Geology, coal quality, and resources of the Antaramut-Kurtan-Dzoragukh coal field, north-central Armenia

The Antaramut-Kurtan-Dzoragukh (AKD) coal deposit is a previously unrecogni zed coal field in north-central Armenia. Coal has been known to exist in th e general vicinity since the turn of the century, but coal was thought to b e restricted to a small (1 km(2)) area only near the village of Antaramut. However, through detailed field work and exploratory drilling, this coal de posit has been expanded to at least 20 km(2), and thus renamed the Antaramu t-Kurtan-Dzoragukh coal field, for the three villages that the coal field e ncompasses. The entire coal-bearing horizon, a series of tuffaceous sandsto nes, siltstones, and claystones, is approximately 50 m thick. The AKD coal field contains two coal beds, each greater than 1 m thick, and numerous sma ll rider beds, with a total resource of approximately 31,000,000 metric ton nes. The coals art: late Eocene in age, high volatile bituminous in rank, r elatively high in ash yield (approximately 40%, as-determined basis) and mo derate in sulfur content (approximately 3%, as-determined basis). The two c oal beds (No. 1 and No. 2), on a moist, mineral-matter-free basis, have hig h calorific values of 32.6 MJ/kg (7796 cal/g) and 36.0 MJ/kg (8599 cal/g), respectively. Coal is one of the few indigenous fossil fuel resources occur ring in Armenia and thus, the AKD coal field could potentially provide fuel for heating and possibly energy generation in the Armenian energy budget. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.