moisture, but it contains Sulphur and Phosphorous.
 These basins occur in the valleys of certain rivers viz., the Damodar (Jharkhand-West
Bengal); the Mahanadi (Chhattisgarh-Odisha); the Son (Madhya Pradesh Jharkhand); the
Godavari and the Wardha (Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh); the Indravati, the Narmada, the
Koel, the Panch, the Kanhan and many more.

Distribution of Gondwana Coal in India

 First coal mine was opened in 1774 at Raniganj in West Bengal.
 Coal industry was nationalized in 1973-74. [The present government made some serious
changes during the last year [2015] by allowing private sector to play a bigger role in coal
production].
 India is now the third largest coal producer in the world after China and the USA.
 Gondwana Coalfields == exclusively found in the Peninsular plateau of India.

Gondwana Coalfields in Jharkhand

 1st in reserves [28%].
 2nd in production [20%].
 Most of the coal fields are located in a narrow belt
running in east-west direction.
 Major coalfields are present in Dumka (Santhal
Parganas), Hazaribagh, Dhanbad and Palamu.
 Jharia, Bokaro, Girdih and Karanpura are the
major coal fields
 One of the oldest and the richest coalfields of
Jharia coalfield India; store house of the best metallurgical coal
Danbad [coking coal]
district

Jayanti coalfields inferior quality and has high ash content

Bokaro coalfield
West Bokaro [900 m
It is a long but narrow strip in the catchment area of
deep]
the Bokaro river.
East Bokaro [600 m
deep]
Hazaribagh
district
Girdih (Karharbari) Gives out of the finest coking coal in India for
coalfield metallurgical purposes.

Karanpura and
Ramgarh coalfields

Auranga coalfield

Palamu inferior quality; used in cement furnaces and brick

Hutar coalfield
district kilns

Deltenganj coalfield

Dumka
Devgarh coalfields inferior quality
district

Rajmahal
Rajmahal coalfield inferior quality
hills
Gondwana Coalfields in Odisha

Ranks second in reserves (24,374 million tonnes)

Talcher town to after Raniganj;
Rairkhol in Coal from this field is most suitable for steam and
Talcher field
Dhenkanal and gas production.
Sambalpur districts Most of the coal is utilised in thermal power and
fertilizer plants at Talcher.

Rampur- Coal occurs here in middle and lower Barakar

Sambalpur and
Himgir seams.
Sundargarh
coalfields inferior quality

Ib river Sambalpur and

Much of the coal is of inferior quality.
coalfield Jharsuguda district
Gondwana Coalfields in Madhya Pradesh

largest coalfield of Madhya Pradesh

Jhingurda, Panipahari, Khadia, Purewa and Turra are
Singrauli Sidhi and
important coal seams
(Waidhian) Shandol
Jhingurda with a total thickness of 131 m is the richest
coalfield districts
coal seam of the country.
thermal power plants at Singrauli and Obra

Pench-
Chhindwara Ghoravari seam in Kanhan field is 4.6 m thick and
Kanhan-
district contains coking coal
Tawa

Sohagpur Shandol
coalfield district

Umaria Umaria
inferior quality with high percentage of moisture and ash.
coalfield district
Gondwana Coalfields in Andhra Pradesh

 6th in reserves [7.07 %].

 5th in production [9.69 %].
 Most of the coal reserves are in
the Godavari valley.
 Adilabad, Karimnagar,
Warangal, Khammam, East
Godavari, and West Godavari.
 The actual workable collieries
are situated at Singareni and
Kothagudam.
 Almost the entire coal is of non-
coking variety.
 These are the southern most
coalfields of India and a source
of coal supply to most of south
India.

Gondwana Coalfields in Maharashtra

 3 per cent reserves.

 7 per cent of the production.

Gondwana Coalfields in West Bengal

 4 % of India’s coal.
 11 % of the coal reserves.
 Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri are the chief producing
districts.
 RANIGANJ is the largest coalfield of West Bengal.
 Raniganj == Barddhaman, Bankura and Purulia districts;
Small part of this field is in Jharkhand state.
 The coal here is non-coking steam coal.
 Dalingkot coalfield == Darjeeling district.
Gondwana Coalfields in Uttar Pradesh
 Do not possess coal reserves.
 A small portion of the Singrauli field of Madhya Pradesh falls within Mirzapur district.
 A high grade coal seam, about 1 to 1.5 m thick occurs near Kotah.

Tertiary Coal
 Tertiary coal 15 to 60 million years old. Carbon content is very low.
 Mainly confined to the extra-Peninsula [Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Assam,
Arunachal Pradesh etc.]
 Coal generally has low carbon and high percentage of moisture and Sulphur.[It takes few
hundred million years for the carbon content to improve].
 Important areas of Tertiary coal include parts of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh,
Nagaland, Himalayan foothills of Darjeeling in West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala,
 Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Pondicherry also bear tertiary coal reserves
[exceptions].

Tertiary Coalfields in Assam

 Makum, Nazira, Mikir Hills, Dilli-Jeypore and Lakhuni.
 Makum coalfield in Sibsagar district is the most developed field.
 Assam coals contain very low ash and high coking qualities but the sulphur content is
high, as a result of which this coal is not suitable for metallurgical purposes.
 But these coals are best suited for hydrogenation process and are used for making liquid
fuels.

Tertiary Coalfields in Arunachal Pradesh

 Upper Assam Coal belt extends eastwards as Namchick-Namrup coalfield.
 High in volatiles and in sulphur.

Tertiary Coalfields in Meghalaya

 Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills.
 Darrangiri field == Garo hills.
 Siju, Cherrapunji, Liotryngew, Maolong and Langrin coalfields == Khasi and Jaintia hills.

Tertiary Coalfields in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh

 Kalakot and surrounding regions in Jammu, south of Pirpanjal.
 Himachal Pradesh == Chamba district.

Tertiary Coal – Lignite

 Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Rajasthan, West Bengal and
Puducherry.
 Tamil Nadu excels all other states regarding reserves and production of lignite.
Lignite in Tamil Nadu
 90 per cent of the reserves.
 57 per cent of the production.
 Neyveli Lignite fields of Cuddalore district.
 These are the largest deposits of lignite in south – east Asia.
 Neyveli mines suffer from the artesian structure [mining goes deep and deep].
 Mining in Lignite coalfields is risky due to SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION of lignite.

Lignite in Gujarat and Rajasthan

 Kachchh district and Dharuch district; poor quality.
 Rajasthan == Palana in Bikaner district; The 250 MW thermal plant at Bikaner wholly
depends upon lignite as the basic fuel.

Tertiary Coal – Peat

 Confined to a few areas only.
 Occurs in Nilgiri hills.
 Kashmir valley, peat occurs in the alluvium of the Jhelum.
 In West Bengal peat beds are noted in Kolkata and its suburbs.
 In the Ganga delta, there are layers of peat which are composed of forest and rice plants.