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68 COAL.
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Of
the thirty-seven separate coal fields only five are at present worked
with regularity. These are Ranigunj, Karharbari, and Daltongunj in
Bengal, and Mopani and Wardah in the Central Provinces.
In
the following abbreviated notes I endeavour to give the chief points of
importance regarding each field, while the references to the
publications of the Geological Survey will indicate the sources from
whence fuller details may be obtained :—
LOWER BENGAL. I. Rajmahal Area.*
The
Rajmahal hills form a series of low plateaus, which are situated at the
point where the Ganges turns southwards to form the head of its delta.
The
formations in this area, which are connected with the coal-measures,
are, in descending order, as follows:—1. Laterite. 2. Rajmahal Group,
consisting chiefly of contemporaneous traps, with beds containing
fossil plants, 1,500 feet. 3. Dubrajpur Group ( = Mahadevas), 450 feet.
4. Barakar Group ( = coal-measures). 5. Talchir Group. These cover a
total area of about 4,000 square miles. The coal-measures are exposed
over seventy square miles, but doubtless extend over a vastly greater
area underneath the younger formations. Separated by these overlying
rocks, five distinct areas or fields may be enumerated —1. Hura; 2.
Chuparbhita; 3. Pachwara; 4. Mho-wagurhi; 5. Brahmani. These are
all on the western margin of the hills. It will be an interesting and
economically important point to decide, whether the coal-measures
extend underneath the traps, &c, to the
* "Mem Geol. Survey of India," vol. xiii. Also " Manual," pp. 165, 171.
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