GEOLOGICAL OGCURRENCIli OF COAL IN INDIA. 
3 
the coalfields of South Africa is one of a number of facts pointing 
to the similarity in age of the coal-bearing rocks of both countries. 
The Talchirs attain their greatest development in the Raniganj 
coalfield, where their thickness is about 800 feet. 
The rocks of the Karharbari stage rest conformably on the 
Talchirs. They have been chiefly studied in the 
Karliarbari beds. r^- ■ ^■^ \n ^^ i i.i • 
Gn-idih coalfield, where they attain a maximum 
thickness of about 800 feet, but their palajontological characteristics 
have been recognised in most of the peninsular coalfields. In 1879- 
81 Dr. Feistmantel, on palseontological grounds, classified the lower 
Karharbari beds with the underlying Talchirs, but Dr. Saise,^ 
in the light of more recent exploration, considers the stratigraphical 
evidence strong enough to upset this classification and prefers to 
consider them as Barakars. They consist of white, grey, or brown 
felspathic sandstones, grits and conglomerates with coal-seams ; 
a little shale is associated with the latter. The fragments of 
felspar and quartz of which the grits are composed are, as a rule, 
angular or sub-angular, and are thus sharply distinguished from 
those in the typical Barakars, which are usually well-rounded. The 
coal is dull-black in colour, and fairly uniform in structure. It bears a 
high character as a locomotive fuel. 
The Talchir-Karharbari group is succeeded by a great series of 
^ J beds, the Damuda series, in which, with the 
doubtful exception of the Giridih field, occur the 
workable coal-seams of Peninsular India. It is divided into three 
stages which are known in Bengal as the Barakar stage, the Iron- 
stone shales, and the Raniganj beds. Only the first and last of 
these are coal-bearing. The names Barakar, Motur and Bijori 
have been given to the same beds in the Narbada valley, bi\t 
here the coal is confined to the lower division. In the Goda- 
vari region again, the Barakar is the only coal-bearing formation, and 
in this area the beds overlying the Barakars are known as the Kamthi 
stage. The total thickness of the Damuda series is 8,400 feet in 
the Raniganj field and about 10,000 feet in the Narbada basin. 
The Barakars attain their maximum development in the Jharia 
^, „ , ^ coalfield, where they are 3,300 feet in thickness. 
The Barakar stape. i p n 
ihey are composed of sandstones, conglomerates, 
shales and coal. The sandstones are usually soft, coarse and 
> I'ec, Gf.ol. Siirv." Ind., VoJ. XXVII, p. 89 (18941 
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