A preliminary evaluation of the coal deposits of the Salt Rrmge area indicates that "the average thickness for Tertiary coal beds in the Salt Range is 0.43 in (range 0-2.13 ra). Average major chemical characteristics of coal samples from this area are as follows (all as received, a.r.) : moisture, 5.85 percent; ash, 29.57 percent; volatile nmtter, 31.31 percent; fixed carbon, 33.56 percent; sulfur, 5.27 percent; and calorific valuer, 9843 Btu/lb. Rank bar. been reported to be high volatile C to B bituminous. A preliminary estimate of" tbe total tonnage for the Salt Range area is 235 million metric tons (not including carbonaceous shale). Additional drilling and field work cire needed to delineate further the Tertiary coal resources of the SaJt Range coal field. Permian coal deposits in the western Salt Range are generally discontinuous arid of poor quality. Similar or better quality Permian coal beds may be possibly discovered in the Punjab Plains area by coal exploratory drilling or by hydrocarbon test holes. Tbe depth to the coal-bearing zone is expe^cted to be more than 1000 m. MKTIIODS l»"leld and office work took place during the 1987-88 field season. Sections through the eoa I bearing units of the Salt Range were measured along the escarpment and canyons cut into the Sa It Range plateaus. The sections and field observations containing coal-thickness data are presented in Appendix I. Thirty-four coal and carbonaceous shale samples for chemical analyses were collected from drill core and working mines. Mine samples were collected by channeling the working face. Rock partings greater than 2 cm were excluded from all samples. Analyses are not complete at this time. Stratigraphic and coal thickness data were posted on 1:^0,000 scale maps using Gee's (1980) geologic maps as a base (Faleocene data location maps, Appendix III). This data includes (1) measured sections and observations collected during this field season, (2) previously published data from geologic reports on the area, and (3) unpublished reports, measured sections and borehole logs from GSP, Punjab Mineral Corporation (PUNJMIN), and private mining companies. Unpublished stratigrnphic and coal-thickness data that were used in this report-arc presented in Appendix 13. Cumulative thickness maps for Tertiary coal arid carbonaceous shale deposits were then prepared by hand (Appendix IV, Paleocene coal and carbonaceous shale thickness maps). Salt Range coal analytical d:ita arid their sources are tabulated and presented in table I. A preliminary rough estimate* of coal resources for the Salt Range was determined for the coal areas shown on the four coalthickness maps in Appendix IV, and the results are tabulated in table 2. To calculate the tonnage, the median coal-bed thickness for each of the coal"thickness categories mapped in 1-ft (0.3 m) intervals shown on the maps in Appendix IV were multiplied by the average weight of unbroken bituminous coal per acre foot or 1,633 metric tons per acre foot (Wood et al, 1983). This sum was then multiplied by the ar...

The coal bearing Patala Formation (ranges from 5 9O m thick) is composed of dark gray, fossil iferous shale interbedded with white quartzose sandstone, siltstone, marl, and limestone. Coal and carbonaceous shale deposits generally occur as a single bed «1 m thick) that is commonly split by dark gray shale or thin «0.25 m thick) bands of quart zose sandstone. These laterally discontinuous coal and carbonaceous shale beds overlie and are laterally associated with northeasterly trending, elongate, quartzose sandstone bodies (ranges from 1 2O m thick, fig. 2) and are interpreted to have been deposited in back barrier and near marine environments (Alam and others, 1987; Warwick and Shakoor, 1988a,b). METHODS Seventeen of the samples described in this report were collected as core during a drilling program conducted by the Geological Survey of Pakistan in the Eastern Salt Range. Eleven of these samples were shale and carbonaceous shale (sediments that comprise the majority of the coal-bearing Patala Formation) that were collected from drill hole DSM-17 (fig. 2; Appendix-I). Forty three samples were collected as whole bed or bench channel samples from active working faces of 35 underground coal mines in all parts of the Salt Range coal field (Appendix I). Coal and carbonaceous shale channel samples were collected following ASTM (1986) procedures. Roof and floor rock, and partings greater than 1 cm thick were not included in the coal and carbonaceous shale channel and core samples. The proximate and ultimate analytical data reported here was done in the laboratories of Geochemical Testing Incorporated in Somerset, Pennsylvania, and Dickinson Laboratories Incorporated of El Paso, Texas using ASTM <1986) methods. Randomly selected coal and carbonaceous shale samples were analyzed for major , minor , and trace element contents by USGS laboratories in Reston, Virginia using methods described in Golightly and Simon (1989). Correlation coefficients were calculated among trace element, proximate, ultimate, location, and coal bed thickness data. Few samples have a complete set of analytical data; therefore, the number of samples used in each correlation will vary. Sample locations (Areas 1, 2, and 3 on fig. 2) were assigned to the western, central, and eastern parts of the Salt Range coal field. RESULTS

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