--> ABSTRACT: Coal Bed Methane Resources of the Book Cliffs Coal Field, Utah, by Keith C. Alexander; #91003 (1990).

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ABSTRACT: Coal Bed Methane Resources of the Book Cliffs Coal Field, Utah

Keith C. Alexander

Within the Book Cliffs coal field nine coal beds have been sampled for methane gas. The sampling was done in cooperation with the United States Department of Energy, the United States Bureau of Mines, and several coal producing companies. The samples were tested for residual, desorbed, and total methane values using the Bureau of Mines direct method.

Coal bed methane resource maps were generated at a scale of 1:100,000 for the nine beds tested. The regional results range from hundreds of thousands of cubic feet per square mile to over 6 ft3/mi2. The total volume of gas per square mile is determined by the use of a conversion chart relating methane gas (cc/gm) to coal thickness.

Resource maps illustrate areas of economic importance based on total gas content and the nature of the gas stored in the coal beds. The results also indicate improving methane resources northward from surface exposures associated with increasing overburden, lack of faulting and fracturing, increasing rank of the coal, and minor variations in the maceral composition of the coals. When these gas values are considered in conjunction with the multiple layer-cake nature of the coal beds, a large methane gas reserve can be delineated in this region of Utah.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91003©1990 AAPG Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, June 3-6, 1990