Coal assessments and coal research in the Appalachian basin

Coal is one of our most important domestic energy resources, producing 37 percent of the Nation’s electricity in 2012. Coal mining within the Appalachian basin has been ongoing for three centuries and, cumulatively, the basin is the most productive coal region in the United States. In 2012, only the Powder River basin produced more coal than the Appalachian basin. Coal is the most important mined product within the basin, and research on the quality and quantity of the coal is one of the primary functions of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the State geological surveys of Alabama, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The USGS and the State geological surveys historically have worked together on coal research and assessment projects to achieve mutually beneficial science goals.

The 2000 USGS coal resource assessment of the Appalachian basin (Northern and Central Appalachian Basin Coal Regions Assessment Team, 2001, USGS Professional Paper 1625–C) was done in close collaboration with scientists of the State geological surveys of Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Five of the top-producing coal beds and coal zones within the basin were quantitatively assessed, and results show that ample coal resources remain. Coal quality, not coal quantity, is the principal driver for coal production and use within the basin and will be for the foreseeable future.

Cumulative coalbed-methane (CBM) production within the Appalachian basin has been about 2.3 trillion cubic feet (TCF), and most of the production has come from Alabama and Virginia (Milici and Polyak, this volume, chap. G.2). Significant CBM resources occur throughout the coal-producing States in the Appalachian basin, and commercial production is possible in all.

State geological surveys are concentrating on mapping and correlating coal beds and coal zones and studying CBM potential and production. Both State surveys and the USGS are researching the potential for carbon dioxide sequestration in unmined coal beds and other geologic reservoirs. In addition, the State geological surveys continue their long-term collaboration with the USGS and provide coal stratigraphic data to the National Coal Resources Data System (NCRDS).