Detailed descriptions of the respective coalfields. 57 
a strip of their common p;noissic floor, from one half to three 
miles in width, for ail intents and purposes they form one field. 
The rock groups represented within the area are the same as 
those which occupy the easterly fields of tlic Damuda valley, i.e., 
Panchets, Daniudas and Talchirs. The structure of the field is that 
of a comparatively shallow and somewhat oval basin., or broad 
synclinal trough, with a general dip inwards of the strata from 
all parts of the periphery towards the centre ; but it is not exempt 
from local undulations. Except for the well-defined fault on the 
south of the fields, dislocations of the strata are few and un- 
important. There is an extraordinary absence of trappean intrusion 
and with the exception of two in the southern field the dykes 
which are seen are not traceable for any distance. There is a 
number of thick coal-seams but they are much less numerous 
than in the eastern fields. Mr. Hughes^ who mapped the area in 
detail in 1867-68 estimated that in the northern field, presuming 
an average thickness of 35 feet of coal to occur over an area of 
only 250 sq. miles, there is a total quantity of 8,750 million tons 
of coal. In the southern field he assumed an average thickness 
of 50 feet of coal over an area of only 15 sq. miles, and a total 
quantity of 75 million tons of coal. Mr. Hughes points out that 
these estimates are extremely conservative ones. Much of the coal 
is of excellent quality ; the following assay is a fair measure of 
the quality of the better seams : — 
Volatile matter 27-00 
Fixed carbon . . . . . . . .64-50 
Ash 8-50 
The position of the coalfields between the elevated table-lands 
of Hazaribagh and. Ranchi, render, them somewhat difficult of access. 
In time to come, however, 1 the construction of the projected Jharia- 
Daltonganj line, via the Damuda valley, will afford them commu- 
nication with both up and dowii-country markets. From the 
latter the heavy freight charges would probably keep out the coal 
until such time as the better coals of the lower coainelds become 
exhausted; in the former market,; however, Karanpura coal would 
probably be in considerable demand , at highly remunerative prices. 
Chope. — This small coalfield is situated on the Hazaribagh pla- 
teau at an elevation of 2,000 feet above sea-level, and lies about 
1 Mem., G. S. /., Vol. VII, p. 285 (1871). 
