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Study of Micro-structures and their Relation with Occurrence of Mineral Matter in Ramagundam Coals, Godavari Basin, India: Implications on Coal and Hydrocarbon Industries

  • Original Article
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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to study the relationship between coal microstructures and mineral matter in Ramagundam Gondwana coal of Godavari basin. For this purpose, the occurrence and distribution of mineral matter in different lithotypes and microlithotypes have been investigated and their association with organic matter has been studied. The work has been accomplished through detailed petrography, SEM-EDS and XRD studies. Presence of clay minerals and pyrite, along with trace amounts of apatite, ankerite, hematite, calcite, dolomite and quartz has been revealed from the study. The lithotypes and bands have variable concentrations of mineral matter which occurs associated with different microstructures in coal. Optical microscopy reveals that mineral matter occurs maximum in dull-coal but it is almost equally distributed in dull-banded coal and banded-bright coal. The study also incorporates the nature of fracture and phyteral pores and their association with mineral matter. Vitrain is characterized by cleats, micropores and microfractures which are often filled up partially or completely with mineral matter; fusain has well preserved tracheids with open pits and partially homogenized cell structure filled with mineral matter. In durain and clarain lithotypes, the minerals are intimately intergrown with the organic constituents.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University for extending all the facilities. The coal petrography and SEM studies were performed in the department. PKS is thankful to Mr. Atif Faheem, his research student, now in GSI, for his help in sample collection. The authors sincerely thank the officials of Ramagundam coalfield for their help and cooperation during collection of coal samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MPS Lab of Coal and Organic Petrology, Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221 005, India

    Shweta Rai, Ankita Rai, Kajal Kumar, Amiya S. Naik & Prakash K. Singh

  2. KG-PG Basin, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Chennai, 600 008, India

    Kajal Kumar

  3. Geochronology Group, Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi, 110 067, India

    Neelratan Singh

  4. Geotechnics & Mine Modelling Section, CSIR-CIMFR, Nagpur, 440 001, India

    Neelratan Singh

  5. Department of Petroleum Engineering & Earth Sciences, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun, 248 007, India

    D. K. Srivastava

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  1. Shweta Rai
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  2. Ankita Rai
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  3. Kajal Kumar
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  4. Amiya S. Naik
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  5. Neelratan Singh
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  6. D. K. Srivastava
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  7. Prakash K. Singh
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Correspondence to Prakash K. Singh.

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Rai, S., Rai, A., Kumar, K. et al. Study of Micro-structures and their Relation with Occurrence of Mineral Matter in Ramagundam Coals, Godavari Basin, India: Implications on Coal and Hydrocarbon Industries. J Geol Soc India 98, 88–92 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-022-1934-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-022-1934-0

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