Bituminous coal basin, Appalachian

Four coals were selected for process evaluation whose sulfur form distribution is typical of coals east of the Mississippi River and which represent major U.S. coal beds Pittsburgh, Lower Kittanning, Illinois No 5, and Herrin No. 6. The Pittsburgh bed has been described as the most valuable individual mineral deposit in the United States and perhaps in the world. Its production accounts for approximately 35%. of the total cumulative production of the Appalachian bituminous coal basin to January 1, 1965 and 21% of the total cumulative production of the United States to that date (5). The Lower Sattanning bed together with its correlative beds contains even larger reserves than the Pittsburgh seam. The No. 5 bed is the most widespread and commercially valuable coal bed in... 

In the bituminous coals of the US Illinois and Appalachian basins, arsenic primarily occurs in pyrite. The arsenian pyrite probably originated from subsurface fluids that existed about 270 million years ago during the formation of the Ouachita and Appalachian mountains (Goldhaber, Lee and Hatch, 2003). The arsenic-bearing fluids in the midcontinent Illinois Basin were primarily brines derived from surrounding sedimentary basins that were also responsible for the formation of the Mississippi Valley lead-zinc deposits. In contrast, the fluids that were responsible for the arsenian pyrites in the Appalachians (especially in the coals of the Warrior Basin of Alabama) were metamorphic and not as saline as those in the midcontinent (Goldhaber, Lee and Hatch, 2003). 

Rg. 14. Upper plot time series comparing bituminous coal production from Appalachian Basin mines (lower of the two curves) with IRM in core MTR.1. Note the correspondence between peaks in coal production and IRM for the WWII years and 1970. The lower of the two plots is a similar comparison between coal production (lower curve) and Zn content in core MTR.l. The coal production data are from Milici (1997). 

Appalachian Basin WV, PA, OH, E. KY, AL, VA, TN, MD Bituminous 98.7 Widely variable, mostly 0.5 to 5% sulfur. Large quantities of low-sulfur coal occur in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field and the Southern Field of West Virginia. 

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