RECORDS 
or THE 
GEOLOGICAL SUKYEY OE INDIA. 
No. 2.] 
1868 
[August. 
Blaktokd, W. T., F. G. S., on the Coal Seams of the neighbourhood of Chasda, 
During the last few days I have been engaged in examining the coal seams discovered 
by Captain Lucie Smith. Deputy Commissioner of Chanda, in the neighbourhood of that 
station. I have the honor to forward the following report upon the prospects of the coal being 
profitably mined. It will he seen that, although one seam is very promising, some further 
research'is necessary before a decisive opinion can he formed upon this subject. I have had 
the advantage of Captain Lucie Smith’s company during my examination of the coal, and I 
have received from that officer all the information and assistance it was in his power to afford. 
Coal has been found near Chanda in two localities, both upon the hanks of the river 
Wurda. In one of these places a seam is exposed on both hanks of the river ; in the other, 
only upon the right hank. The river, it should he remarked, forms the boundary between 
the Central Provinces and the Nizam’s Territories (including Berar)—the left hank belong¬ 
ing to the former. 
The more northern of the two localities is about 14 miles due west of Chanda station. 
It is here that the coal is found upon both banks of the river—the right bank belonging to the 
south-east or Wood district of Berar. The coal is met with upon that bank in lands 
belonging to the deserted village of Kumbari. It is exposed in the bottom of a small nulla 
running into the river; a hole dug in the bed of the nulla showed the coal seam to be between 
5 and 6 feet in thickness, the uppermost portion being much decomposed, so that the exact 
amount of coal is difficult to determine. Below is grey argillaceous sandstone. The dip is 
about 7° to the west-south-west. 
Both above and below the coal seam there are massive felspathic sandstones, good sections 
of which are exposed in the river. There is a possibility that the sandstone seen north-east 
of the coal seam, and which appears to underlie it, may be the upper bed repeated bv a fault 
hut there is no trustworthy indication of such being the case. The band of sandstone 
resting upon the coal can be traced across the country for a considerable distance, and passes 
just west of the village of Belora. A shaft sunk on the west side of that village would in 
all probability, cut the seam, if it extends so far. 
The exposure upon the Chanda, or left hank of the Wurda, is at the edge of the river 
in the lands of Googoos village, and west of the village of Chendoor. There is a bare 
possibility of the seam being different from that seen on the right bank : hut every appearance 
is in favor of its identity. An excavation made by Captain Lucie Smith, while I was on 
the spot, gave the following sections : — 
1. Coarse white sandstone seen in the river bank, and the same as that on the 
opposite bank of the river over the Kumbari coal ... ... very thick. 
2. White sandy shale with carbonaceous layers ,,, '...2 feet seen. 
3. Carbonaceous shale ... ... ... ... 1 foot 
4. Coal variable ... ... ... 1 foot 3 inches to ... 2 feet 
5. Micaceous sandy shale, cut into to the depth of a foot ... ... bottom not seen 
The dip was the same as on the opposite hank of the river. 
