International Journal of Coal Geology 87 (2011) 87–96

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International Journal of Coal Geology

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / i j c o a l g e o

Determination of in-situ stress direction from cleat orientation mapping for coal bed
methane exploration in south-eastern part of Jharia coalfield, India
Suman Paul, Rima Chatterjee ⁎
Department of Applied Geophysics, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Accurate prediction of in-situ stress directions plays a key role in any Coal Bed Methane (CBM) exploration
Received 10 February 2011 and exploitation project in order to estimate the production potential of the CBM reservoirs. Permeability is
Received in revised form 10 May 2011 one of the most important factors for determination of CBM productivity. The coal seams in Jharia coalfield
Accepted 10 May 2011
generally show low permeability in the range of 0.5 md to 3 md. To estimate the in-situ stress direction in the
Available online 15 May 2011
study area, an attempt has been made to undertake the cleat orientation mapping of four regional coal seams
Keywords:
of two underground coal mines located at south-eastern part of Jharia coalfield, India. Cleat orientation
Cleat volume mapping is critical to determine the maximum principal compressive horizontal stress (SH) direction for CBM
Cleat orientation exploration and exploitation, which in turn controls the direction of maximum gas or water flow though coal
Coal seam porosity beds. From the field study it is found that the average face and butt cleat azimuths are towards N15°W and
Coal seam permeability N75°E respectively. Average permeability of the four above-mentioned major coal seams has been calculated
Stress from well logs of nine CBM wells distributing over an area of 7.5 km 2, adjacent to the underground mines. The
Jharia coalfield cleat orientations are congruous with the regional lineament pattern and fits well with the average
permeability contour map of the study area to infer the orientation of in-situ maximum horizontal stress.
Goodness of fit for the exponential regressions between vertical stress and permeability for individual coal
seams varies between 0.6 and 0.84. The cleat orientation is further validated from the previous fracture
analysis using FMI well log in Parbatpur area located southern part of the Jharia coalfield. The major coal
seams under the study area exhibit directional permeability, with the maximum permeability, oriented
parallel to the direction of face cleat orientation.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction According to the previous researchers, cleats can be developed in

Exploration for CBM in India has evolved over the past decades to a
point where the focus is very largely on the targeting of regions of
relatively higher permeability. Coal acts as both source and reservoir
rock for natural gas and it has been commercially exploited in the
development of CBM projects. Any CBM project would be economically
viable only if gas content and permeability of the reservoir meet certain
criteria, which include 150 scf/ton of gas content and 1 md permeability
(Mandal et al., 2004). Cleat orientation mapping is critical to determine
the maximum principal compressive horizontal stress (SH) direction for
CBM exploration and exploitation, which in turn controls the direction
of maximum gas or water flow though coal beds (Wang et al., 2009;
Wold and Jeffrey, 1999). Cleats are naturally occurring fractures in coal
which are formed mainly due to shrinkage during the coalification
process (Laubach et al., 1998; McCulloch et al., 1974, McCulloch et al.,
1976 and Prasad, 2009).
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 326 2296658; fax: +91 326 2296563.
E-mail addresses: sumanpaul.jugeo@gmail.com (S. Paul), rima_c_99@yahoo.com
(R. Chatterjee).
different periods of the coal formation of various mechanisms, like
dehydration or desiccation or devolatilization processes. Cleat
formation also depends on coal rank, coal thickness, maceral content,
coal lithotype, coal environment, thermal contraction, tectonics, and
geological structure (Frodsham and Gayer, 1999; Jeremic, 1985;
Laubach et al., 1998; Paul, 2003 and Ward, 1984). Sometimes mining
activity may result some local changes in cleat orientation in the
immediate vicinity of the mines. A minimum permeability is required
to successfully interconnect the natural micro-fractures and cleats to
create migration pathways for gas before conducting hydraulic
fracturing process. The mechanisms for the gas flow in the coal
involves: a) desorption of gas from the coal surface inside the micro-
pores; b) diffusion of the gas through the micro-pores, governed by
Fick's law; and c) Darcy flow through the cleat system and of the
fractures to the wellbore (Gray, 1987 and Meng et al., 1996).
For CBM production the main flow is determined by the cleat
attributes and the orientation pattern (Close and Mavor, 1991). Fig. 1
is illustrating a typical cleated coal sample from the Jharia coalfield,
India. From this figure it is clear that the face and butt cleats are
oriented almost perpendicular to each other and the spacing between
the cleats and length of the cleats are not equal everywhere. The coal

0166-5162/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.coal.2011.05.003
88 S. Paul, R. Chatterjee / International Journal of Coal Geology 87 (2011) 87–96
Fig. 1. Depicting the general cleat pattern observed in Jharia coalfield, India. Face, butt
cleats and their orientations are indicated in the figure.
samples observed at different places of the study area reveals that the
cleat spacing and the length of the cleats vary from one place to
another. The regular reticular cleat pattern as observed in Fig. 1 is the
characteristic of the cleat geometry in Jharia coalfield. The tectonic
stress field controls the cleat geometric patterns. The control of the
tectonic stresses on the cleat formation is based on the intrinsic tensile
forces and fluid pressure in coal beds. The formation of regular
reticular cleat geometries under the in-situ stresses (horizontal
maximum principal compressive stress N horizontal minimum princi-
pal compressive stress) had been discussed by Su et al., 2001. The face
cleat extends along the SH direction and the butt cleat along the
direction of horizontal minimum compressive principal stress (Sh), so
Fig. 2. Illustrating the distribution of nine CBM wells and two underground mines in Jharia coalfield. Inset shows the simplified geological map of Jharia coalfield (Sengupta, 1980).
the regular reticular cleat pattern is formed in Jharia coalfield. The
extensional stress regime existing in Jharia coalfield (Ghosh and
Mukhopadhyay, 1985) is favorable to develop fractures and cleats in
the coal seam. These cleated networks in a coal matrix create channels
for fluid flow through a CBM reservoir.
In the Jharia coalfield opening mode fractures propagate in a plane
perpendicular to the least compressive stress when the pore fluid
pressure exceeds Sh. The cleated coals can have varying permeability
along its length (Philip et al., 2005). Coal bed permeability through the
cleated network is sensitive to fracture aperture as well as to the
fracture length distribution. Permeability of coal increases with cleat
density and cleat aperture. High cleat density in coal seams is
favorable for higher fluid flow in CBM reservoirs (Ali et al., 2008;
Dabbous et al., 1974 and Lingard et al., 1984).
The optimal orientation of cleat or opening mode fractures is along
the maximum principal horizontal stress and influenced by regional
compressive stress direction (Frodsham and Gayer, 1999; Paul, 2003;
Ryan, 2003 and Simon, 2000). Though the examples of opening mode
fractures in sandstones (N3 km depth) from west Texas showed
misalignment of SH and open fractures (Laubach et al., 2004). The
effects of cleat orientation and confining pressure on coal rock
properties have been studied in many coal basins worldwide; like La
Plata mine in San Jun Basin of New Mexico (Gash et al., 1992), Mine in
Kushiro Coalfield in Japan (Li et al., 2004), mines at Zonguldak Basin
located on the Black Sea coast of Turkey (Karacan and Okandan,
2000), RECOPOL project in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Poland (Wolf
et al., 2008), mines in the Pittsburgh coal bed Pennsylvania (Diamond
et al., 1975), coalmines in southwestern Indiana (Acosta et al., 2007),
as well as many coal basins including Appalachian, San Juan, Powder
River and Black Warrior Basins in United States (Ayers, 2002; Flores et
al., 2008; Pashin, 1998, and Pitman et al., 2003). Well monitoring and
porosimetry tests from the Black Warrior and San Juan Basins indicate
that permeability is commonly higher along the face cleat than along
the butt cleat (Koenig, 1989 and Pyrak-Nolte et al., 1993). Therefore,
reservoir drainage may be facilitated by spacing wells more closely
along the butt cleat than along the face cleat. Recently, the authors
Meng, Zhang and Wang had indicated the effect of stress on
permeability in the Southern Qinshui basin, China (Meng et al.,
2009 and Meng et al., 2011). They demonstrated the relationship
 S. Paul, R. Chatterjee / International Journal of Coal Geology 87 (2011) 87–96 89

Table 1
Generalised stratigraphic sequence of Jharia coalfield (after Chandra, 1992).
Modified after D. Chandra (1992).

Age Group Formation Litho-type Max. thickness

Recent and sub-recent Weathered Alluvium, sandy soil, clay, gravel etc. 30 m

Unconformity
Jurassic Deccan trap and other igneous activity (intrusives) Dolerite dykes, mica lamprophyre dyke and sills
Upper Permian D Raniganj Fine grained feldspathic sandstones, shales with coal seam 800 m
A
Middle Permian M Barren Measure Buff coloured sandstone, shales and carboneceous shales 730 m
U
Lower Permian D Barakar Buff coloured coarse to medium grained feldspathic sandstones, + 1250 m
A grits, shales, carboneceous shales and coal seam
Upper Carboniferous Talchir Greenish shale and fine grained sandstones 245 m
Archaeans Metamorphics

between permeability of coal reservoir and the in-situ stress in that
CBM reservoir of the Qinshui Basin, China. There were several case
studies in Britain, Canada, Mexico, Australia, China and USA where
maximum horizontal stress orientation has been correlated with the
coal cleat orientation in coal basins (Bell, 2006; Enever and Clark,
1994; Gentzis et al., 2006; Gentzis et al., 2007; Hickman and Davatzes,
2010; Meng et al., 2011 and Rippon et al., 2006).
Recent studies of cleat orientation patterns and fracture style
suggest that new investigations of even these well studied parameters
can yield insight into coal permeability (Laubach et al., 1998). For this
paper original field data collected from two underground mines: WJ
Area and PB Area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), India has been
used to determine the cleat orientation pattern for south-eastern part
of Jharia coalfield. All cleat and joint orientation data collected from
four different coal seams of the two underground coal mines of Jharia
coalfield have been used to determine the stress direction in the study
area.
To assess the potential of any CBM reservoir, many researchers
used different well logs like density, gamma ray, resistivity, acoustic
and image logs for quantitative estimation of permeability and
mapped cleat orientation and density (Ali et al., 2008; Bachu and
Michael, 2003; Bell, 2006; Bell and Bachu, 2003; Chatterjee and Pal,
2010 and Pashin, 1998). In view of above, a fresh attempt is required to
develop a new approach to infer the in-situ stress direction acting at
major coal seams from the available conventional well log data. The
content of the present paper will include (a) the study of cleat
orientation for four major coal seams from two underground coal
mines located at south-eastern part of Jharia coalfield, (b) estimation of

Fig. 3. Rose diagrams showing the directions of face cleats for seams (a) K, (b) L, (c) O and (d) P.
90 S. Paul, R. Chatterjee / International Journal of Coal Geology 87 (2011) 87–96

Fig. 4. Rose diagrams showing the directions of butt cleats for seams (a) K, (b) L, (c) O and (d) P.

in-situ stress magnitude from well logs from nearby nine CBM wells
adjacent to those underground mines, (c) evaluation of initial coal bed
permeability for four major coal seams to infer the in-situ SH orientation
and (d) correlation of average permeability contour with the cleat
orientation plots for four major coal seams. This paper will also describe
the cross checking of the predicted SH orientation from well logs with
the predicted SH from face cleat orientation data.
2. Study area
India has huge coal reserves and a large portion of it is deep seated
which is not economically minable at present. This factor provides
enough scope for the exploration and development of CBM in Indian
coal basins. The study area is located near the Dhanbad town which is
known as “Coal Capital of India”. The study area covers the parts of
Singra, Kapuria, Moonidih and Jarma blocks of the Jharia coalfield,
located in eastern India (Fig. 2). The Jharia coalfield is situated about
260 km northwest of Calcutta (now Kolkata, West Bengal, India). The
coalfield is roughly sickle shaped, its longer axis running northwest–
southeast. The coal basin extends for about 38 km in an east–west
direction and maximum of 18 km in north–south direction, and
covers an area of about 456 km 2. The dip of the Formation in general is
southerly (10°). A simplified geological map of Jharia coalfield is
shown in Fig. 2 (Sengupta, 1980) and the general stratigraphic
succession (modified after Chandra, 1992) is given in Table 1.
The formations generally follow the boundary of the coalfield,
striking E–W and NW–SE and dipping towards the centre of the
coalfield. The basement metamorphic rocks are overlain by the Talchir

Fig. 5. Rose diagrams showing regional directions of (a) face cleats, (b) butt cleats and (c) joints.
 S. Paul, R. Chatterjee / International Journal of Coal Geology 87 (2011) 87–96
Formation followed by the Barakar Formation which is the main coal-
bearing horizon. The Barren Measures overlain the Barakar formation
followed by the coal-bearing Raniganj Formation. The coal seams of
present study belong to Barakar Formation, which does not show any
evidence of high intensity tectonic deformation except normal gravity
faults of different magnitudes — both minor (throw less than 10 m)
and major (throw 10 m to N100 m) (Ghosh and Mukhopadhyay, 1985
and Sengupta, 1980).
The Barakar Formation consists of buff coloured coarse to medium
grained feldspathic sandstones, grits, carbonaceous shales and coal
seams. High density igneous intrusives rocks (Mica Peridotities) are
also found in wells under the study area in the Jharia coalfield. Data
pertaining to organic petrology and thermal maturity of Barakar and
Raniganj Formations are of considerable importance in determining
the CBM potential in the Jharia coalfield. The vitrinite macerals are
dominant in the shallower coals of Barakar Formation (Lower
Permian). The vitrinite content range from 40% to 80%, exinite
content vary in the range of 1% to 4% and vitrinite reflectance value
ranges from 0.83% to 1.69% in Barakar coal seams of Jharia (Hazra et
al., 2003). The volatile matter on dry ash free basis indicate that the
Barakar coals of Jharia are high volatile ‘A’ bituminous to low volatile
bituminous in rank (Rudra and Hajra, 2009). As the depth increases, in
general it has been observed that ash content increases with
consequent decrease in vitrinite content and increase in inertinite
content for the Barakar coals of Jharia coalfield. The range of inertinite
content for deeper coals in Jharia coalfield is from 35% to 80% and
vitrinite content range from 20% to 62% (Hazra et al., 2003).
3. Identification of cleats and analysis of cleat orientation data
For cleat orientation measurement at two underground mines of
Jharia coalfield the following methodology are adopted: (1) magni-
fying glass has been used for cleat identification, (2) all data are
collected either from roof or from bottom of coal seams as cleat
patterns are most prominent/exposed in those parts, (3) only the coal
seams having prominent vitrinite (bright) bands are preferred for the
study as cleats are easily identifiable in such seams and (4) all data are
collected wherever both face and butt cleats could be identified.
The underground mines are situated in and around Moonidih
block, located at the south-eastern part of the Jharia coalfield. Till
today no cleat orientation data or reports are available with us in
public domain. All cleat and joint orientations have been identified
and measured in four regional/major coal seams, namely; K, L, O and
P, of two working underground mines: WJ Area Mine and PB Area
Mine of BCCL (Fig. 2). The working depths of the seams are typically
between 400 m and 550 m. The studied seams K, L, O and P are
dipping towards S33°W, S31°W, S45°W and S43°W respectively. For
this study a total 25, 72, 28 and 20 numbers of cleat orientation data
from different locations have been collected for coal seams K, L, O and
P respectively and plotted in rose diagrams for each coal seam. Based
on the observations at different locations, one set of mega cleat trend
is found almost NNW–SSE direction in major part of seams. This set is
running almost parallel to the strike of the bed and face of the coal
development. Out of the collected data, the field data amounting 14
Table 2
Orientations of cleats and joints in the studied coal seams for WJ area and PB area underground mines, Jharia.
Seam Face cleat direction
Percentage (%) of maximum Orientation
directional data
K 56 N25°W
L 36 N15°W
O 20 N20°W
P 17 N15°W
Combined (K, L, O and P) 41 N15°W
91
(56%), 36 (50%), 20 (71%) and 17 (85%) showing maximum face cleat
orientation varying between N15°W and N25°W (Fig. 3) and
maximum butt cleat orientation varying between N65°E and N75°E
(Fig. 4).
Spacing of face cleat is observed at an interval of 0.2 m to 0.3 m. To
get the composite face and butt cleat azimuth, all face cleat and butt
cleat data of seams K, L, O and P are plotted on two different rose
diagrams and it is observed that the resultant face cleat and butt cleat
orientations are aligned towards N15°W and N75°E respectively
(Fig. 5a and b). All joint orientation directions are also plotted on a
separate rose diagram and it has been found that the dominant joint
orientation direction is towards NNW–SSE followed by a sub-
dominant orientation towards ENE–WSW (Fig. 5c). Summarised
cleat and joint orientation data for individual seams and composite
of all four seams are given in Table 2. The resultant face cleat
orientation from the four major coal seams provides the in-situ SH
orientation (N15°W) in this part of the study area.
The lineament study based on satellite imagery in Jharia coalfield
and the directional analysis of lineaments in Moonidih area had
indicated the most dominant trend towards NNW–SSE and second
prominent trend towards ENE–WSW (Tiwari and Rai, 1996; Verma et
al., 1989). The previous authors (Ali et al., 2008) had also observed
that the face cleat orientation from FMI log in Parbatpur area located
at the southern part of the Jharia coalfield (Fig. 2) is directed towards
NW–SE, varying between N30°W and N60°W. The present study
indicates the rotation of 10° to 30° of face cleat orientation from the
Parbatpur area to the Moonidih area in the Jharia coalfield. The local
rotation of face cleat orientation as well as in-situ stress (SH)
orientation are also observed in other coal basins of the world
(Bachu and Michael, 2003; Bell, 2006; Bell and Bachu, 2003; Laubach
et al., 1998; Montgomery, 1999; Pashin, 1998; Wolf et al., 2008 and
Zhang et al., 2000).
4. Estimation and analysis of in-situ stress magnitudes
Coal seams including the major seams K, L. O and P from bottom
top of nine CBM wells, i.e., K1, K4, K8, K10, K12, S5, S8, M1 and M3, are
identified with the help of available density, resistivity and gamma ray
logs. The density logs for two CBM wells (K1 and K4) displayed in
Fig. 6 indicate the major coal seams of Jharia coalfield. For proper
nomenclatures of the identified coal seams and for coal seam
correlation, geophysical logs of all nine CBM wells have been used
in combination with litho-logs of the same wells.
The coal seam correlation for nine CBM wells has been given in Table 3.
The vertical section of major coal seams for section K8 to S8 is plotted in
Fig. 7. Reduced floor of the major seams are plotted with faulting. We have
also extrapolated seams without log data. The thickness of seams varies
between 0.85 m and 3.24 m in seam K, 1.55 m and 3.5 m in seam L, 1.05 m
and 5.6 m in seam O and 0.85 m and 9.28 m in seam P respectively.
Well logs of nine CBM wells have been considered to determine
the magnitudes of in-situ stresses of same four major coal seams
covering an area of about 7.5 km 2 area of Singra, Kapuria and
Moonidih blocks located at west and southern parts of the WJ area and
PB area mines. No borehole well log data are available at the eastern
Butt cleat direction Joint direction
Percentage (%) of maximum Orientation Percentage (%) of maximum Orientation
directional data directional data
56 N65°E 60 N25°W
36 N75°E 42 N15°W
20 N70°E 25 N20°W
17 N75°E 22 N15°W
41 N75°E 43 N15°W
92 S. Paul, R. Chatterjee / International Journal of Coal Geology 87 (2011) 87–96

side of these mines. Estimation of in-situ stress for coal-bearing strata

has been applied widely in underground coal mines as well as CBM
exploration in many coal basins of USA, Australia, Canada and China
(Bell and Bachu, 2003; Bustin, 1997; Gentzis et al., 2008; Meifeng et
al., 2008; Montgomery, 1999 and Zhang et al., 2000).
A database of in-situ stress measurements from underground coal
mines exists for several of the world's coalfield for world stress map
project (Heidbach et al., 2008); though no in-situ stress measurement
and the measurement of cleat volume/porosity and permeability had
been carried out in this part of the study area. The magnitude of vertical
stress/overburden load (SV) at any depth is produced by the pressure
exerted by the rocks above that point. Vertical stresses are calculated by
integrating density log values for nine CBM wells distributed in the
study area (Fig. 2). The hydrostatic pressure gradient with mud density
1.1 g/cm 3 is normal in the nine CBM wells drilled in the study area. To
calculate effective stress, pore pressure has been assumed equal to the
hydrostatic pressure at that particular depth. The effective minimum
horizontal stress (Sh) in the tectonically relaxed basin such as in this part
of Jharia coalfield for the four coal seams has been calculated using the
equation (Chatterjee and Pal, 2010):

Sh = γðSV −P Þ = ð1−γÞ ð1Þ

where P is the pore pressure equivalent to hydrostatic pressure and γ

is the Poisson's ratio of coal (0.32).
The vertical stresses for these nine CBM wells have been
calculated. The plot of vertical stress against depth for the major
identified coal seams of two CBM wells (K1 and K4) are displayed in
Fig. 6. There is a decrease in stress gradient inside the coal seams.
Stress gradient changes with the density of rocks. Variations in stress
gradients are also observed due the presence of high-density igneous
intrusive rocks in all wells. The overall trend of the vertical stress
increases linearly with depth with a slope of about 45°. This pattern is
similar to that in the other coalfields of India and foreign coal basins
(Mucho and Mark, 1994; Townend and Zoback, 2000). There is a
variation of slope inside the coal seams. It is possible to know the
vertical stress magnitude at the roof of the individual coal seams. The
vertical stress magnitude at the major seams roof varies from
13.28 MPa to 31.97 MPa from 491.95 m to 1063.90 m in the study
area. The large variation of stress magnitudes are observed due the
high-density igneous intrusive as a sill parallel to the coal beds.
Table 4 is listing the vertical stress, vertical stress gradient, effective
vertical stress gradient and effective horizontal stress gradient values
for roofs of four coal seams in this study area and Table 5 is listing the
vertical stress gradient and effective horizontal stress gradient within
the four coal seams in the study area.
The vertical stress magnitude values show the variations in the
vertical stress magnitudes for roof of each seam. Stress magnitude is
increasing towards south in this part of the study area because coal
beds are dipping in this direction. The vertical stress gradients are
increased from ESE to WNW for seam K, L, O and P, while it is less for
roof of L seam at the NW corner of the study area (Fig. 2 and Table 4).
The effective vertical stress gradient value within seams increases
from SE to NW part of the study area. The effective horizontal stress
gradient on the roof of coal seams also increases from wells located at
SE to the wells located at NW part of the study area (Fig. 2 and
Table 4). The effective horizontal stress gradient within coal seams
increases noticeably from SE to NW for all seams in the study area
(Table 5).

Fig. 6. Density logs indicate major coal seams: (a) O and P of well K1, (b) K and L of well
K4 and (c) O and P of well K4. The variation of vertical stress with depth against these
coal seams are also plotted in a, b and c.
 S. Paul, R. Chatterjee / International Journal of Coal Geology 87 (2011) 87–96 93

Table 3
Coal seam correlation for nine CBM wells in south-eastern part of Jharia coalfield.

Seam K Seam L Seam O Seam P

Well no. Well Collar (m) From (m) To (m) T (m) From (m) To (m) T (m) From (m) To (m) T (m) From (m) To (m) T (m)

K1 182.39 777.10 781.80 4.70 765.40 770.35 4.95

K4 190.81 639.83 641.00 1.17 631.46 634.39 2.93 505.00 508.80 3.80 490.05 495.89 5.84
K8 181.66 643.22 644.84 1.62 633.72 636.05 2.33 506.95 510.55 3.60 491.95 497.60 5.65
K10 191.91 712.50 715.74 3.24 703.15 706.10 2.95 563.77 568.10 4.33 548.44 555.10 6.66
K12 171.42 839.55 841.55 2.00 834.10 837.60 3.50 706.94 711.95 5.01 694.72 704.00 9.28
S5 163.31 1063.90 1069.50 5.60 1052.70 1057.25 4.55
S8 170.29 1102.84 1104.25 1.41 1098.42 1101.77 3.35 960.08 962.70 2.62
M1 173.95 882.82 886.97 4.15 731.17 732.32 1.15
M3 170.92 961.07 961.92 0.85 951.17 952.72 1.55 804.82 805.87 1.05 680.87 681.72 0.85

Well Collar (m) with reference to Mean Sea level (MSL), T = thickness of coal seam.

the cleats (invasion zone) by the borehole fluid. The cleat volume/
porosity of cleated coal is given by the previous authors (Chatterjee
and Pal, 2010) as,

0:6
Cleat volume or Porosity ðФÞ = 100 × ð0:65 =ResistivityÞ ð2Þ

Using a matchstick model of cleating, initial porosity and initial

permeability of coal in the Jharia coalfield area can be expressed as a
function of cleat spacing and aperture (Harpalani and Chen, 1995).

3
PorosityðΦÞ = 2b = s and PermeabilityðK Þ = b = 12s ð3Þ

3 2
PermeabilityðKÞ = Ф s = 96 ð4Þ

Fig. 7. Indicated vertical section across the line connecting wells K8 to S8. The major
coal seams are plotted only in this section. Mean sea level (MSL) is the reference depth
level for all five wells along the line K8 to S8 (refer Table 3).
5. Evaluation and analysis of initial coal bed permeability from
well logs
Shallow resistivity logs of the nine CBM wells show that coal seams
are typically characterized by high electrical resistivities (700 Ω-m to
1705 Ω-m), and low density (1.44 g/cm 3 to 1.56 g/cm 3). It had been
observed that the resistivity, measured by shallow resistivity logging
tool across the coal seam decreases substantially in the wells filled
with high salinity fluids compared to those, filled with low salinity
fluids (Yang et al., 2006). This indicates replacement of pore fluids in
where b and s are the cleat aperture and cleat spacing respectively.
In the WJ area and PB area of underground mines, the spacing of
mega face cleat has been observed at an interval of 0.2 m to 0.3 m. It
was not possible to measure aperture at the underground mines.
Using the size distribution model provided by Ortega et al., 2006, the
cleat aperture is found as 1.8 mm with the fracture intensity of
9 fractures/m. The interconnected cleated network will provide the
coal bed permeability for fluid flow in the CBM reservoir for nine CBM
wells under the study area. Therefore Eq. (4) has been used for
computation of permeability from log derived cleat volume/porosity
for four coal seams of nine CBM wells with cleat spacing of 0.2 m as
observed at the underground mines. Permeability varies with the
cube of porosity as used in Eq. (4). The total cleat volume has been
considered for computation of permeability because, the cleats,
observed in the underground mines and in the drilled core samples
of exploratoty boreholes located in the vicinity of the underground
mines, are mostly clean and devoid of secondary in-fillings. However,
cleats and joints, observed in the outcrops/opencast mines located in

Table 4
Vertical stress, vertical stress gradient, effective vertical stress gradient and effective horizontal stress gradient data for the roof of four major coal seams for nine CBM wells located at
south-eastern part of Jharia coalfield.

Seam K Seam L Seam O Seam P

Well name VS VG EVG EHG VS VG EVG EHG VS VG EVG EHG VS VG EVG EHG

K1 18.79 25.55 15.16 6.57 18.57 25.55 16.42 7.66

K4 17.92 27.50 17.67 8.11 17.78 25.14 15.71 7.33 14.03 28.23 17.77 7.61 14.01 25.88 17.78 8.22
K8 17.27 27.00 16.66 8.22 17.12 27.00 17.50 8.22 13.63 23.93 16.47 8.05 13.28 23.33 16.47 8.23
K10 18.03 28.30 19.30 8.57 17.86 24.70 18.16 8.75 16.78 27.54 14.73 8.84 13.69 27.50 17.50 7.29
K12 26.12 26.93 17.14 7.92 26.00 27.41 17.14 8.53 22.53 28.00 18.51 7.25 22.32 27.22 18.82 7.05
S5 31.97 28.82 18.52 7.41 31.73 25.62 14.82 7.24
S8 30.22 28.57 17.14 8.00 30.16 27.42 18.28 8.91 26.26 26.66 15.82 8.34
M1 20.51 24.49 14.28 6.29 17.17 21.62 10.81 5.05
M3 21.03 26.31 15.54 6.50 20.840 25.27 14.00 5.18 17.80 21.29 11.83 5.57 15.16 23.00 11.03 5.34

VS = Vertical Stress (MPa), VG = Vertical Stress Gradient (KPa/m), EVG = Effective Vertical Stress Gradient (KPa/m), EHG = Effective Horizontal Stress Gradient (KPa/m).
94 S. Paul, R. Chatterjee / International Journal of Coal Geology 87 (2011) 87–96

Table 5 general decreases with depth. The goodness of fit (R 2) for best fit

Vertical stress gradient and effective horizontal stress gradient data within. four major exponential curve between permeability and vertical stress varies
coal seams for nine CBM wells located at south-eastern part of Jharia coalfield.
between 0.60 and 0.84. The regression relationship for all seams from
Seam K Seam L Seam O Seam P all wells has been computed. The exponential relationship between
Well VG EHG VG EHG VG EHG VG EHG permeability and vertical stress has a goodness of fit of 0.49 whereas
name (KPa/ (KPa/ (KPa/ (KPa/ (KPa/ (KPa/ (KPa/ (KPa/ the best fit polynomial equation of degree two has better goodness of
m) m) m) m) m) m) m) m) fit (0.65) in this part of Jharia coalfield.
K1 14.458 1.926 12.650 1.643 Average permeability of major coal seams has been provided in
K4 17.924 2.616 15.693 2.64 15.680 2.284 15.280 2.285 Table 6. The average permeability value varies from 0.7 to 1.6 md, 0.8
K8 18.825 3.163 18.720 3.602 15.400 2.352 16.220 2.196 to 1.7 md, 0.98 to 3 md and 1 to 3.06 md in coal seam K, L, O and P
K10 17.640 2.990 18.280 2.305 19.369 4.165 15.910 2.030
K12 12.470 2.880 16.820 2.64 16.210 2.370 16.320 2.280
respectively. The maximum (3.06 md) and minimum (0.7 md) value
S5 16.330 2.390 14.620 1.970 of average permeability have been observed in coal seam P at
S8 16.820 2.69 15.530 1.800 12.010 2.240 491.95 m in well K8 and in coal seam K at 1102.84 m in well S8
M1 12.120 3.660 12.480 1.680 respectively. Average permeability data for coal seams K, L, O and P
M3 13.110 1.71 11.640 2.560 11.010 2.560 15.910 2.500
indicate the anisotropic behavior of coal bed permeability. It is
VG = Vertical Stress Gradient, EHG = Effective Horizontal Stress Gradient. observed that the average coal seam permeability increases from SE to
NW direction in the study area.
The vertical cross section across the well K8 to S8 indicates faulted
and around the study area, are in few places filled with oxidized debris coal seams at this part of the study area. Vertical stress magnitude
and secondary leached materials. value at coal seams' roof is comparatively less at the NW part than the
Well logs of nine CBM wells, i.e., K1, K4, K8, K10, K12, S5, S8, M1 vertical stress magnitude value at the roofs of the same seams at the
and M3 have been analysed to determine the coal seam permeability SE part of the study area. The cleated network along with the fault will
of four regional coal seams; K, L, O and P. Permeability and vertical provide the major fluid flow path in the study area (Fig. 7). The seam
stress magnitude for each seam and combined seams are correlated permeability will be more along face cleat orientation of the major
and plotted in Fig. 8. Permeability of each coal seams decreases seams under study. The fault orientation as we observed from the
exponentially with the in-situ vertical stress. Coal bed permeability in section (Fig. 7) is towards ENE–WSW which is along butt cleat

Fig. 8. Permeability versus vertical stress magnitude plots for coal seams (a) K, (b) L, (c) O and (d) P at south-eastern part of Jharia coalfield.
 S. Paul, R. Chatterjee / International Journal of Coal Geology 87 (2011) 87–96 95

Table 6 area to Moonidih area. The face cleat orientation for major coal seams
Average coal seam permeability for nine CBM wells located at south-eastern part of collected from the underground mines under study area provides the
Jharia coalfield.
orientation of maximum in-situ horizontal stress direction which is
Well Seam K Seam L Seam O Seam P along SSE to NNW. The coal seam permeability of the study area is
name showing the prominent increasing trend along SE–NW with maxi-
Average Average Average Average
permeability permeability permeability permeability mum fluid flow direction from SE to NW.
(md) (md) (md) (md) The direction of face cleat oriented towards N15°W indicates the
K1 1.70 1.80 maximum horizontal principal stress direction. The direction of
K4 1.20 1.30 1.85 2.00 maximum coal seam permeability will also indicate the SH orientation
K8 1.60 1.70 3.00 3.06 in absence of subsurface cleat orientation data. Cleat orientation
K10 1.10 1.20 2.40 2.76
K12 0.90 1.00 1.30 1.40
represents the palaeo-stress orientation direction and maximum
S5 0.98 1.00 permeability direction obtained from the well log data indicate the
S8 0.70 0.80 1.50 present in-situ SH stress orientation. Therefore we can conclude that
M1 1.65 1.85 the stress (SH) orientation has remained practically same along SSE–
M3 0.80 0.85 1.70 1.91
NNW direction. Clear understanding of cleat systems along with its
relationship to the near wellbore stresses is a key factor for selection
of appropriate completion method for optimized production from
orientation. Therefore we can say that the maximum fluid flow CBM wells.
direction is from SE to NW at the south-eastern part of Jharia coalfield.
The permeability increases with the increase of effective horizon-
tal stress gradient and decreases with the increase of vertical stress Acknowledgements
magnitudes in all seams (Tables 4, 5 and 6). It is true that we did not
have all nine CBM well data for permeability computation and no data The authors express their sincere gratitude to Coal India Limited
are available in southwest part of the study area. This directional (CIL) and Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited
variation of coal bed permeability follows the interconnected opening (CMPDIL), Ranchi for giving us the financial support for this entire
mode fractures in coal beds. Cleat orientations, measured at the work under its R&D Scheme. Supports extended by Mr. A. K. Singh,
underground mines of WJ area and PB area, indicate two sets of CMPDIL, Ranchi; Mr. A. N. Sahay, Director (RD&T), CMPDIL Ranchi;
opening mode fractures (face and butt cleats). The increases of Chief General Manager (Exploration), CMPDIL, Ranchi; Mr. A. Saha,
permeability of four coal seams, coincide with the face cleat Manager (Geology), CMPDIL, Ranchi and Mr. P. K. Hazra, General
orientations as described earlier. Manager (Geophysics), CMPDIL, Ranchi are gratefully acknowledged.
The data, used in this study, are primarily based on the exploration Authors are thankful to Sri P. K. Pal, Ex-Chief General Manager
holes, drilled for the CBM project adjacent to the underground coal (Exploration), CMPDI, Ranchi for his kind support in improving the
mines of WJ area and PB Area. Cleat orientation data are collected for manuscript. Kind help and inputs by the General Manager (P&P),
four major seams K, L, O and P from two underground mines. BCCL; the General Manager (WJ Area), BCCL; the General Manager (PB
Information relating to coal seam permeability and in-situ stress Area), BCCL and Mr. S. K. Thakur, Zonal Manager, MECL are
magnitudes has been derived from the well log data for the same coal acknowledged, as without such help the work could not be carried
seams. Integration of the cleat orientation data, stress gradient and out.
average permeability values suggests significant correlation and
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