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Abstract

Despite the decline in the coal mining industry across Europe during the last decade, coal continues to supply a major part of the growing global energy requirements, particularly in the developing countries. During this period there has been a shift in coal extraction techniques from deep underground mines to open pit mines, reflecting cheaper production costs in a market economy. It seems probable that the European coal industry is now entering a period of stability. However, the change to opencast mining has highlighted environmental issues and the need to solve these problems. This volume presents 39 papers written by coal scientists in the forefront of European coal research. The papers cover a wide spectrum of coal geology and technology, with sections on regional coal reserves, coal basin tectonics and stratigraphy, coal petrology and palaeontology, mineral matter in coal and the environment, mining geophysics, coal technology and coalbed methane. Many of the studies describe coal deposits from Central and Eastern Europe, some of which are not well known in the west, so that the papers and included references will provide an invaluable data source. This book will be of value to all coal scientists in both the extraction and energy industries and to academics. It will also be a useful reference for students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.