Abstract: Calculation of Coal Reserves by Computer Methods

W. G. Miller, L. H. Van Dyke

The Illinois State Geological Survey has developed a series of computer programs, known collectively as the Coal Data System, for the analysis of coal-related data. These programs use individual point-data or digitized-contour maps as input and provide coal-resource estimates and camera-ready maps as output. The system has been used to map almost 100 billion tons of coal more than 42 in. thick for two coal seams in Illinois and to display these reserves by township. Additional studies have mapped trace-element distributions in coal and the structure of the Herrin (No. 6) Coal Member of Illinois on scales ranging from areas as large as the entire state to areas as small as parts of individual mines. The procedures used by the coal system may be applied to the study of any tabular body to find the total volume in that body. An extension of the Coal Data System could, for example, be used to estimate oil shale reserves or further define reserves of coal or shale with specific characteristics as, for example, sulfur content.

Two algorithms have been tested to determine how their capabilities for estimating reserves compare with those of hand planimetering. The first algorithm gave a value within 5 percent of the value obtained manually and the second was within 1 percent of the manually obtained value.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90972©1976 AAPG-SEPM Annual Convention and Exhibition, New Orleans, LA