JOURNAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA Vol.73, May 2009, pp.

639-650

Electrical Resistivity Imaging Technique to Delineate Coal Seam Barrier Thickness and Demarcate Water Filled Voids
N.S. KRISHNAMURTHY1, V. ANANDA RAO1, DEWASHISH KUMAR1, K.K.K. SINGH2 and SHAKEEL AHMED1
National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad - 500 606 (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) 2 Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad - 826 001 Email: dew_kumar@yahoo.co.uk Abstract: Exploration and exploitation of coal seams is one of the major resources for the energy sector in any country but at the same time water filled voids/water logged areas in the old workings of these seams are very critical problems for the coal mining industry. In such situations, disasters like inundation, landslides, collapsing of the old seams may occur. In this regard, it is necessary to find out the water saturated/water filled voids and zones in the mining areas. Since no established technique is available to find such zones, an experimental study using Electrical Resistivity Imaging (ERI) has been carried out in one of the coal mining areas near Dhanbad, to find out the feasibility of finding the barrier thickness and the water logged area in underground coal mines. The area under study forms part of Jharia coalfield in Dhanbad district, Jharkhand state. The coal bearing rocks of Barakar Formation of Lower Permian age (Gondwana period) occur in the area under a thin cover (10 m to15 m) of soil and or alluvium. Coal bearing Barakar Formations consist mainly of sandstone of varying grain size, intercalation of shale and sandstone, grey and carbonaceous-shale and coal seams. Since the water saturation reduces the resistivity of a formation to a large extent, water filled voids and old coal workings are expected to have significant resistivity contrast with the surrounding host rock. Hence, ERI technique was applied in such an environment as this technique uses high-density data acquisition both laterally and vertically by using multiple number of electrodes. Along with ERI, mise--la-masse (also called charged body) technique was also employed at one of the promising sites to find out the connectivity of water logged areas and also detection of these old workings from the surface measurements was analyzed. The interpreted 2D resistivity sections have clearly indicated the water bearing zone(s) along the profile which was well confirmed with the existing water level in the nearby borewells. On the other hand, this technique did not identify the size of the coal pillar and gallery (air filled voids), which might be due to the small size of the voids (i.e. about 2 m x 2 m) below a depth of 15m and more but have indicated altogether as a high resistive zone ranging from 6001000 Ohm-m. Keywords: Coal seams, Water filled voids, Electrical Resistivity Imaging, Jharia coalfield, Dhanbad, Jharkhand.
1

INTRODUCTION

Underground coal mining is one of the major exploration and exploitation work carried out in India; one such regular exploitation being taking place in East Basuria Collieries of the Jharia coalfield near Dhanbad town in Jharkhand state. According to Verma et al. (1983) several workers have used different techniques of surface resistivity prospecting to study geological problems (Logn (1954), Van Nostrand and Cook (1966), Hallof (1966), Zohdy (1969), Zohdy et al. (1973), Singh and Jha (1972), Jain et al. (1973), Stanley et al. (1976) and Patella (1978), Maillol et al. (1999)). However, the response of coal seams on account of

contrast in their electrical properties with respect to the surrounding medium has not yet been adequately studied. In the last few years people had worked in this direction also (Antonio-Carpio et al. (2004), Van Schoor (2005) and Wilkinson et al. (2005)). In our present study, at some places the mining activities resulted in subsidence, quarrying and dumping of overburden in and around the study area. At places, water was oozing through the formations into the mining area and become difficult and dangerous for the mining activity to be carried out. Hence, it is very essential to know the barrier thickness in the mining area. The National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI),

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Hyderabad, India has taken up the work to carry out experimental geophysical studies to find out the water filled voids and the possibility of finding the barrier thickness of coal seams in the underground coal mining area. The area under study forms the southern part of East Basuria Colliery located in northern part of Jharia Coalfield in Dhanbad District, Jharkhand state. The area lies within the geographical coordinates between 2347'34" N to 2347'53" N latitude and 8621'59" E to 8622'16" E longitude and is located at about 11 km west of Dhanbad town. The average temperature during summer rises up to 44C while during winter, it drops below 10C. The average annual rainfall is about 1379 mm. The area has undulating topography with maximum and minimum elevations ranging in between 188 m and 219 m above mean sea level. The coal bearing rocks belong to Barakar Formation of Lower Permian age (Gondwana period) and occur in the area under a thin cover (10 m to 15 m) of soil and or alluvium. Coal bearing Barakar Formations consist predominantly of sandstone of varying grain size, intercalation of shale and sandstone, grey and carbonaceous shale and coal seams. The water level varies from around 60 m bgl to even up to a maximum of 300 m bgl and this aquifer status may be due to mining activity in the study area. Detailed drilling of the borewells in the project area has revealed the existence of as many as 17 coal horizons of thickness 0.5m and above (MECL Report, 1986). The general strike of the formation is E-W and the dip varies from 10 to 15 towards south. The voids in underground mining are of size (about 2.0 m x 2 m). In case these voids are at greater depth, then detection of these voids from surface seems to be ruled out.
METHODOLOGY

There is no proven surface geophysical method to know the barrier thickness and the voids created by mining the coal, which is an important natural resource of our country. Direct current (DC) resistivity measurements have an extensive history for use in groundwater studies. Resistivity studies are often effective because the resistivity of porous earth material is primarily a function of the amount of fluid which fills the pores, the conductivity of the fluid and the clay content of the matrix (Kean William et al. 1987). The electrical resistivity of rocks and soils are influenced by many parameters such as temperature, quality (degree of salinity), porosity etc., and the water saturation is important among all these parameters. The use of geophysics in shallow investigations, such as in environmental, geotechnical and hydrogeological studies requires the development of fast,

reliable, high resolution field equipment for data acquisition and interpretation techniques to interpret the geophysical signature(s) in terms of geological informations. The improvement of resistivity methods using multi-electrode arrays has led to an important development of electrical imaging for subsurface surveys (Griffiths and Turnbull, 1985; Griffiths et al. 1990; Barker, 1992; Griffiths and Barker, 1993). Such surveys are usually carried out using a large number of electrodes, 24 or more, connected to a multicore cable. As a result, high-definition pseudo sections with dense sampling of apparent resistivity variations at shallow depth (0-100 m) are obtained in a short time. It allows the detailed interpretation of 2D resistivity distribution in the ground (Loke and Barker, 1996). Hence, this advanced imaging technique has been applied here (in the present study) to ascertain the capability of delineating the water filled voids and the barrier thickness of coal seams. A resistivitymeter called SYSCAL Junior Switch (multielectrode imaging unit), with 48 electrodes connected to the resistivitymeter through a multi-core reversible cable has been used in the present study. The results of these studies are discussed here. Figure 1 shows the layout of the area along with resistivity traverses in East Basuria Colliery. Since the experimental surveys are taken up, they have been carried out in a place where the surface is free from inhomogeneities such as dumps and water bodies. Secondly the voids must be at a comparatively shallow depth. Thirdly having an area for longer spread of the cables is preferable to get more depth of investigation. Only limited area is available to follow the above conditions and hence a few profiles are carried out with a view to carry out future studies in a different area based on these results. The section of coal extractions along traverse R1 is shown in Fig.2. It is clear from this figure that the area north of location marked as A (reference point) is virgin area that means, no mining activity has been carried out in this part. From point A, to a distance of 65 m from A along the line towards south, single stage regular coal extraction (exploitation) has been carried out. This corresponds down to depth from 15 m to 28 m. Beyond 95 m towards south along this profile, multi-stage coal excavation has been carried out. Thus from 15 m to down to depth of 32 m, the presence of voids is expected in the area. It is not known and also to be ascertained whether these voids are filled with water or not.
DISCUSSION AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

Having known the extent of coal exploitation completed in the area, ERI survey has been planned accordingly to
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0 well-2

60m N Quarters

Seam-1 ( Outcrop ) A

R1 R2 R3

well-1

Coal Pillars

Seam-2 ( Outcrop )

Roads

Fig.1. Location map of resistivity traverses in East Basuria Colliery, BCCL Ltd.

find out most suitable electrode configuration using imaging system and it was carried out in one of the old mine areas (Fig.1) along three equidistant traverses (R1, R2 and R3) with 8 m interval between two consecutive traverses and with an inter-electrode spacing of 2.5 m on the profile. Such close electrode spacing was chosen to find the possibility of identifying voids of 2 m x 2 m in size at shallow depth. On traverse R1 (Fig.1), it was also attempted with four
N
Virgin m 5 10 15 20 25 30 Shaly coal Coal excavated Shaly coal 0 A 30 m Single 60 m 78 m 95 m Multiple

Fig.2. Section along traverse R1 in East Basuria Colliery, BCCL Ltd.

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different electrode configurations, viz. Wenner, Pole-dipole, Dipole-dipole and Pole-pole (Krishnamurthy et al. 2003). The resistivity data has been collected and then interpreted based on the resistivity anomaly; using the RES2DINV software (Loke, 1997, 1997a) of Geotomo. Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 show results of 2D electrical resistivity imaging along traverse R1 carried out using different electrode configurations. In the resistivity image 2D sections, the top section shows the observed/measured apparent resistivity from the field, the bottom section shows the true resistivity model after inversion from the observed apparent resistivity data and the middle section gives the calculated apparent resistivity pseudosection for the final sub-surface model. When the measured and calculated apparent resistivity pseudosections are matched especially in terms of resistivity variation, then the inverse resistivity model gives the 2D resistivity section nearest to the true sub-surface resistivity variation. The dipole-dipole inverted resistivity 2D section (Fig.3) has given depth information only up to 11 m because of the limitation of the resistivitymeter in sending higher currents. Hence, it was not possible to pick-up resistivity anomalies caused due to voids. The pole-dipole 2D inverted resistivity section (Fig.4) gives deeper depth of information of about 32 m compared to dipole-dipole array in the area of interest and it is expected to pick-up resistivity anomalies due to voids as it is clearly seen in the 2D resistivity section. It is clear from Fig.4, the high value of resistivity (about 600 1000 Ohm-m) indicates the possibility of void (air-filled) created due to excavation of coals, reflected on the inverted 2D resistivity section while the pole-pole 2D inverted resistivity section (Fig.5) shows the deepest depth information of 73 m compared to other arrays used in the area. This section does not show any individual anomaly due to voids but the presence of high resistivity (600 1000 Ohm-m) as reflected in the profile between distances 25 m to 65 m may be considered as an increase of resistivity due to the presence of voids without water saturation. The resistivity of this portion around 10m depth is around 800 Ohm-m with all configurations except with Wenner configuration (Fig.6) where the resistivity is around 500 Ohm-m. The 2D inverted resistivity section with Wenner configuration shows the depth information of 19.7 m and the interpreted result is similar to the results obtained with other electrode configurations. Thus all the four sections mention above from shallow to deeper depth levels show that the resistivity is decreasing towards south (right side) which could be due to the presence of moisture content in the interbeded clay or coal beds towards south.

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Fig.3. Resistivity section using Dipole-Dipole configuration along traverse R1 in East Basuria colliery, BCCL Ltd.

Fig.4. Resistivity section using Pole-Dipole configuration along traverse R1 in East Basuria colliery, BCCL Ltd.
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Fig.5. Resistivity section using Pole-Pole configuration along Traverse R1 in East Basuria colliery, BCCL Ltd.

Fig.6. Resistivity section using Wenner configuration along Traverse R1 in East Basuria colliery, BCCL Ltd.
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In each profile/image towards both the ends for about one-third portion, the data cannot be obtained for deeper levels due to the inherent property, i.e. the requirement of a larger electrode separation. In otherwords, there will be decrease of point of observations, as the depth level increases and when the farthest outer electrodes are used for current injection, there will be only one current point of observation at the deepest level. Hence, the image cannot be seen for deeper levels at the fringes of the profile. The high resistivity anomaly is seen clearly in all the four 2D resistivity sections along R1. Thus the profiles confirmed the presence of voids as a combined effect, which could be dry in the northern part (can be inferred because of high resistivity ranging from 600 to 1000 Ohm-m in all the resistivity sections) and could be water saturated in the southern part (can be inferred due to decrease of resistivity towards south as explained in the above paragraph) of the study area. The resistivity images were also taken along two more traverses R2 and R3, which are parallel to R1 with an interval

of 8 m apart from each other. The interpreted model of these sections are given in Fig.7. Only one electrode configuration pole-dipole, which is giving the required depth penetration in present case, has been deployed to get the geo-electrical depth section along traverse R2 and R3. It is observed that all these sections give almost similar results. From above measurement it is established that a 2 m void even at depth of 15 m could not be detected separately, which indicates that the existing resistivity contrast is not sufficient for delineation. Experiments were also carried out in another area (site2) where old workings are filled with water. In this area mise--la-masse technique along with electrical resistivity imaging was also carried out. One borehole, as shown in Fig.8 was available where depth to static water table was found to be 57 m bgl. Mise--la-masse measurements, (Schlumberger, 1920) were carried out along traverses P1, P2 and P3 (Fig.8). For carrying out above measurements one of the current electrodes was lowered in the borehole at a

A R1

R2

R3

Fig.7. Resistivity sections using Pole-Dipole configuration along Traverse R1, R2 and R3 in East Basuria colliery, BCCL Ltd.
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BW SBJ41 Quarry Water Logged

N VIII Seam Quarry VIII Seam Quarry Filled P1 P2 P3 BW SBJ6 0 50 100 m 16" BW P4 Rail Tracks

P1, P2, P3: Mise-a-la-masse P3 and P4: Resistivity imaging

Fig.8. Location map of Mise--la-masse and resistivity imaging in East Basuria colliery, BCCL Ltd.

old workings are expected at deeper depth. The data was collected using Pole-Pole configuration so as to get the information from deeper levels. The interpreted resistivity model (Fig.10) was obtained upto 146 m depth. Along this traverse there is no indication of voids from resistivity measurements (Fig.10). But low resistivity zone (about 10 to 40 Ohm-m) is present in the central part of the traverse upto a depth of about 70 m, may be dominated by clay, followed by a zone with resistivity 40 to 100 Ohm-m. This second zone could be inferred as the water bearing zone. It could be possible that the zone might be getting recharged from the water storage pit, which is about 100 m away towards NW along the traverse. Similar low resistivity zone is apparent in 2D resistivity section along traverse P3 (Fig.11), which is about 10 m from the borewell (location shown in Fig. 8). This zone can be considered as two parts, one having resistivity up to 40 Ohm-m followed by a layer with resistivity 40 100 Ohm-m. This second zone appears between 60 m to about 100 m in central part of the 2D resistivity section which could indicate the presence of water saturated layer, since the water level observed in the borewell was at 57 m depth. This zone extends more towards SE.
MODEL STUDIES

depth of 70 m bgl (below the existing water table). The other current electrode is kept on the surface at far off place (infinity). Potential on the surface is mapped in a grid pattern by keeping one electrode fixed as the reference electrode on the surface and moving the other potential electrode along the various profiles (Telford et al. 1976; Kumar et al. 2003). Due to insufficient space available, only three traverses were laid out and the equipotential contour map was prepared by normalizing the current and is shown in Fig.9. The equipotential map did not give any significant indication of flow direction of the groundwater. A resistivity image was obtained along traverse P4, 25 m away from P3. Here also

Forward modeling of resistivity imaging was also carried out to compare and correlate about the field results. For this purpose a six layer subsurface model was assumed with resistivities of the layers having similar to the obtained resistivity image up to a depth of 30 m. At the same time some voids of 2 m x 2 m size were inserted (Figs.12 and 13) in the model between depths of 16 m and 30 m (Fig.13). The horizontal distance between each void is given as 18 m which is equivalent to the pillar size of the mine. The resistivity for the void when it is air filled is assumed as 1500 Ohm-m. The resistivity images along with the models are shown in Figs. 12 and 13. As seen from these two figures,

P3 P2 P1 60 40 20 BW 0 Distance in metres -20 -40 Contour Interval = 5 mV -60

10 5 0

Depth of energisation = 70 m

Station Interval = 2.5 m

65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10

Fig.9. Mise--la-masse contour map in the east Basuria colliery, BCCL Ltd.
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Fig.10. Resistivity section using pole-pole configuration along traverse P4 in East Basuria colliery, BCCL Ltd.

Fig.11. Resistivity imaging using pole-pole configuration along traverse P3 in East Basuria colliery, BCCL Ltd.
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Fig.12. Forward modelling of resistivity imaging when two voids are taken and are considered as air filled voids while resistivity for the void is assumed as 1500 Ohm-m.

Fig.13. Forward modelling of resistivity imaging when many voids are taken and are considered as air filled voids while resistivity for the void is assumed as 1500 Ohm-m .

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Fig.14. Forward modelling of resistivity imaging when many voids are taken and are considered as water saturated while resistivity for the void is assumed as 30 Ohm-m

there is not much difference to be noticed in the images between those having model with two voids (Fig.12) and model having many voids (Fig.13) but the resistivity value of the last layer as seen in fig.12 is less than 100 Ohm-m while it is more than 100 Ohm-m in Fig.13 where number of voids are more. Another situation is assumed as the voids having a resistivity of about 30 Ohm-m which will be equivalent with water saturated portion. The computed resistivity image along with the model is shown in Fig.14. It is clear from this figure, that this resistivity image is also appearing to be same as Fig.13 i.e., the individual water saturated void is not reflected in the resistivity image. Thus these models show that the voids which are of small size compared to the depth of their presence do not indicate clear cut anomalies in the images, whether they are saturated with water or not.
CONCLUSIONS

It was observed and confirmed that electrical resistivity imaging/tomography serves as one of the important tool in demarcating the water filled voids/water logged areas but not very suitable and sensitive for delineating the thin coal seams in the given geological situation. In all the three locations, where the resistivity imaging was carried out, part

of the profile has a section where the underground horizons were saturated. In the first location, profiles were taken along three parallel lines where coal extraction was taken place. The resistivity imaging has not very clearly indicated the water saturation along the profile, which might be due to the large depth of water table (in situ measurement) and also due to poor resistivity contrast. At the same time resistivity imaging did not indicate the individual water filled or air filled voids, which might be due to the small size of the voids i.e., about 2 m x 2 m in size, below a depth of 15 m and more (Figs.12 to 14). It is very clear from the present forward modeling study by considering the underground sub-surface condition that there is not much difference to be noticed in the images between those having model with two voids (Fig.12) and model having many voids (Figs.13, 14) but only the resistivity value of the last layer as seen in resistivity image (Fig.12) is less than 100 Ohm-m while it is more than 100 Ohm-m in Figs.13 and 14 where the number of voids are more. These figures say there is no prominent anomaly created in the images due to these voids: either air filled or water filled. It was found that the air filled voids together is reflected as high resistivity zone i.e. ranging from 600 to 1000 Ohm-m compared with the surrounding rocks whereas water filled
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voids combinedly with the surrounding rocks comparatively show low resistivity value, which appeared towards south of the profiles. However, such studies if integrated with other geophysical studies such as EM methods may help in identifying the voids. Mise--la-masse technique conducted at one location did not give any major indication of the continuation of saturated layer within the borewell which could be due to surface inhomogeneities in the form of dumps (mining materials) and highly undulating topography in this part. Resistivity imaging with pole-pole configuration near the BW (P3, Fig.11) and also away from BW (P4, Fig.10) shows resistivity range of about 10 to 40 Ohm-m in central part which could be water bearing horizons. The study was carried out on experimental basis, and this indicates that the resistivity imaging technique cannot distinguish the voids created due to excavation of

coal seams in coal mines, but can distinguish the water saturated zones from the surrounding rocks in such mining areas. Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Dr. V.P. Dimri, Director, National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad for his kind consent and encouragement to publish this work. We are thankful to Director, CMRI and Managing Director, BCCL for their full cooperation during the geophysical field survey for the given project. We are grateful to Mr. D.N. Tiwary, Senior Survey Officer and Mr. K.K. Jha, Deputy Surveyor, East Basuria Colliery for their overall support during the field investigations. Authors are benefited too by the comments and suggestions of the reviewer, which improved the quality of the manuscript.

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(Received: 21 February 2008; Revised form accepted: 28 October 2008)

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