Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian coal-bearing strata of the Pocahontas, New River, and Kanawha Formations crop out in McDowell County in the southernmost part of the West Virginia coal field. The stratigraphic relations and distribution of coal beds in these formations were studied by the U.S. Geological Survey to contribute to a program of the U.S. Bureau of Mines concerning the availability of low-sulfur coal in the Appalachian region.
Coal of low-volatile, medium-volatile, and high-volatile A bituminous rank occurs in 69 beds that range in thickness from a few inches to a maximum of nearly 9 feet. Recoverable reserves in beds 28 inches or more in thickness are present principally in 15 coal beds, each of which has been mined by underground or stripping methods. Published analyses of 160 samples collected in the county indicate that 11 of the principal coal beds average 1 percent or less in sulfur content and, of these, only 4 beds contain more than 1 percent sulfur locally. The other 4 principal coal beds are low to medium in sulfur on the basis of samples that were collected during early mining or are from adjacent counties.
