Petrology and geochemistry of the harlan, kellioka, and darby coals from the louellen 7.5-minute quadrangle, Harlan county, Kentucky

Michelle N. Johnston, James C. Hower, Shifeng Dai, Peipei Wang, Panpan Xie, Jingjing Liu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Harlan, Kellioka, and Darby coals in Harlan County, Kentucky, have been among the highest quality coals mined in the Central Appalachians. The Middle Pennsylvanian coals are correlative with the Upper Elkhorn No. 1 to Upper Elkhorn No. 3½ coals to the northwest of the Pine Mountain thrust fault. Much of the mining traditionally was controlled by captive, steel-company-owned mines and the coal was part of the high volatile A bituminous portion of the coking coal blend. Overall, the coals are generally low-ash and low-sulfur, contributing to their desirability as metallurgical coals. We did observe variation both in geochemistry, such as individual lithologies with significant P2O5/Ba + Sr/Rare earth concentrations, and in maceral content between the lithotypes in the mine sections.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)894-918
Number of pages25
JournalMinerals
Volume5
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 11 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Coal quality
  • Coking coal
  • Mining history
  • Pennsylvanian

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
  • Geology

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