Relationship between Net Subsidence and Coal Cycle Parameters—A Statistical Appraisal from Subsurface Logs of Damuda Group, Talchir Gondwana Basin, India

Abstract

Total thickness of strata and coal cycle parameters of the three formations, i.e. Karharbari, Barakar, and Barren Measures of the Damuda Group of the Talchir Gondwana basin were subjected to bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses. Polynomial regression lines were fitted to data sets consisting of total thickness of strata, number of coal cycles, and average thickness of coal cycles of the three formations of the Damuda Group. A significant direct relationship is observed between total thickness (net subsidence) of strata and number of coal cycles, while a significant inverse relationship exists between the number of coal cycles and their average thickness. Principal component and multiple regression analyses suggest that lithological parameters of the coal bearing strata reflect the dynamic of the basin subsidence. The sedimentary distributive mechanism in the form of lateral migration of streams or drainage diversion caused in response to differential subsidence of the depositional surface seem to be appropriate mechanisms for the development of coal cycles and peat swamps in the Talchir basin. Often during Karharbari sedimentation, peat accumulated in abandoned channels was scoured away by high energy migrating channels. On the other hand, Barakar peat swamps developed in a distal part of the flood plain, as a result of which many of the coal seams could be of appreciable thickness. The advent of arid climatic condition retarded the growth of vegetation to a larger extent that prevented profuse development of coal seams during the Barren Measures Formation.