INTRODUCTION

Importance of field work

A thorough knowledge of the subject Geology demands a great deal of field work
and a proper understanding of rocks, their structures, fossil assemblages etc. In fact
Geology is a field oriented subject and therefore without field work the subject is
never understand in its true prospective. It is therefore, desirable that a student of
geology always be convergent with the usual procedures of field work and common
technique associated with it.

When rocks, mineral, fossil etc. are investigated in their natural environment and
in their natural relation to one another the study is called field geology. Field geology
seeks to describe and explain the surface as well as subsurface features /structure of
lithosphere. Physiography and structural geology are equally important in the
science of field geology.

Geological field work usually involves-

a) The study and interpretation of rocks, topographic features etc.

b) The determination of the location of points or outcrops when observations
are made.
c) The plotting of these points or outcrops and other geological data on map.

Geological Field Work Programme is included in the syllabus of Two Year

Master Degree Courses, Applied Geology, Dibrugarh University Academic
Curriculum. Therefore for the partial fulfilment of this course a compulsory field
study programmes to be performed by every student and with a enthusiasm with the
fact that –we the students of M.Sc. 2nd semester, Department of Applied Geology of
Dibrugarh University, have performed the field work programme in and around the
places – Jeypore-Deomali road section and Dilli river section of Namrup, Dibrugarh.

LOCATION AND PHYSIOGRAPHY OF THE STUDY AREA.

Our study area includes the places around Dilli river section of Namrup,
Dibrugarh. The study area is located in the latitude 27.080N 95.220E and longitude
27.18°N 95.33°E. The Namrup area has a total geographic area of 13.5 km2
(5.2 sq. m). It has an average elevation of 356 feet.

The river Dilli or Disang flows through it. Namrup is situated in a picturesque
location amidst wet-paddy fields, Assamese villages, orchards, large tea-gardens and
densely forested hills. Administratively Namrup is located within Dibrugarh district
and is today an important industrial town of Assam. Namrup is approximately 80 km
from Dibrugarh by road towards south-east and approximately 70 km from Tinsukia
(locally pronounced as Tinicukeeya) towards south. It is also a small railway station
in Dibrugarh-Guwahati broad-gauge railway line. The nearest airport is Dibrugarh
located at a distance of approximately 70 km.

Other urban areas close to Namrup are Naharkatiya - 18 km, Duliajan -

35 km, Sonari - 20 km, Moran - 55 km, etc. by roadways. Namrup is located around
500 km east of Guwahati, the largest city in the North East Region.
 REGIONAL GEOLOGY OF THE AREA

Satellite image of the studied area (along the dilli river )

 REGIONAL GEOLOGY
The upper Assam basin represents the North eastern extremity of the Indian
subcontinent encompassing an area of about 57,000 sq. km. The basin is bounded in
the north eastern Himalayas and in the south east by Naga Patkai hilly ranges.
Mishmi and Mikir massif form the North Eastern and South Western limits of the
basin. The basin has various deposits of coal which has been exploited more than a
century mainly from the Barail Group. In the Barail Group, Tikak Parbat Formation
is one of the most important coal bearing formations. The Tikak Parbat formation
which overlies Baragolai formation comprises of medium to coarse grained light
coloured quartzose sandstone with interbedded shale, sandy shale, clays,
carbonaceous shale with at least 5 workable coal seams in the basal part. This
formation is well exposed in Dilli- Jaipur and Makum coal field areas in Upper
Assam.

BELT OF SCHUPPEN

NAGA THRUST

The Assam- Arakan thrust belt extends along the Indo- Myanmar border from
The Chinese border on the north to the Bay of Bengal on the south. Tertiary non
marine sediments dominate the stratigraphy within the frontal zone of this fold and
thrust belt. Thrust fault flats occur in the Upper Barail Group. Coally interval and
ramps are localized by pre- existing normal faults and stratigraphic discontinuity. As
a result the frontal zone of the thrust belt is characterized by multi scale imbricate
structures. The Jaipur anticline occurs at the foreland edge of the Naga thrust
imbricate zone, at the north eastern end of the Assam valley. Application of flat/ramp
geometric models with a limited data set from the Jaipur anticline, allows creation
of geometrically viable models for interpreting the general structure of the Jaipur
anticline and for developing hydro carbon exploration leads. The Naga thrust belts
is a narrow, elongated zone of imbricate thrusts about 20-35 km wide extending for
about 200 km in a NE-SW direction.

BARAIL GROUP:

The Barail Group was named by Evans, 1932 to designate the thick coaly
sandstone exposed in the Barail range of NC Hills. This group of rocks in Upper
Assam is covered under thick alluvium. In parts of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh
and Upper Assam the Barail Group presents coal measures. The carbonaceous shales
laterally passed into blue coloured shale exactly similar to that of occuring in oil
bearing Pegu Formation (Oligocene) of Myanmar. The Barails’ can be easily
distinguished from the overlying Surma Group by the abundance of carbonaceous
materials.

The Barail Group has been classified under different names in Surma valley
including the eastern part of the Jaintia Hills & in Upper Assam & Nagaland. In
Surma valley and Jaintia Hills, the group is divided into Laisong, Jenam and Renji
Formation. Their equivalent in Upper Assam are known as Nagaon, Boragolai and
Tikak Parbat Formations respectively.

Most of the oil pools of Upper Assam are found in the Barail Group beneath
the thick alluvium of the Brahmaputra valley. The Boragolai and Tikak-Parbat
formation in the Margherita-Ledo areas contain thick workable coal beams upto 20m
thick.

The first unconformity in the Tertiary succession of NE India is encountered

after the deposition of Barail Group of rocks. The Barail Group is conformably
underlain by the Kopili formation and unconformably overlain by the Barail Group
of rocks.
 Recent works carried by ONGC has shown that the lower part of the Barail
Group is a brackish water delta form deposit containing abundant arenaceous forms.
The upper coal shale alternations was laid down in a tropical, brackish water, back
lagoon, swampy environment as evidenced by the fossil content. From the available
evidence it is apparent that the sea regressed from Assam at the end of Eocene &
during Oligocene sedimentation took place in the Assam foreland shelf in a
prograding delta. The most accepted view about the age of the Barail Group is that
it was deposited in Oligocene age.

TIPAM GROUP:

Evans, 1932 proposed the name “Tipam Series” for the thick arenaceous
sediments that overlie the Tertiary coal measures in Tipam hills. He divided into 3
stages- Tipam Sandstone stage, Girujan Clay stage and Numrung Khu stage in
ascending order. However, Mathur and Evans, 1964 and later stratigraphers did not
recognize the Numrung Khu stage. Since these divisions were made on the basis of
lithological characters, the units have later been redesignated as Tipam Group
consisting of Tipam Sandstone formation and Girujan Clay formation.

TIPAM SANDSTONE FORMATION:

It occurs in Upper Assam in the Surma valley in the Jaintia Hills, NC Hills &
in Karbi Anglong districts. Good exposures of Tipam Sandstone formation are seen
in the Surma valley, Shillong-Jowai road section of Jaintia hills and Dimapur-
Kohima road section and Jeypore anticline.

The Tipam Sandstone is predominantly an arenaceous succession with a

number of intervening clay bands. The sandstone are light grey, fine to medium
grained, moderate to poorly sorted, sub-angular to sub-rounded with argillaceous
sediments. Pebbles of jasper, large grains of milky quartz & nodules of pyrites are
common associates of sandstone band. Except in minor variation in grain size,
sorting & colour, the lithology of most sandstone bands within the formation is same.
In Upper Assam, the uppermost part of the arenaceous formation is gradually
replaced by clay and claystone resulting the interfringing of Tipam sandstone &
Girujan Clay & thus shifting the upper boundary of Tipam Sandstone to successively
lower stratigraphic.

Tipam Sandstone has rich assemblage of heavy minerals. The boundary with
the overlying Girujan Clay is sometimes defined by the Hornblende Marker. Other
heavy minerals include garnet, epidote, chloritoid, staurolite, kyanite, zircon etc.

GIRUJAN CLAY FORMATION:

This formation was introduced by Evans, 1932 for the thick mottled clay
formation exposed in Girujan stream near Digboi.

This rock unit is encountered in all the oil fields of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh,
Sivasagar, Jorhat districts & also discovered in Naga hills & Arunachal Pradesh.
Most of the sediments of Girujan Clay Formation are missing in Surma valley, due
to erosion before the deposition of Dupitila Group. The subsurface of Lakhimpur &
Dhemaji districts has been found to be thinning out towards NW.

The Girujan Clay succession comprises mainly with interrelation of sand

bands & occasional coal streaks. The clays are characteristically mottled in different
shades of grey, brown, brick red, light yellow, dirty white etc. The sandstones are
light grey, fine to medium grained, soft to moderately hard.

The Tipam & Girujan formation are considered to be Upper Miocene in

age.The complete absence of marine forms and presence of terrestrial palynomorphs
with the fossil wood suggest continental condition of deposition for Tipam
Sandstone formation and Girujan Clay formation.
Stratigraphic succession of upper assam:-
REVIEW OF PREVIOUS LITERATURES

Many geologists of different organizations have visited the area. The earliest
geological work on upper Assam dates back to the year 1865 and the geological
works of the present area were carried out for the development of huge reserves of
coal and petroleum. In the year 1865 Medlicott first made the geological
reconnaissance of the Jeypore and Makum coalfields. Later during 1874-1876
Mallet resurveyed the area and assigned a middle tertiary age of coal bearing
formations of the area of present study. He divided the Upper Tertiary rocks as
Tipam and Dihing Groups. Simpson in 1906 by resurveying the same grew; placed
the Tipam sandstones in Upper Tertiary and Disang Group as older than coal bearing
formation. He also agreed a Middle Tertiary age to the coal bearing formation to
which subsequently assigned a probable Miocene age. Hayden in the year 1910, E.
H. Pasoe in the succeeding year (1911) studied this region. T. Banerjee (1949-50),
Monshi and Goswami (1959-61), also examined the coal fields of the region.
Goswami during 1961-62 and 1962-63 field seasons completed large scale mapping
of the region. A comparative study (Bhuyan, 1999) of the lithostratigraphic
classification of Upper Assam Basin proposed by different workers help to
understand the irregularities in various nomenclatures and different stratigraphic
position assigned to common litho types. Some of the irregularities in nomenclature
and classification of lithostratigraphic units include:

1. Different names for the same lithologic units.

2. Different lithologic units are sometimes given the same name .

3. Sometimes different stratigraphic positions have been assigned to an
individual rock unit.
 As for example, some of the discrepancies observed in classification and
nomenclature of Barail Group of the Palaeogene Stratigraphy of Upper Assam Shelf
by different workers have been mentioned below:

1. According to Mathur and Evans (1964) and S.K Dutta (1982) Barail
Group is divided into Naogaon, Boragolai and Tikak Parbat.
2. Bhandari et al. (1973) has divided the Barail Group into Nagaon
Sandstone and Rudrasagar Formation.
3. According to Sinha et al(1982), Barail Group is divided into Laisong,
Jenum and Renji formation.
4. According to Roy and Asthana (1989), Barail Group has been divided
into Arenaceous Facies and Coal Shale Facies.
5. According to Kar et al (1984), Barail Group is placed at the base of the
Tinali Formation.
6. According to Mallick et al (1998), Barail Group is shown as
diachronous and divided into Tinali (Upper Eocene) and Moran (Lower
Oligocene) Formations.
7. Baruah and Ratnam (1982), Singh et al (1986) and Handique et al
(1989) have not divided the Barail into further units.

The work of Mathur and Evans (1964) on the Upper Assam is one of the
important one. Recently many research scholars both from Dibrugarh University and
other universities have carried out extensive work especially on coal of this region.
But detail informations regarding these studies are not available in published form.
 METHODOLOGY
Geological Field work involves fulfilment of some objectives, how to
investigate a particular area and involving some specific subject parameters. Field
research less technically known as field work is conducted for observation of
geomorphology, lithology, structure and other geological variations. Geological
field work and field mapping is fundamental to all geological study.

Field investigation was accomplished in different GPS stations. First GPS

station was recorded below the Dilli river bridge. Using Brunton compass, the fore
bearing was taken and traversing was made from NE to SW. The traverse path was
measured using a measuring tape and also the thicknesses of different beds were
measured. The dip and strike of the various beds encountered were measured. Field
photographs of the rock outcrops and structures such as current bedding, fold, fault,
etc. were taken.
LITHOLOGICAL VARIATION ALONG THE RIVER:
Station 0-1:
Latitude - N 2708’31”
Longitude –E 95022’11’’
Elevation-112m
At station “0” a sudden change in lithology of area is observed where a
sedimentary outcrop is succeeded by alluvium towards the downstream of the river
as shown in Fig 1. The sudden change in lithology is an evidence of thrusting which
is assigned as Naga Thrust.
This is the region of first appearance of Barail Group of rocks.

Station 1-2:
Latitude –N 2708’29.2’’
Longitude-E 95022’11.2’’
E levation-112m
 The station is located at a distance of 57.5m from station “0” towards upstream
i.e. south direction.
Here alternate beds of shale and sandstone (Fig 2) having thickness of 0.5m to
1m Shale are grey in colour .Sandstone are fine grained and grey in colour.

Station 2-3:
Latitude –N 2708’28.7’’
Longitudinal –E 95022’11.4’’
Elevation -113m
This station lies 14m far from station “1”in upstream direction. More
than shale and sand stone we could observed coal bed of around 1.6 m
thickness (Fig 3).

Station 3-4:
Latitude –N 2708’28.7’’
Longitude –E 95022’11.4’’
Elevation -114m
This station lies 1.6m far from the station “2’’ consists of organic matter black
colour carbonaceous shale .The area contains coal seam of thickness 1.6m.

Station 4-5:
Latitude –N 2708’28.7’’
Longitude –E 95022’11.4’’
Elevation -115m
The lithology is almost similar to the previous station with altered beds of
sandtone, shale and coal seam. One very important typical tectonic feature where
shales are splintery in nature (Fig 4) shows that the area is entertaining more
thrusting effect.
 As we go upstream, rocks become more broken and splintery due to more
thrusting. On the other bank a detached area where the sandstone beds show a weak
zone but still the condition is under confusion.

Station 5-6:
This station is 25.7 m far from the previous station. More coal beds are
observed and sandstone, shale bed thickness is increasingly towards upstream where
they almost have 2m thickness .Increase in thickness of bed is a result of high palaeo-
energy current and in this area yellow coloured sulphur patches (Fig 5) are present
which shows infiltration occur in low grade coal of Tertiary time.

Station 6-7:
Here, the coal seam thickness is drastically increasing of about 6m.Which
reflects more accumulation of organic matters.

Station 7-8:
Elevation: 116m
Splintery shale and siltstone interbeded, finely laminated sandstone with
lenticular and flaser structure (Fig 6). This flaser and lenticular structure indicates
fluctuation in the energy of the palaeo current. Flaser is developed when sand
concentration is more than shale and lenticular vice-versa.

Station 8-9:
Elevation- 117m
In this station we observed siltstone and shale, as we go upstream marine
sandstone without lamination are also observed.
The station is 58m far from the previous station .In this station sandstone
become finer and shale is dominating.
Station 9-10:
Elevation- 118m
This station is 26.8m far from the previous station .In this station some
sedimentary structure like ripple marks and load caste are observed (Fig 7a and 7b).

Station 10-11:
Latitude –N 2708’30’’
Longitude –E 95021’0’’
Elevation -117m
This station is18.5m far from the station “9”.In between the less inclined rocks
are observed steeply inclined rock beds and even in distinct horizontal beds are
present. This is under controversy (Fig 8).

Station 11-12:
Elevation –119m
This station is 12.3m far from the previous station. In the left bank of the river
corresponding litho beds are missing which may indicate a fault (Fig 9).

Station 12-13:
Elevation –119m
This station is 19.5m far from the previous station. Apart from alternating
sandstone, shale, coal seam and we observed cobble of 6 inch diameter of iron
nodules within the shale (Fig 10).
Station 13-14:
Elevation –120m
As we go further upstream from station 13 fluvial dominated rocks are seen
as the deltaic environment is almost seen to be absent .The presence of sandstone
without alteration satisfy the above statement.

Station 14-15:
Latitude –N 2708’145’’
Longitude-E 95022’149’’
Elevation -121m
In this area grit are observed which shows a higher palaeo energy condition
within the sandstone and a conglomerate bed of around 1m thick is reported (Fig
11).

Station 15-16:
After we go upstream around 60m from grit bed we get current bedding (Fig
12a) which reflects the fluvial environment. As we go forward in upstream direction
because of presence of difference in lithology and conglomerate give a signal of the
contact between Barail and Tipam (Fig 12b).

Station 16-17:
In the upstream areas we probably entered the contact between Tipam
Formation and the Girujan clay Formation (Fig 13) which is observed by a changing
of sandstone to mudstone. Girujan clay Formation indicates a flood plain deposits
by its alternate bands of siltstone and mudstone. The mudstone is grey in colour and
siltstone is reddish in colour of iron contact.
Station 17-18:
Station in Girujan Formation showing difference in colour from the Barail and
Tipam which shows weathering effect. The repeatation of these alteration bed proves
the migration of river. Due to alternate wetting and drying effect we get the mottled
clay(Fig 14).The Girujan Formation is around 300m thick.
As we go upstream thickness of sandstone bed increases which shows the
changing in the deposition environment rather than flood plain.
DESCRIPTION OF LITHOCOLUMN AND INTERPRETING THE
DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT:

The first stage of the lithocolumn shows alternate beds of sandstone, shale and
coal. Some splintery shales are observed which are indicative of thrusting effect. The
coal beds indicate Deltaic environment particularly. The coal beds are formed as a
result of the burial of the vegetation grown on the deltaic plain over time.

In the upper part towards the upstream side, conglomerates are observed
followed by sandstone with larger grain size and carbonaceous shale. The coarser
grain of sandstone reveal a higher energy condition represented by fluviatile
environment and carbonaceous shale may be formed in the braided environment,
where vegetation may be expected. Thus the outcrop represents the Tipam
Formation.

In the third stage there is a sharp contact where the sandstone is succeeded by
reddish clay. In this area claystone is interbedded with thinner sitstone are observed
which is an indicative of flood plain environment. The alternate bed of claystone and
siltstone indicates the palaeo migration of the river channel.
 CONCLUSION

Mapping is done with the help of GPS and field data. The thrusting is indicated by
sharp change in the attitude of the area from alluvium to hilly surface. This thrust is
known as the Naga-Thrust. This displaced portion of the Naga-Thrust near the Dilli-
River section, has brought the Tertiary sediments above the alluvium. The Tertiary
sediments starts with Barail and our study area include sediments up to Tipam
sandstone. Presence of carbonaceous shale and coal represents organic facies, which
in turn suggests transition from freshwater to brackish water conditions. Presence of
current bedding in Tipam sandstones indicates that the Tipam sandstones were
deposited in fluviatile environment.
 REFERENCES

1. Dasgupta, A.B. and Biswas, A.K.(2000),Geology of Assam, Geol. Soc.

Ind.
2. Paper: Mathur and Evans,(1964), Oil in India, International Geological
Congress, 22nd Session, India, New Delhi.

Paper: Bezbaruah Devojit and Muzamil Syed , (2013), Deposition history of

coal bearing Tikak Parbat Formation of Barail Group in a part of the belt of
Schuppen, North-east India”, South East Asian Journal of Sedimentary Basin
Research Vol-1, 50-66.