Abstract
Pakistan’s largest coal reserves are in the Sindh Province. The organic geochemical characteristics and petrographic characteristics of the Tertiary coals in the Thar coalfield, south-eastern Sindh Province, were investigated to their hydrocarbon generative potential and regional rank and to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment conditions during peat accumulation. The Thar coals are lignite to subbituminous C rank, possessing huminite reflectance in the range of 0.26–0.39 % and high moisture and volatile matter contents. The coals have total organic carbon (TOC) content in the range of 47–67 wt%, and hydrogen index values between 105 and 437 mg HC per gram TOC indicate that their organic matter type is dominated by type III and mixed types II–III kerogens, whereby the coals were derived from plant materials of terrigenous origin. If subjected to appropriate burial and heating, the hydrocarbon potential of these coals would be considered to be mainly gas-prone with limited oil-generative capacity. Diagnostic macerals and petrographic facies show that the Thar coals are humic and characterised by predominant huminite with significant amounts of liptinite and low amounts of inertinite macerals, representing predominantly topogenous mires deposited under anaerobic conditions, with limited thermal and oxidative tissue destruction. The palaeoenvironment conditions of the coals are generally interpreted as a lower deltaic plain wet peat-swamp depositional setting, which are generally characterised by low Tissue Preservation Index (TPI) and high Gelification Index (GI) values. These plotted on the marsh field of the Diessel’s diagram, consistent with generate relatively high ash yield. The organic facies study also shows that the main coal seams of the Thar coalfields were deposited in limnic freshwater environment, generally wet limno-telmatic zone as supported by relatively low sulphur contents.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmad A, Zaigham NA (1993) Seismostratigraphy and basement configuration in relation to coal bearing horizons in the Tharparker Desert, Sindh province, Pakistan. Record No. 1000 of geological survey of Pakistan, pp. 26
Ahmed A (2004) Coal facies, depositional environments and basin modelling of Thar Coalfield. Thesis PhD, Institute of Geology, University of Punjab, Pakistan 110–114 p
Amijaya H, Littke R (2005) Microfacies and depositional environment of Tertiary Tanjung Enim low rank coal, South Sumatra Basin, Indonesia. Int J Coal Geol 61:197–221
Anderson JAR (1983) Tropical peat swamps of Western Malaysia. In: Gore AJP (ed) Ecosystems of the world, 4B mires: swamp, bog, fen and moor. Regional Studies. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 181–199
ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) D388–12, 2012. Standard classification of coals by rank. Annual Book of ASTM Standards. doi:10.1520/D0388-12. www.astm.org
Bordenave ML, Espitalié L, Leplat P, Oudin JL, Vandenbroucke M (1993) Screening techniques for source rock evaluation. In: Bordenave ML (ed) Applied petroleum geochemistry. Editions Technip, Paris, pp 217–278
Bustin RM, Cameron AR, Grive AD, Kalkreuth WD (1983) Coal petrology-its principles, methods, and applications. Geological Association of Canada, pp 230
Calder JH, Gibling MR, Mukopadhyay PK (1991) Peat formation in a West phalian B piedmont setting, Cumberland Basin, Nova Scotia: implications for the maceral based interpretation of rheotrophic and raised paleo-mires. Bull Soc Geol Fr 162:283–298
Carpenter AM, Niksa S, International SRI, Scott DH, Wu Z (2007) Fundamentals of coal combustion. IEA Clean Coal Centre
Cohen AD, Stack EM (1996) Some observations regarding the potential effects of doming of tropical peat deposits on the composition of coal beds. Int J Coal Geol 29:39–65
Cohen AD, Spackman W, Raymond R (1987) Interpreting the characteristics of coal seams from chemical, physical, and petrographic studies of peat deposits. In: Scott AC (ed.) Coal and coal-bearing strata: recent advances. Geological Society of London, Special Publication 32:107–125
Davis RC, Noon SW, Harrington J (2007) The petroleum potential of Tertiary coals from Western Indonesia: relationship to mire type and sequence stratigraphic setting. Int J Coal Geol 70:35–52
Dehmer J (1995) Petrological and organic geochemical investigation of recent peats with known environments of deposition. Int J Coal Geol 28:111–138
Diessel CFK (1982) An appraisal of coal facies based on maceral characteristics. Aust Coal Geol 4:474–484
Diessel CFK (1986) On the correlation between coal facies and depositional environments. Advances in the study of the Sydney Basin, Proc. 20th Symposium. University of Newcastle, Australia, pp 19–22
Diessel CFK (1992) Coal-bearing depositional systems. Springer-Verlag, New York, p 721, 3 540 52516 5
Erik NY (2011) Hydrocarbon generation potential and Miocene–Pliocene paleoenvironments of the Kangal Basin (Central Anatolia, Turkey). J Asian Earth Sci 42:1146–1162
Faiqa K (2001) Palynology of Tertiary subsurface sediments (Well No. 10), Sindh, Pakistan. MSc. Thesis, Botany Department, Punjab University, Lahore
Fasset JE, Durrani NA (1994) Geology and coal resources of the Thar coalfield, Sindh Province, Pakistan. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report, pp 94–167
Flores D (2002) Organic facies and depositional palaeoenvironment of lignites from Rio Maior Basin (Portugal). Int J Coal Geol 48:181–195
Fowler MG, Goodarzi F, Gentzis T, Brooks PW (1991) Hydrocarbon potential of middle and upper Devonian coals from Melville Island, Arctic Canada. Org Geochem 17:681–694
Ghaznavi MI (2002) An overview of coal resources of Pakistan. Geol Surv Pak Resour 114, 167 pp
Gruber W, Sachsenhofer RF (2001) Coal deposition in the Noric Depression (Eastern Alps): raised and low-lying mires in Miocene pull-apart basins. Int J Coal Geol 48:89–114
Hackley PC, Warwick PD, Breland FC (2007) Organic petrology and coalbed gas content, Wilcox Group (PaleoceneeEocene), northern Louisiana. Int J Coal Geol 71:54–71
Hakimi MH, Abdullah WH, Sia GS, Makeen YM (2013) Organic geochemical and petrographic characteristics of Tertiary coals in the northwest Sarawak, Malaysia: implications for palaeoenvironmental conditions and hydrocarbon generation potential. Mar Pet Geol 48:31–46
Harvey RD, Dillon JW (1985) Maceral distribution in Illinois coals and their palaeoenvironmental implications. Int J Coal Geol 5:141–165
Hendrix MS, Brassell SC, Carroll AR, Graham SA (1995) Sedimentology, organic geochemistry, and petroleum potential of Jurassic coal measures, Tarim, Junggar, and Turpan Basins, Northwest China. AAPG Bull 79:929–959
Hower JC, O’Keefe JMK, Volk TJ, Watt MA (2010) Funginite-resinite associations in coal. Int J Coal Geol 83:64–72
Hower JC, O’Keefe JMK, Eble CF, Raymond A, Valentim B, Volk TJ, Richardson AR, Satterwhite AB, Hatch RS, Stucker JD, Watt MA (2011) Notes on the origin of inertinite macerals in coal: evidence for fungal and arthropod transformations of degraded macerals. Int J Coal Geol 86:231–240
Hunt JM (1991) Generation of gas and oil from coal and other terrestrial organic matter. Org Geochem 17:673–680
Hunt JM (1996) Petroleum geochemistry and geology, 2nd edn. W.H. Freeman, San Francisco
International Committee for Coal Petrology (ICCP) (2001) The new inertinite classification (ICCP System 1994). Fuel 80:459–471
Iram N (2001) Palynology of Tertiary subsurface sediments (Well No. 8), Sindh, Pakistan. MSc. Thesis, Botany Department, Punjab University, Lahore
Jaleel A, Alam SG, Shah SAA (1999a) Coal resources of Thar, Sindh, Pakistan. Geol Surv Pak Resour 110:59
Jaleel A, Alam SG, Hasan MT (1999b) Coal resources of four blocks in Thar coalfield, Pakistan. Geol Surv Pak Resour 115:114
Jasper K, Hartkopf-Fröder C, Flajs G, Littke R (2010) Evolution of Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous) peat swamps of the Ruhr Basin, Germany: comparison of palynological, coal petrographical and organic geochemical data. Int J Coal Geol 83:346–365
Kalkreuth WD, Leckie DA (1989) Sedimentological and petrographical characteristics of Cretaceous strand plain coals: a model for coal accumulation from the North American western interior seaway. In: Lyons PC, Alpern B (eds) Peat and coal: origin, facies and depositional models, vol 12, International Journal of Coal Geology., pp 381–424
Kalkreuth W, Kotis T, Papanicolaou C, Kokkinakis P (1991) The geology and coal petrology of a Miocene lignite profile at Meliadi Mine, Katerini, Greece. Int J Coal Geol 17:51–67
Khan RA, Khan SA, Khan ZM, Tagar MA, Taiq MA, Qureshi MJ, Khan MD, Memon AR, Shah SAA (1996) Exploration and assessment of coal in Sinhar Vikian-Varvai area (Block 1), Thar coalfield, Pakistan. Geological Survey Pakistan. I.R. No. 629, pp 37
Koeverden JHV, Karlsen DA, Backer-Owe K (2011) Carboniferous non-marine source rocks from Spitsbergen and Bjørnøya: comparison with the western Arctic. J Pet Geol 34:53–66
Koukouzas N, Kalaitzidis SP, Ward CR (2010) Organic petrographical, mineralogical and geochemical features of the Achlada and Mavropigi lignite deposits, NW Macedonia, Greece. Int J Coal Geol 83:387–395
Kumar P (2012) Palynological investigation of coal-bearing deposits of the Thar Coal Field Sindh, Pakistan. Thesis Master, Department of Geology, Lund University, 322 p
Lamberson MN, Bustin RM, Kalkreuth W (1991) Lithotype (maceral) composition and variation as correlated with paleo-wetland environment, Gates Formation, Northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Int J Coal Geol 18:87–124
Merrill RK (1991) Source and migration processes and evaluation techniques. Oklahoma
Mukhopadhyay PK, Hatcher PG (1993) Composition of coal. In: Law BE, Rice DD (Eds.) Hydrocarbons from coal. American Association Petroleum Geologists Studies in Geology, 38:79–118
Mukhopadhyay PK, Hatcher PG, Calder JH (1991) Hydrocarbon generation from deltaic and intermontane fluviodeltaic coal and coaly shale from the Tertiary of Texas and Carboniferous of Nova Scotia. Org Geochem 17:765–783
Mukhopadhyay PK, Wade JA, Kruge MA (1995) Organic facies and maturation of Cretaceous/Jurassic rocks and possible oil–source rock correlation based on pyrolysis of asphaltenes, Scotian Basin, Canada. Org Geochem 22:85–104
O’Keefe JMK, Hower JC (2011) Revisiting Coos Bay, Oregon: a re-examination of funginite-huminite relationships in Eocene subbituminous coals. Int J Coal Geol 85:34–42
Obaje NG, Ligouis B, Abaa SI (1994) Petrographic composition and depositional environments of Cretaceous coals and coal measures in the Middle Benue Trough of Nigeria. Int J Coal Geol 26:233–260
Petersen HI, Lindström S, Nytoft HP, Rosenberg P (2009) Composition, peat-forming vegetation and kerogen paraffinicity of Cenozoic coals: relationship to variations in the petroleum generation potential (Hydrogen Index). Int J Coal Geol 78:119–134
Ratanasthien B, Kandharosa W, Chompusri S, Chartprasert S (1999) Liptinite in coal and oil source rocks in northern Thailand. J Asian Earth Sci 17:301–306
Rimmer S, Davis A (1988) The influence of depositional environments on coal petrographic composition of the Lower Kittanning Seam, western Pennsylvania. Org Geochem 12:375–387
Sanfilipo JR, Wnuk C, Fariduddin M, Ahmad M, Khan SA, Rahman M, Chandio AH, Khan RA (1992) Potential for the occurrence of thick lignite deposits in Thar Desert and adjacent lower Indus basin, Sindh province Pakistan. GSP project report (IR) Pk-91
Scott AC, Glasspool IJ (2007) Observations and experiments on the origin and formation of inertinite group macerals. Int J Coal Geol 70:53–66
Shah SMI (1977) Stratigraphy of Pakistan. Geol Surv Pak Mem 12
Sia GS, Abdullah WH (2012) Geochemical and petrographical characteristics of low-rank Balingian coal from Sarawak, Malaysia: its implications on depositional conditions and thermal maturity. Int J Coal Geol 96–97:22–38
Siavalas G, Linou M, Chatziapostolou A, Kalaitzidis S, Papaefthymiou H, Christanis K (2009) Palaeoenvironment of Seam I in the Marathousa Lignite Mine, Megalopolis Basin (Southern Greece). Int J Coal Geol 78:233–248
Stach E, Mackowsky MT, Teichmüller M, Taylor GH, Chandra D, Teichmüller R (1982) Stach’s textbook of coal petrology. Borntraeger, Berlin
Súarez-Ruiz I, Flores D, Filho JGM, Hackley PC (2012) Review and update of the applications of organic petrology: part 1, geological applications. Int J Coal Geol 99:54–112
Sykorova I, Pickel W, Christanis K, Wolf M, Taylor GH, Flores D (2005) Classification of huminite e ICCP system 1994. Int J Coal Geol 62:85–106
Taylor GH, Teichmüller M, Davis A, Diessel CFK, Littke R, Robert P (1998) Organic petrology. Gebruder Borntraeger, Berlin, Stuttgart, p 704
Teichmüller M (1989) The genesis of coal from the viewpoint of coal petrology. Int J Coal Geol 12:1–87
Teichmüller M, Teichmüller R (1982) Fundamental of coal petrology. In: Stach E, Mackowsky M-T, Teichmüller M, Taylor GH, Chandra D, Teichmüller R (eds) Stach’s textbook of coal petrology, 3rd edn. Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin, 535p
Teichmüller M, Taylor GH, Littke R (1998) The nature of organic matter-macerals and associated minerals. In: Taylor GH, Teichmüller M, Davis A, Diessel CFK, Littke R, Robert P (eds) Organic petrology. Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin, 704 pp
Thompson S, Cooper B, Morely RJ, Barnard PC (1985) Oil generating coals. In: Thomas BM (ed) Petroleum geochemistry in exploration of the Norwegian shelf. Graham & Trotman, London, pp 59–73
Ward CR, Suárez-Ruiz I (2008) Chapter 1 Introduction to applied coal petrology. 388p. In: Suárez-Ruiz I, Crelling JC (eds) Applied coal petrology — the role of petrology in coal utilization. ISBN: 978-0-08-045051-3, pp 1–18
Zaigham NA, Ahmad M, Hisam N (2000) Thar rift and its significance for hydrocarbons. Pakistan Association of Petroleum Geoscientists (PAPG), Islamabad
Životić D, Stojanović K, Gržetić I, Jovančićević B, Cvetković O, Šajnović A, Simić V, Stojaković R, Scheeder G (2013) Petrological and geochemical composition of lignite from the D field, Kolubara basin (Serbia). Int J Coal Geol 111:5–22
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ahmad, A., Hakimi, M.H. & Chaudhry, M.N. Geochemical and organic petrographic characteristics of low-rank coals from Thar coalfield in the Sindh Province, Pakistan. Arab J Geosci 8, 5023–5038 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1524-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1524-6