Correlation of the Coal Measures

Abstract

THREE are two quite different aspects of Coal Measure correlation. In the first place, there is the desirability of dividing the thousands of feet of Coal Measure strata into zones or other subdivisions, which can be recognized in different coalfields and can be used in the comparison of sequences in different areas; in the second place, there is the demand of the mining engineer for criteria which will make it possible for him in a given area to identify individual coal seams or other rock beds. The broad zoning has its economic uses in the exploration of undeveloped areas in known coalfields and in the interpretation of deep borings into concealed coalfields. In these preliminary stages, it is sufficient to know what part of the Coal Measures has been reached, but as mining operations proceed, especially in areas where seams are much disturbed and faulted, there is need for much more precise information than can be gained from a study of zones which may themselves be hundreds of feet thick.