Geology and coal resources of the Thar Coal Field, Sindh Province, Pakistan

Abstract

The Thar coal field is located in the Thar Desert of southeast Pakistan in eastern Sindh Province. The coal field area covers about 9,000 square kilometers with dimensions of 140 km (north-south) by 65 km (east-west); the field area is bounded by the Pakistan-India border to the north, east, and south. The field area is covered by northeasttrending longitudinal stabilized sand dunes with topographic relief of up to 100 m. The Thar is essentially roadless with tracks through the sand being the principal transportation routes mandating four-wheel drive vehicles. The Mirpur Khas -Khokhropar Branch Railroad traverses the desert just northwest of the field area. Total coal tonnage for the field is 78,196,555,SOOmetric tons. The coal is lignite B in rank with an average as-received heating value of 5,333 Btu, as received sulfur percentage of 1.57, and as-received ash percentage of 8.83 percent. The average dry and ash-free heating value for the Thar coals is 12,322. Average as received moisture content is 48.57 percent. Nine drill holes in the south-central part of the field contain more than 24 m of total coal; six of these nine drill holes contain coal beds greater than 20 m thick. Drill hole TP-3 contains a bed of coal 27 m thick containing only three partings in its upper part measuring 1.05 m, .9m, and .41 m thick. The shallowest coal in the field lies at a depth of 123 m; the deepest coal (depth to 1st coal bed) is at 245 m. The field contains 3,962,385,900metric tons of coal at a depth of less than 150 m. All of the drill holes in the field were located in interdune areas at the lowest elevation possible; because the surface relief of the sand dunes of the Thar Desert is as much as 100 m, the Thar coals between drill holes will probably be covered, on average by an additional tens of meters of dune sand.