PRESENTATION: COAL FIELD

AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS

IN BANGLADESH

Group no. 6
Group Members:
1. Md. Sohag shikder

2. Busra Jahan Mitu

3. Md. Mizanur Rahman

4. Abdul Kuddus Howlader

 Content
 What is Coal?
 Formation of coal
 Types of coal
 Transformation of coal
 Ranks of coal
 Coal fields in bangladesh
 Geological origin of coal fields in Bangladesh
 General characteristics of the five coal fields in
Bangladesh.
 Coal utilization
 What is coal?
 Coal is a readily combustible sedimentary rock
composed essentially of lithified plant material.

Fig1. Formation of coal

 Process of transformation

In the process of transformation (coalification), peat is altered to lignite, lignite

is altered to sub-bituminous, sub-bituminous coal is altered to bituminous coal,
and bituminous coal is altered to anthracite.
Ranks of coal
 Coal fields of Bangladesh
By the end of 2012 five major Gondwana coalfields have
been discovered in Bangladesh. In order of discovery year,
these are:
a. Jamalganj (1962)
b. Barapukuria (1985)
c. Khalashpir (1989)
d. Dighipara (1995)
e. Phulbari (1998)
Explorations and discoveries

Figure2. Locations of coal fields in Bangladesh

 Coal resources in Bangladesh
Coal field Year of Discoverd by Depth of NO. of Reserve Remarks
(District) discovery coal seams coal seam (million
(meter) metric ton)
Barapukuri 1985 GSB* 118-510 6 390 ( seam vi- Underground mine started
a 271) production in 2005 with
(Dinajpur) capacity 1 million ton/year.
Feeds a mine mouth 250MW
power plant.
Phulbari 1997 BHP 150-240 2 572 Asia energy plc’s proposed
(Dinajpur) plan for large scale open pit
mine suspended in 2006 due
to local opposition against
open pit mine.
Khalashpir 1989 GSB 257-480 8 685 Feasibility study report for
(Rangpur) underground mining
submitted to the government
in 2006 by a chiness
developer.
Dighipara 1995 GSB 328-407 7 600 A Korean syndicate
(Dinajpur) approached Petrobangla for
development and investment.
Jamalganj 1962 SVOC* 640-1158 7 1053 Not considered reserve
(Jaipurhat) (seam iii-526) because conomic mining at
(seam vii-374) existing ecomnomic/market
condition is not feable. CBM
feasibility study proposed.
Table 3. Coal field and reserves/resources in bangladesh ( source: Petrobangla.Geological Survey of Bangladesh. AEC)
 Geological origin of coalfields in
Bangladesh
High quality bituminous coal are found in
the Bogra-Dinajpur-Rangpur areas of the
Bangladesh.
 The coal was formed in permian

geologic period.
 A very large forest and swampy

environment existed during that time

in the northwest Bangladesh and
adjacent Indian state of West Bengal
and Bihar.
 The coal is called Gondwana coal

because these were formed within a

vast super continent known as
Gondwanaland that existed at that
time.
 Coal reserve in Bangladesh
The term reserve refers to the amount of coal which is
known to be suitable quality and deposition for economic
extraction within current technological and market
condition (ward 1984).
 The total reserve of coal in four coal fields
(Barapukuria, Phulbari, Khalashpir, Dighipara) is
etimated at about 2250 million tons.
 The Jamalganj field has an estimated coal deposit of
about 1050 million tonne, but this is not viable for
economic extraction at present market condition.
General characters of the coal fields
The general characters of the coalfields Bangladesh may be
summarized as follows:
 The coal found in NW Bangladesh is high volatile

bituminous coal with low to insignificant sulfur

content. The quality of this coal is very good.
 The coal is Permian in age and occurs within fault

bounded Gondwana basin.

 NW part of Bengal Basins are bounded by major

normal faults forming half graben.

 The coal seams occur at depth range from 118m to

500m in the Rangpur saddle unit.

 General characters of the coal fields

 Thick to very thick multiple coal layers (seams) are

found in the coal fields of Bangladesh.
 The coal layers occur interbedded with sandstone
within Permian rock sequence.
 Barapukuria coal field
 Year of discovery:1985
 Discovered by: GSB

 Location: Parbatipur thana of Dinajpur district

Characteristics:
 Geologic structure: The Barapukuria coalfield

basin is located in the tectonic unit Rangpur

saddle of the stable platform in the northwest
Bangladesh. It is a half graben type asymmetric
cratonic basin bounded in the east by a major
fault known as Eastern Boundary fault.
 Barapukuria coal field
 Stratigraphy: Three units: Gondwana Group, Dupitila
Formation and Modhupur Clay Formation.
 Coal seam: Six coal layers.
 Coal quality: low sulfur, high volatile bituminous coal.
 Coal reserve: 390 million ton.

Figure 5. Barapukuria coal field

 Phulbari Coal field
 Year of discovery: 1997
 Discovered by: Australian mining company BHP
minerals.
 Location: 10 km south of the Barapukuria coal field.
Characteristics:
 Geologic structure: Half graben basin located in the
Rangpur saddle.
 Stratigraphy:(fig 6)
 Coal seams: two
major coal seams

Figure 6. Stratigraphy of Phulbari coal field

 Khalashpir coal field
 Year of discover: 1989
 Discovered by: Geological survey of Bangladesh (GSB)
 Location: Pirajganj upazilla of Rangpur district.
Characteristics:
 Geologic structure: Khalashpir Basin is a NW-SE elongated
Gondwana Basin defined by gravity anomaly.
Stratigraphy:
 Coal seam: 8
 Coal quality: low sulfur high
volatile bituminous to low
volatile bituminous type.

Figure 7. Stratigraphy of Khalashpir coal field (souce: Halloway and Baily

1995).
 Jamalganj coal field
 Year of discover: 1962
 Discovered by: Standard Vaccum Oil Company
(SVOC*)
 Location: Jaipurhat district in the vicinity of Jamalganj.
Characteristic:
 Geological structure: Bogra Shelf unit of the
tectonically stable PreCambrian Platform.
 Stratigraphy:(Alluvium, Madhupur clay, Jamalganj
Formation, Upper Gondwana Formation, Lower
Gondwana Formation)
 Jamalganj coal field

Fig. Stratigraphy of Jamalganj coalfield (Source: Imam et.al.2002)

 Dighipara coal field
 Year of discover: 1995
 Discovered by: GSB

 Location: Dinajpur district

Characteristics:
 There are seven coal seams in the Dighipara

coal fields.
 Geologists confirmed a probable reserve of

nearly 600 million tonnes of high grade

bituminous coal.
 Coal utilization.
Coal is being used in the country mainly for
electricity and brick manufacturing generation.
Coal is used for:
 Electricity generation
 Brick manufacturing industry
 Home cooking
 Chemical industry
 Credits
 Book: Energy resource of bangladesh-
Badrul imam sir.
 https://www.sourcewatch.org
 https://
phulbarisolidaritygroup.wordpress.com
 https://www.researchgate.net
 https://www.scribd.com
 https://energynewsbd.com
 https://www.sciencedirect.com
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