RECORDS 
OF THE 
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OE INDIA, 
Part 3.] 1871. [August- 
Report on the progress and results of borings for coal in the Godavari 
Valley near Dumjgudem and Bhadrachalam, l>y W. T. Blanford, P. G. S., 
Deputy Superintendent , Geological Survey of India. 
The occurrence of fragments of shaly coal in the bed of the Godavari close to the. 
spot where the Till river joins it from the north, about twelve miles above Dumagudem, has 
been known for several years. It was noticed by Mr. Wall in bis report of his journey to 
Kota near Sironcha in 1857, and the coal was by him supposed to be derived from the Tal river. 
An examination of the Tal for a considerable distance above its junction with the Godavari, 
however, having proved fruitless, Colonel Haig, the Superintending Engineer of the Godavari 
Navigation Works, asked me to examine the spot when I was marching down the valley in 
May 1867. I found that in the Tal, near its junction with the Godavari, the only rocks 
exposed belonged to the Talehir group, whilst the Damuda shales and sandstones, which alone 
have been hitherto found in the Indian Peninsula to contain coal, appeared at the spot where the 
smaller stream joined the Godavari, and I suggested that the coal probably came from a seam 
buried beneath the sand of the river, and advised exploration by digging away the sand 
and closely examining the rocks. This was dono by Mr. Vanstavern, Executive Engineer, 
and resulted in the discovery of coal in four places, all a little lower down the river than 
the mouth of the Tal, so that the bed from which the fragments first found were derived 
has not yet been detected, but as a large quantity of silt and sand has been accumulated 
near the mouth of the Tal of late years, it is probably now covered to a considerable depth. 
Tbe quality was inferior.. Of the seams found, two, neither of them exceeding 2 feet in 
thickness, were detected close to the left bank of the river, opposite the village of Lingula. 
The quality of the coal is rather inferior, and both seams thin out and disappear within a 
few yards ; moreover, as the dip of the rocks at Lingula is towards the river bed, or south¬ 
west, and the outcrop exactly parallel with the bank, it is clear that the beds, even if of good 
quality, could not be easily worked at this spot, as the whole of them within any reasonable 
depth must be beneath the bed of the river. 
Tbe third seam found crops out in the middle of the river bed ; it is about 5 feet thick, and 
the quality appears better than in the other seams. Tbe reef of sandstone resting on this coal 
can be fairly traced at intervals for some distance, and after running along the river for about 
a mile, it turns in towards tbe right or south-west bank. Here its course becomes obscure. 
Borings were put down by Mr. Vanstavern near the spot where tbe coal would probably crop 
out on tbe bank, but without success. Another thin seam, only 2 feet thick, has also been 
detected by Mr. Vanstavern on the right bank of the river. This, like the two first met 
with, thins out within a few yards in one direction. 
