Heavy Mineral Suite in the Barakar Sandstone of Moher-Subbasin, Singrauli Coalfield, Central India

Heavy mineral analysis of the Barakar Sandstone from a drill core (117 m) from the Moher-Subbasin of the Singrauli coalfield shows relative abundance of epidote, zircon and rutile in the finer (.088-.074 mm) and garnet, muscovite and staurolite in the coarser (0.177-0.149 mm) fraction. Stratigraphically, the heavy species do not exhibit marked variation in their relative abundance, though garnet forms the bulk of the heavy crop at 94 m depth.

The study indicates that basic and acid igneous rocks, low to medium and high-grade metamorphic rocks, and metasedimentary rocks to the south and southeast of the study area, probably the Manpat ridge, supplied the bulk of the sediment debris during the early Permian Barakar times.