DETAILED DKSCIll I'TIONS OK Til 10 RKSl'ECTIVK COALFIELDS. 8? 
In 1909 the area again attracted attention and the (istahhsh- 
ment of a working eollieiy was initiated. In 1910, 830 tons of 
coal were mined. 
Lamela Ghat, e/c— This locality is on the right bank of the 
Narl)ada, near Lameta, and about 9 miles W. S. W. of Jabalpur. 
The coal is of Upper Gondwana age ; it occurs as a seam 2 feet 
11 inches thick, of which an 8-inch layer is composed of shale 
in two bands.^ The fuel is in\pure and has a distinctly lignitic 
character; a picked sample yielded 20 per cent, of inorganic matter. 
Coal, on approximately the same geological horizon was found at a 
depth of 70 feet in a well at Jabalpur. The Lameta coal has been 
quarried intermittently for brick-burning purposes since early times. 
Coal of the same age was also extracted on the Sher and 
Machariwa rivers near Sehora and similar deposits have been exa- 
mined in the following localities : ^ — 
(1) On the Mahanadi, N. E. of Jabalpur ; 
(2) In the Hard river, a tributary of the Sakkur ; 
(3) On the flanks of Nimugarh, south of Mohpani. 
In no single case have the deposits been considered worthy of 
exploitation for more than purely local purposes. 
Wardha Valley. — These coalfields are situated in the Chanda 
and Wun districts. They occupy the valley of the Wardha river 
for a distance of about 72 miles in a straight line, the total area 
being 1,600 square miles. 
The coal-bearing rocks (Barakars) have a thickness of only 250 
feet, and as a consequence their distribution is very broken, and 
the area they occupy at the surface small. There is hardly a con- 
nected exposure in the field, and the knowledge which has been 
acquired of the composition of the rocks, and their order of suc- 
cession is due far more to the details ascertained by borings than 
to any natural sections. There appears to be only one coal 
horizon, and it occurs near the top of the coal measures. The 
thickness of coal varies from nothing up to 90 feet, the average 
being about 30 feet. The general dip of the rocks is low. 
Our knowledge of the coalfields is almost entirely due to the 
labours of T. W. H. Hughes,^ who between 1870-1876 mapped 
1 Mallet : Eec, G. S. I., XXIT, 146 (1889). 
2 Medlicott, H. B. : lice, G. S. L, III, 65 (1870). 
* Mem., a. 8. I., XIII, pt. 1 (1S77). 
