Damodar Valley

…east, runs the coal-bearing, faulted Damodar River valley. Numerous streams have dissected the uplands into a peneplain (an area reduced almost to a plain by erosion) with isolated hills.

The Damodar valley, along the Bihar–West Bengal border, includes India’s most important coal- and mica-mining fields and has long been an area of active industrial development. The major coalfields (Jharia, Raniganj, and Giridih) are mostly open-pit and are easily mined. The Damodar Valley Corporation, which began…

The coalfield lies in the Damodar River valley and covers about 110 square miles (280 square km). The bituminous coal produced there is suitable for coke (most of India’s coal comes from the Jharia and Raniganj fields in the valley).