The ``discovery`` of a blind coal field in the Thar Desert of Pakistan, with the help of some unconventional techniques

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:51965

SanFilipo, J R ^[1]; Khan, R A ^[2]

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1. Geological Survey, Reston, VA (United States)
2. Geological Survey of Pakistan, Karachi (Pakistan)

The Thar Desert is a dune-dominated area of about 200,000 km{sup 2} in western India and southeastern Pakistan. Although coal has been intermittently mined from isolated areas on the Indian side of the desert for almost 100 years, reports of coal occurrences in water wells on the Pakistani side have not generated interest in exploration until very recently because such occurrences did not conform to the prevailing geological models for the area. The Thar coal field is a ``blind`` field in that there is no bedrock exposed within the field. The field lies on a tectonic platform that extends westward from the Indian shield. Initial indications are that the thickest and shallowest coal in the explored part of Thar is in the vicinity of TP-3. To the east of TP-3, basement abruptly rises towards the Indian shield, probably due to block faulting, and in the vicinity of TP-2 the coal appears to have been removed by erosion. Subsurface seismic sections indicate that to the west of the Thar field the basement is abruptly down-dropped more than 4 km into the Indus basin.

• OSTI ID: 51965
• Report Number(s): CONF-940930--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
COAL DEPOSITS
COAL SEAMS
DESERTS
EXPLORATION
EXPLORATORY WELLS
MAPS
PAKISTAN
SEISMIC SURVEYS
THICKNESS