ABSTRACT
The search for coal poses many of the same problems and uses many of the same techniques as those involved in exploring for other fossil fuels, metals and industrial minerals. Finding coal beds which can be recovered through surface mining differs only slightly from exploring for deeper coal. Coal with almost no exceptions, is found as strata, or bands, in sedimentary rock. Deposits are explored to determine: extent; quality; rank; depth of deposit; and potential environmental impacts of recovery. Exploration data are collected initially by mapping outcrops of coal beds. In the western United States, coal deposits at strippable depths are often thick, low grade and severely split, so their thicknesses may be variable within short distances. Research done by the US Geological Survey and the Colorado School of Mines has identified geophysical approaches to augment geologic and borehole data, and at the same time reduce the extent of drilling needed to delineate a deposit and its attendant cost.
