Abstract: The U.S. Geological Survey's National Coal Resource Assessment: The Northern and Central Appalachian Basin

Leslie Ruppert, Linda Bragg, Susan Tewalt

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Energy Resource Surveys Program is currently conducting a five-year National Coal Resource Assessment project. Primary focus is on the quality and quantity of top-producing coal beds and coal zones in five of the nine major coal producing regions in the U.S. These regions include the (1) Northern and Central Appalachian Basin, (2) Gulf Coastal Plain, (3) Illinois Basin, (4) Colorado Plateau, and (5) Powder River Basin and the Northern Great Plains.

In the northern and central parts of the Appalachian Basin there are 10 top-producing coal beds and coal zones that account for approximately 26% of the Nation's annual coal production and 61% of the Appalachian production. We will be assessing most of the top-producing coal beds over their areal extent. Top producers include seven coal beds -- the Pittsburgh, Upper Freeport, Hazard No. 5A, Hazard No. 4, Lower Elkhorn, Pocahontas No. 3, and the Stockton-Lewis - and three coal zones - the Kittannings, Upper Elkhorn No. 1 and No. 2, and the Upper Elkhorn No. 3. Digital products will include stratigraphic and geochemical databases, original and remaining resource tonnage, and comprehensive bed-scale maps (crop-line, coal thickness, coal structure, overburden thickness, and mined-out area ). The maps will be at a scale of 1:250,000 or 1:500,000. Geochemical parameters, including calorific value (BTU's), moisture, ash yield, sulfur, and potentially hazardous chemical elements will be mapped or presented in tabular form.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90950©1996 AAPG GCAGS 46th Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas