ABSTRACT
The accessibility of coal, which has been widely found at and near the surface in many parts of the country, has permitted much development without major help from the geosciences. The geosciences have important contributions in utilizing coal as an energy source. These contributions are related to evaluation of resources, mining geology, utilization of coal, and environmental consequences of development and utilization of coal. A major impact of application of geosciences and particularly geology in the past has been delineation of areas of coal occurrence. In practice, estimates of coal reserves, which also have been defined in several ways in different studies, have attempted to apply to coal resources more stringent restrictions related to practical mineability. The coal fields of the central states contain recoverable reserves, mostly of bituminous rank, but generally of lower rank than most of the eastern coals. A handful of geoscientists have directed attention to some physical properties of coal as seen under the petrographic microscope.
