Richard Cowling Taylor: Founder of Appalachian coal geology

Richard Cowling Taylor (1789-1851) was a British-born American geologist, generally specializing in the coal geology of the Pennsylvanian system and in the Triassic coals of Pennsylvania and Virginia. While he long clung to older, disproved age assignments and made some mistakes in structural geology, therefore missing coal-bearing synclines beyond the immediate study area, he did pioneer the use of cross sections of coal basins and made advancements in the uniform expression of geologic maps. His work in the western end of Pennsylvania's Southern Anthracite field, Broad Top coalfield, and the North-central coalfields and in Virginia's Richmond Basin provided valuable insights into the exploration and development of those areas in the 1830's and 1840's.