Encyclopedia of Global Resources part 26 pot

presence of which would ordinarily cause decay of the
plant tissue. Under such near-stagnant conditions
plant remains are preserved, while the presence of hy-
drogen sulfide discourages the presence of organisms
that feed on dead vegetation. Analog environments
under which coal is presently forming are found
within the Atchafalaya swamp of coastal Louisiana
and the many peat-producing regions of Ireland. A
layer of peat inexcessof2metersinthicknessandcov-
ering more than 5,000 square kilometers is present in
the Dismal Swamp of coastal North Carolina and Vir-
ginia.
The sapropelic class of coal, relatively uncommon
in distribution and composed of fossil algae and
spores, is formed through partial decomposition of
organic matter by organisms within oxygen-deficient
lakes and ponds. Sapropelic coals are subdivided into
boghead (algae origin) and cannel (spore origin) de-
posits.
The vegetable origin of coal has been accepted
since 1825 and is convincingly evidenced by the iden-
tification of more than three thousand freshwater
plant species in coal beds of Carboniferous (360 to
286 million years ago) age. The common association
of root structures and even upright stumps with layers
of coal indicates that the parent plant material grew
and accumulated in place.
Detailed geologic studies of rock sequences that lie
immediately above and below coal deposits indicate
that most coals were formed in coastal regions af-
fected by long-term sea-level cycles characterized by

transgressing (advancing) and regressing (retreating)
shorelines. Such a sequence of rock deposited during
a single advance and retreat of the shoreline, termed
a “cyclothem,” typically contains nonmarine strata
separated from overlying marine strata by a single
layer of coal. In sections of the Interior coal province,
a minimum of fifty cyclothems have been recognized,
some of which can be traced across thousands of
square kilometers. Such repetition in a rock sequence
is most advantageous to the economics of a coal re-
gion, creating a situation in which a vertical mine
shaft could penetrate scores of layers of coal.
The formation of coal is a long-term geologic pro-
cess. Coal cannot therefore be considered a renew-
able resource, even though it is formed from renew-
able resource plant matter. Studies have suggested
that 1 meter of low-rank coal requires approximately
ten thousand years of plant growth, accumulation, bi
-
ologic reduction, and compaction to develop. Using
these time lines, the 3-meter-thick Pittsburgh coal
bed, underlying 39,000 square kilometers of Pennsyl-
vania, developed over a period of thirty thousand
years, while the 26-meter-thick bed of coal found at
Adaville, Wyoming, required approximately one-
quarter of a million years to develop.
Coal formation favors climate conditions under
which plant growth is abundant andconditionsforor-
ganic preservation are favorable. Such climates range
from subtropical to cold, with the ideal being classed

as temperate. Tropical swamps produce an abun-
dance of plant matter but very high bacterial activity,
resulting in low production of peat. Modern peats are
developing in temperate to cold climate regions, such
as Canada and Ireland, where abundant precipitation
ensures fast plant growth while relatively cool temper-
atures diminish the effectiveness of decay-promoting
bacteria.
The first coal provinces began to form with the evo-
lution of cellulose-rich land plants. One of the earliest
known coaldeposits,of Upper Devonianage(approx-
imately 365 million years ago), is found on Buren Is-
land, Norway. Between the Devonian period and to-
day every geologic period is represented by at least
some coal somewhere in the world. Certain periods of
time, however, are significant coal-forming ages.
During the Carboniferous and Permian periods
(360 to 245 million years ago) widespread develop-
ment of fern and scale tree growthsetthe stage for the
formation of the Appalachian coal province and the
coal districts of the United Kingdom, Russia, and
Manchuria. Coal volumes formed during these pe-
riods of geologic time constitute approximately 65
percent of present world reserves. The remaining re-
serves, developed mainly over the past 200 million
years, formed in swamps consisting of angiosperm
(flowering) plants. The reserves of the Rocky Moun-
tain province and those of central Europe are repre-
sentative of these younger coals.
After dead land-plant matter has accumulated and

slowly begun to compact, biochemical decomposi-
tion, rising temperature, and rising pressure all con-
tribute to the lengthy process of altering visible plant
debris into various ranks of coal. With the advent of
the Industrial Revolution there was a need for a sys-
tem of classification defining in detail the various
types of coals. Up to the beginning of the nineteenth
century, coal was divided into three rudimentary
classes, determined by appearance: bright coal, black
coal, and brown coal. Through the decades, other
220 • Coal Global Resources
schemes involving various parameters were intro
-
duced, including oxygen content, percent of residue
remaining after the burning of coal, ratio of carbon to
volatile matter content, or analysis of fixed carbon
content and calorific value (heat-generating ability).
In 1937, a classification of coal rank using fixed car-
bon and Btu content was adopted by the American
Standards Association. Adaptationsofthis scheme are
still in use, listing the steps of progressive increase in
coal rank as lignite (brown coal), subbituminous, bi-
tuminous (soft coal), subanthracite, and anthracite
(hard coal). Some classification schemes also list peat
as the lowest rank of coal. (Technically speaking, peat
is nota coal; rather, itis a fuel anda precursor tocoal.)
Coalification is the geologic process whereby plant
material is altered into differing ranks of coal by geo-
chemical and diagenetic change. With an increase in
rank, chemical changes involve an increase in carbon

content accompanied by a decrease in hydrogen and
oxygen. Correspondingly, diagenesis involves an in-
crease in density and calorific value, and a progressive
decrease in moisture. At all ranks, common impuri-
ties include sulfur, silt and clay particles, and silica.
U.S. reserves are found mainly in eleven northeast-
ern counties in Pennsylvania. Subanthracite coal has
characteristics intermediate between bituminous and
anthracite.
Bedded and compacted coal layers are geologically
considered to be rocks. Lignite and bituminous ranks
are classed as organic sedimentary rocks. Anthracite,
formed when bituminous beds of coal are subjected
to the folding and regional deformation affiliated
with mountain building processes, is listed as a meta-
morphic rock. Because peat is not consolidated or
compacted, it is classed as an organic sediment. Graph-
ite, a naturally occurring crystalline form of almost
pure carbon, is occasionally associated with anthra-
cite. While it can occur as the result of high-tempera-
ture alteration of anthracite, its chemical purity and
common association with crystalline rock causes it to
be listed as a mineral.
History
Considering the importance of coal to modern soci-
ety, it is somewhat surprising that the production
of this commodity played only a minor role in pre-
Industrial Revolution (that is, prior to the middle
eighteenth century) history. The origins of coal use
date back at least several thousands of years, as evi

-
denced by the discovery of flint axes embedded in
layered coal in central England. These primitive
tools have been attributed to Neolithic (New Stone
Age, c. 6000-2000 b.c.e.) open-pit mining. The Chi-
nese were acquainted early with the value of coal, us-
ing it in the making of porcelain. Coal cinders found
in Roman-era walls in association with implements
of similar age suggest the use of coal for heating
purposes prior to the colonization of England by the
Saxons.
The philosopher Theophrastus (c. 372-287 b.c.e.),
noted as the academic successor to Aristotle and the
author of many studies on plants, called coal anthrax,
a Greek word later used in the naming of anthracite
coal. Later, the Anglo-Saxon term col, probably de-
rived from the Latin caulis, meaning plant stalk,
evolved into “cole” prior to the emergence of the
modern spelling some three centuries ago.
With the decline of forests in England by the thir-
teenth century, coal began to assume a significant
role. The first coal-mining charter was granted the
freemen of Newcastle in 1239. This early burning of
coal, however, because of its propensity to befoul the
atmosphere, was banned in 1306 by King Edward I.
King Edward III reversed this ban and again granted
the Newcastle freemen a coal-mining license, whereby
this town soon became the center of the first impor-
tant coal-mining district.
Coal mining was initiated in North America near

Richmond, Virginia, in 1748. A decade later, coal-
mining activities had moved to the rich deposits
around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The spread of the
Industrial Revolution, invention of the iron-smelting
process, and improvement of the steam engine guar-
anteed the classification of coal as an industrial staple.
With the development of the steam-driven electric
generator in the last decade of the nineteenth cen-
tury, coal became the dominant fuel. A century later,
world coal production exceeded 4.5 billion metric
tons and constituted some 26 percent of world energy
production ona Btu basis. Intheearly twenty-first cen-
tury, with the rapid growth of the Chinese economy,
China passed the United States as the top producer of
coal.
Obtaining Coal
Coal has been produced by two common methods:
underground (or deep) mining and surface(or strip)
mining. Underground mining requires the digging of
extensive systems of tunnels and passages within and
along the coal layers. These openings are connected
Global Resources Coal • 221
to the surface so the coal can be removed. Prior to the
development of the gigantic machinery necessary to
open-pit mining, deep mining was the industrynorm.
This early period was characterized by labor-intensive
pick-and-shovel work in cramped mine passages. Con-
stant dangers included the collapse of ceilings and
methane gas explosions.
Today, augers and drilling machinery supplement

manpower to a large extent, and mine safety and
health regulations have greatly reduced the annual
death toll. The common method of underground ex-
traction involves initialremoval of about 50 percentof
the coal, leaving a series of pillars to support the mine
roof. As reserves are exhausted, the mine is gradually
abandoned after removal of some or all of the pillars.
Another modern underground-mining technique,
with a coal removal rate approaching 100 percent, in-
volves the use of an integrated rotary cutting machine
and conveyer belt.
Surface mining of coal, accounting for about 40
percent of global production, is a multiple-step pro-
cess. First, the overburden material must be removed,
allowing exposure of the coal. The coal is then mined
by means of various types of surface machinery, rang-
ing from bulldozers to gigantic power shovels. Finally,
after removal of all the coal, the overburden is used to
fill in the excavated trench and the area is restored to
its natural topography and vegetation. Economics
usually determine whether underground or open-pit
techniques are preferable in a given situation. Gen-
erally, if the ratio of overburden to coal thickness does
not exceed twenty to one, surface mining is more
profitable.
In the Appalachian coal province, coal-mining tech-
nique is closely related to geology. In tightly folded re-
gions of West Virginia, the steeply dipping coal beds
are mostly mined underground. To the northwest,
folds become gentler, and both deep- and surface-

mining methods are used. In the Interior province,
strip mining is the most common process. In the
Rocky Mountain area, where many thick coal beds lie
close to the surface, strip mining again predominates,
although a few underground mines are present.
With increased concern regarding the state of the
natural Earth environment, and with federal passage
of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act (1969) and
the Clean Air Acts (U.S.), the mining of coal in the
United States has undergone both geographic and
extraction-technology changes. Because the Rocky
Mountain province coals, while lower grade than east
-
ern coals, contain lower percentages of sulfur, the
center of U.S. production has gradually shifted west-
ward. The burning of high-sulfur coals releases sulfur
dioxide intotheatmosphere; it isasignificant contrib-
utor to acid rain.
Western coals are often contained within layers
thicker than those found in the east, are shallow in
depth, and can be found under large areas—all con-
ditions amenable to surface mining. As a result, the
state of Wyoming, with a 1995 production of 240 mil-
lion metric tons of low-sulfur coal that is burned in
more than twenty-four statesinthegeneration of elec-
tricity, became the leading U.S. coal producer.
Coal mining has played an integral role in the de-
velopment of the industrialized world, and this role
should continue well into the future. Reserve addi-
tions continue to closely equal losses due to mining,

and at current levels of production estimates indicate
that there is enough recoverable coal globally for
some 130 to 150 years of future production.
Uses of Coal
Historically, coal has been industry’s fuel of choice.
Those countries in possession of sufficient coal reserves
have risen commercially, while those less endowed
with this resource—or lacking it altogether—have
turned to agriculture or stagnated in development.
The top exporters of coal are Australia, Indonesia,
Russia, Colombia, South Africa, China, and the United
States. The top importers are Japan, South Korea,
Taiwan, India, the United Kingdom, China, and Ger-
many.
Different ranks of coal are employed for different
purposes. In the middle of the twentieth century, it
was common to see separate listings of coking, gas,
steam, fuel, and domestic coals. Each had its specific
uses. Domestic coal could not yield excessive smoke,
while coal for locomotives had to raise steam quickly
and not produce too high an ash content. Immedi-
ately after World War II, fuel coal use in the United
States, representing 78 percentofannualproduction,
was divided into steam raising (29 percent), railway
transportation (23 percent), domestic consumption
(17 percent), electric generation (6 percent), and
bunker coal (3 percent). The remaining 22 percent
was employed in the production of pig iron (10 per-
cent), steel (7 percent), and gas (5 percent). Fifty
years later, more than 80 percent of the approxi

-
mately 900 million metric tons of coal produced an
-
nually in the United States was used in the generation
222 • Coal Global Resources
of electricity. Industrial consumption
of coal, particularly in the produc-
tion of coke for the steel and iron
manufacturing industry, is the sec-
ond most important use. Globally, 13
percent of hard coal production is
used by the steel industry. Some 70
percent of global steel production
depends on coal. Additional indus-
trial groups that use coal include
food processing, paper, glass, ce-
ment, and stone. Coal produces
more energy than any other fuel,
more than natural gas, crude oil, nu-
clear, and renewable fuels.
The drying of malted barley by
peat fires has long beenimportant in
giving Scotch whiskey its smoky fla-
vor. Peat has also been increasingly
employed as a soil conditioner. While
expensive to produce, the conver-
sion of intermediate ranks of coal
into liquid (coal oil) and gaseous
(coal gas) forms of hydrocarbon fu-
els will become more economically

viable, especially during times of in-
crease in the value of crude oil and
natural gas reserves.
New uses ofcoal are constantly be-
ing explored and tested. Two prom-
ising techniques are the mixing of
water with powdered coal to make
a slurry that can be burned as a liq-
uid fuel and the underground extraction of coal-bed
methane (firedamp). Interest in the latter by-product
as an accessible and clean-burning fuel is especially
high in Appalachian province localities distant from
conventional gas resources.
Albert B. Dickas
Further Reading
Berkowitz, Norbert. An Introduction to Coal Technology.
2d ed. San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, 1994.
Freese, Barbara. Coal: A Human History. Cambridge,
Mass.: Perseus, 2003.
Goodell, Jeff. Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s
Energy Future. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Schobert, Harold H. Coal: The Energy Source of the Past
and Future. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical
Society, 1987.
Speight, James G. The Chemistry and Technology of Coal.
2d ed., rev. and expanded. New York: M. Dekker,
1994.
Thomas, Larry. Coal Geology. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley,
2002.
_______. Handbook of Practical Coal Geology. New York:

Wiley, 1992.
Web Sites
American Coal Foundation
All About Coal
/>Natural Resources Canada
About Coal
/>eng.php
Global Resources Coal • 223
History: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA),
(June-December, 2008). Projections: EIA, World Energy
Projections Plus (2009).
Source: International
Energy Annual, 2006
2025
2010
2005
2000
1995
1990
2015
2020
2030
1985
1980
89.2
88.5
93.6
121.7
140.6
150.7

161.7
175.2
190.2
82.4
70.0
Quadrillion British Thermal Units (Btus)
20015010050
World Coal Consumption and Projections
U.S. Department of Energy
Coal
/>U.S. Geological Survey
Coal Resources: Over One Hundred Years of USGS
Research
/>World Coal Institute
Gas and Liquids
/>See also: American Mining Congress; Asbestos; Car-
bon; Coal gasification and liquefaction; Environmen-
tal degradation, resource exploitation and; Industrial
Revolution and industrialization; Mining safety and
health issues; Mining wastes and mine reclamation;
Open-pit mining; Peat; Strip mining; Surface Mining
ControlandReclamation Act; Undergroundmining.
Coal gasification and liquefaction
Categories: Energy resources; obtaining and using
resources
Synthetic fuels offer alternatives for systems, such as
vehicles, designed to operate on liquid or gaseous fuels.
Historically, these fuels have been used when imports
of petroleum or natural gas are restricted by boycotts or
warfare. The conversion of coal to synthetic fuels can

reduce the amounts of sulfur and ash released into the
environment, providing a cleaner fuel.
Background
Coal is one of the most abundant fossil fuel resources
in the world. The worldwide reserves of coal are likely
to last substantially longer than reserves of petroleum
and natural gas. Several factors can create shortages
of liquid or gaseous fuels, including international
trade embargoes (as occurred during the 1970’s),
wars, and, in the long run,the depletion of petroleum
and gas reserves. Gaseous or liquid fuels are easier to
handle and transport than are solids, and they are eas-
ier to treat for removal of potential pollutants, such as
sulfur. Worldwide there is an immense investment in
combustion devices of many kinds designed to oper
-
ate onliquidsor gases. Alarge-scalereplacement ofall
these units, or retrofitting them to burn solid coal, is
not practically or economically feasible. Solid coal
is not a practical alternative for many applications
of liquid or gaseous fuels, such as automobile en-
gines. Conversion of coal to synthetic gaseous or liq-
uid fuels offers opportunities for providing alterna-
tive fuel supplies, for removing sulfur and ash from
the fuel before combustion, and for providing strate-
gic security against the possible interruption of im-
ports.
Coal Gasification
The simplest approach to producing gaseous fuel
from coalisheating in closed vesselsunderconditions

that would not allow combustion to occur. In such a
process, the coal decomposes to a variety of products,
including gases, liquids (coal tar), and a solid residue.
Depending on the quality of the coal used, the gas can
have excellent fuel qualities, because it is rich in hy-
drogen and methane and has a calorific value of
about two-thirds that ofnaturalgas. The product has a
variety of names: town gas, illuminating gas, or coal
gas. The process itself also has various names, includ-
ing pyrolysis, destructive distillation, and carboniza-
tion.
If the primary objective is to produce a gaseous
fuel, then simple carbonization is very wasteful of the
coal, because only about 20 percent is converted to
gas. Much of the original coal still remains a solid, and
some converts to a liquid. However, if the gas is col-
lected as a by-product, for example from the conver-
sion of coal to metallurgical coke, then sale of the gas
can provide extra revenue; it can also be used as a fuel
inside the plant. Carbonization is not useful when the
intent is to convert the maximum amount of coal to a
gaseous fuel.
The principal method for converting coal com-
pletely to a gaseous fuel is the reaction of coal with
steam. When steam is passed over a bed of red-hot
coal, the product is water gas, which consists mainly
of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The reaction of
steam with coal is endothermic (it requires a sourceof
heat in order to proceed). Consequently, some por-
tion of the coal must be burned to provide the heat to

“drive” the reaction of coal with steam. This is usually
accomplished by allowing the combustion reaction
and the reaction with steam to proceed simultaneously
in the same vessel. Initially this was accomplished by
feeding coal, air, and steam together into a reactor.
The heat-releasing combustion reaction effectively
balances the heat-consuming reaction with steam,
224 • Coal gasification and liquefaction Global Resources
and the process can operate continuously.
When air is used for the combustion reaction,
the product gas will inevitably be diluted with large
amounts of nitrogen. Consequently, its calorific value
will be very low, about 10 to 20 percent of the value of
natural gas. For this reason, modern approaches to
coal gasification use coal, steam, and oxygen as the
feedstocks. Though this addstothecost and complex-
ity of separating oxygen from air for the gasification
process, it is more than recompensed by a much
higher quality product.
Gasifier Designs
Early designs of gasifiers were so-called moving bed
gasifiers, in which a bed of solid coal slowly descended
through a tall cylindrical vessel to react with a steam-
oxygen (or steam-air) mixture at the bottom. Such
gasifiers, such as the Lurgi gasifier, developed in Ger-
many in the 1930’s, have a disadvantage in that the
heating drives out any moisture that may be in the
coal and generates some liquids or tars. Some of
the compounds driven out of the coal will dissolve
in the water, producing a wastewater that must be

treated before discharge into the environment. The
tars represent a by-product for which uses must be
found or which must be disposed of in environmen-
tally acceptable ways. Despite these apparent disad-
vantages, the Lurgi is one of the most successful
gasifier designsinthe world: Thegasifieris used in the
synthetic fuels plants in South Africa as well as in the
Dakota gasification plant in Beulah, North Dakota,
the primary coal gasification facility in the United
States.
Alternative approaches to gasification rely on the
so-called entrained flow method, in which finely pul-
verized coal is blown into the gasifier or injected as a
coal-water slurry. In these gasifiers, the coal is heated
and reacted sorapidlythatthe formationofby-product
tars is avoided. One such gasifier is the Koppers-
Totzek, which is used in many places around the
world, mainly to produce hydrogen for ammonia syn-
thesis (for eventual production of fertilizers). The
Koppers-Totzek unit uses pulverized solid coal. The
Texaco gasifier injects coal in the form of a slurry.
Synthesis Gas
The composition of the gas depends on the specific
gasification process used. Generally, the main compo
-
nents are hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the mix
-
ture of which makes synthesis gas. One application of
synthesis gas is the production of methane, which can
then be sold as substitute for natural gas. Synthesis gas

can be converted to liquid fuels, as discussed below.
The gas can also be burned, particularly in gas tur-
bines that are part of combined-cycle plants for elec-
tricity generation. Other uses include production of
methanol as a liquid fuel, acetic anhydride for chemi-
cals production, or hydrogen (by removing the car-
bon monoxide).
Coal Liquefaction
There are two major routes for production of syn-
thetic liquid fuelsfrom coal. The firstiscalled indirect
liquefaction, because the coal itself is actually con-
verted to synthesis gas by gasification. In a subsequent
step, the synthesis gas is converted to liquid fuels. The
dominant technology for this process was developed
by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch in Germany in the
1920’s. Synthesis gas is reacted over a catalyst at high
temperatures and pressures. Depending on the spe-
cific choice of catalyst, the pressure and temperature
of the reaction, and the relative amounts of hydrogen
and carbon monoxide, it is possible to produce a vari-
ety of liquid fuels, ranging from gasoline to heating
oils. The Fischer-Tropsch process, coupled with coal
gasification, produced about 757 million liters per
year of synthetic liquid fuels used by Germany during
World War II. Subsequently, it was commercialized on
a large scale in South Africa, which was barred from
international trade in oil during the apartheid years
but possesses large reserves of coal.
The alternative approach is direct liquefaction. Di-
rect liquefactionis based on theobservation thatmost

desirable petroleum products contain about two at-
oms of hydrogen per atom of carbon. Coal has on av-
erage less than one hydrogen atom per carbon atom.
The direct conversion of coal to synthetic petroleum-
like liquids therefore requires adding hydrogen
chemically to the coal. Direct liquefaction is some-
times also called coal hydrogenation. The methods
for performing direct liquefaction were developed by
Friedrich Bergius, who received the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 1931. The Bergius process requires ex-
tremely high temperatures (500° Celsius) and pres-
sures (up to 4,500 kilograms per six square centime-
ters), a situation which poses difficult engineering
challenges for large-scale operation. Nevertheless,
the Bergius process provided three billion liters of
synthetic fuels per year to the German war effort in
World War II. A metric ton of coal will yield approxi
-
Global Resources Coal gasification and liquefaction • 225
mately 150 to 170 liters of gasoline, 200 liters of diesel
fuel, and 130 liters of fuel oil.
During the 1970’s and 1980’s, much ingenious re-
search in chemistry and process engineering was di-
rected toward reducing the severe conditions of the
Bergius process in order to make the eventual prod-
uct more economically competitive with petroleum.
Despite substantial progress, a synthetic crude oil
from coal is likely to cost about $30 to $40 per barrel.
There are no direct liquefaction plants operating in
the world, though China had plans to open one by

2007, which did not happen.
Harold H. Schobert
Further Reading
Berkowitz, Norbert. An Introduction to Coal Technology.
2d ed. San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, 1994.
Freese, Barbara. Coal: A Human History. Cambridge,
Mass.: Perseus, 2003.
Goodell, Jeff. Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s
Energy Future. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Higman, Chris, and Maarten van der Burgt. Gasifica-
tion. 2d ed. Boston: Elsevier/Gulf Professional,
2008.
Probstein, Ronald F., and R. Edwin Hicks. Synthetic
Fuels. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982.
Schobert, Harold H. Coal: The Energy Source of the Past
and Future. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical
Society, 1987.
Speight, James G. The Chemistry and Technology of Coal.
2d ed., rev. and expanded. New York: M. Dekker,
1994.
Thomas, Larry. Coal Geology. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley,
2002.
_______. Handbook of Practical Coal Geology. New York:
Wiley, 1992.
Williams, A., M. Pourkashanian, J. M. Jones, and
N. Skorupska. Combustion and Gasification of Coal.
New York: Taylor & Francis, 2000.
Web Sites
American Coal Foundation
All About Coal

/>Natural Resources Canada
About Coal
/>eng.php
U.S. Department of Energy
Coal
/>U.S. Department of Energy
Gasification Technology R&D (Research and
Development)
/>powersystems/gasification/index.html
U.S. Geological Survey
Coal Resources: Over One Hundred Years of USGS
Research
/>World Coal Institute
Gas and Liquids
/>index.asp?PageID=415
See also: Carbon; Coal; Electrical power; energy poli-
tics; Synthetic Fuels Corporation.
Coast and Geodetic Survey, U.S.
Category: Organizations, agencies, and programs
Date: Established as Coast Survey in 1807;
reestablished in 1832; renamed Coast and
Geodetic Survey in 1878; abolished in early
1970’s
The Coast and Geodetic Survey, moving far beyond its
original assignment of making coastal navigation
charts, was a research agency that became a world
leader in geodesy. It developed and refined navigation
and measurement techniques and did research in hy-
drography and coastal geology.
Background

The U.S. Congress created the Coast and Geodetic
Survey,initially known astheCoast Survey,early in the
nineteenth century to survey the Atlantic coast of the
United States and develop accurate charts for naviga-
tion and shipping. Legislation in 1807, the Coast Sur-
vey Act, first provided for surveying and mapping the
nation’s coastline, but Congress failed to allocate ade-
quate funding. As a result, little progress was made. In
1832, Congress authorized reestablishment of the
Coast Survey. Lawmakers at the time intended for the
Coast Survey to be a temporary agency: Funding
226 • Coast and Geodetic Survey, U.S. Global Resources
would be provided only until the charts needed for
safe navigation were completed, and then the Coast
Survey would be dissolved. Under the leadershipofits
early superintendents, however, the Coast Survey ex-
panded its mission to include basic research into
hydrography, topography, cartography, meteorology,
coastal geology, and a wide range of other topics relat-
ing to the physics of the Earth. By the time the Coast
Survey completed charts of the Atlantic and, after the
acquisition of Western territories, Pacific coastlines,
the organization was so thoroughly established as a
scientific agency that it became difficultforlegislators
to argue against continued funding. In 1878, the
agency’s name was changed to the Coast and Geo-
detic Survey.
Impact on Resource Use
Over the course of the more than 150 years of the
Coast and Geodetic Survey’s existence, the agency

achieved numerous scientific and technical break-
throughs. In the process of completing its original
mission of creating navigation charts, the organiza-
tion evolved into a scientific research agency that be-
came a world leader in geodesy. It developed methods
for use in triangulation, arc measurement, geodetic
astronomy, determining longitude and latitude, and
other aspects of measuring the Earth. The Coast and
Geodetic Survey improved instruments used in sur-
veying and navigation for determining position, dis-
tance, angles,directions, andelevations,and it investi-
gated the best methods to be used in reproducing
maps. As part of its research in geodesy, the survey
conducted methodical observations of solar eclipses.
For the solar eclipse of August 7, 1869, for example,
the survey stationed observation teams in Tennessee,
Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, and Alaska. Other astronomi-
cal observations made atvarioustimes included study-
ing the transit of theplanetsMercury and Venus. Mea-
surements of the great arcs of the thirty-ninth parallel
and the ninety-eighth meridian both provided a basis
for the government surveys of the interior of the
United States and suggested a more refined model of
the shape of the Earth.
In addition, the Coast and Geodetic Survey pio-
neered research in tidal flows, hydrography, and
oceanography. The organizationdetermined the best
sites for lighthouses and navigation buoys and re-
searched the history of names of prominent geo
-

graphic features for use on maps and charts. Minor
functions of the Coast and Geodetic Survey included
serving as the keeper of the nation’s standard weights
and measures.
Though the Coast and Geodetic Survey was even-
tually dismantled, its research traditions continued
in other agencies, such as the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a scientific
agency created as part of President Richard Nixon’s
reorganization of the Department of Commerce in
1970. NOAA’s National Ocean Service, for example,
prepares charts and monitors tidal activity.
Nancy Farm Männikkö
Web Sites
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
National Geodetic Survey
/>U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
Office of Coast Survey
/>See also: Landsat satellites and satellitetechnologies;
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
U.S. Geological Survey.
Coastal engineering
Category: Environment, conservation, and
resource management
Coastal engineering is the discipline that studies the
natural and human-induced changes of the geomor-
phology of the coastal zone. It also develops methods
and techniques for protecting and enhancing the
coastal environment.
Definition

Coastal engineering focuses on the special engineer-
ing needs of the coastal environment. The discipline
studies bothnaturaland anthropogenic effects (those
caused by human activity) on the geometry and other
physical characteristics of the coastal zone, which in-
cludes riverine deltas, inlets, estuaries, bays, and la-
goons. In the offshore direction, the activities of the
coastal engineer are limited to the relatively shallow
waters of the continental shelf.
Global Resources Coastal engineering • 227
Overview
Since the coastline serves as the boundary between
the land and the ocean, the coastal engineer must un-
derstand the dynamic interaction between water and
sediments. Water dynamics involves the action of as-
tronomical tides, tsunamis, storm surges, wind waves,
and longshore currents. Water forces continuously
change the shape of the coastline through sediment
erosion and deposition. Episodic events such as hurri-
canes may have a significant effect on the stability and
integrity of a coastal system. Coastal engineers are
mostly interested in sandy or muddy beaches, which
are readily subject to sediment erosion. The weather-
ing of rocky beaches to wave action is a slow process
and is not of direct interest to coastal engineers.
The coastline is an extremely dynamic system, sub
-
ject to short-term and long-term changes. Spatially
these changes may be localized or may extend for
great distances. Generally, if left undisturbed, the

coast tends to develop its own defense systems against
wave action through barrier islands and sand dunes.
Any attempts by humans to regulate the shape of
the coastline at a particular site may have adverse ef-
fects on another site on the same coastline. Coastal
engineers investigate wave and current forces and
their impact on the shape of the coastline. For that
purpose, coastal engineers collect and analyze field
data and use physical models (applying determinis-
tic or probabilistic analytical techniques) and com-
puter models to simulate the wave and current cli-
mate. These procedures can lead to predictions of the
amount and fate of the transported sediments that
cause accretion or erosion of the coastline.
Coastal engineers also investigate techniques for
protecting residential and industrial developments
along the coast, maintaining recreational facilities
228 • Coastal engineering Global Resources
One aspect of coastal engineering is the development and protection of coastal environments like this beach at Point Lobos, California.
(©Joseph Salonis/Dreamstime.com)
and beaches, and providing safe navigation through
inlets and coastal waterways. Therefore, constructing
structures such as jetties, breakwaters, groins, bulk-
heads, marinas, and harbors falls within the domain
of the coastal engineer. Beach nourishment and inlet
dredging are also projectsundertaken by coastal engi-
neers.
In order to assess the prevailing hydrodynamic and
sedimentological conditions of the coastal zone effi-
ciently and effectively, engineers develop equipment

and instrumentation for data collection of wave and
current characteristics, suspended and bottom sedi-
ments, and other supplementary information such as
salinity andtemperature ofthe ambient water. Coastal
engineers are also involved in the environmental as-
pects of coastal waters. Estimation of the spread of an
oil spill; the flashing capacity of a lagoon, finger ca-
nals, oranyother protected waterbody;dissolved con-
taminant advection and dispersion; and sediment
contamination are all topics of interest to the coastal
engineer.
Panagiotis D. Scarlatos
See also: Coastal Zone Management Act; Deltas;
Ocean current energy; Ocean wave energy; Oceans;
Salt; Sand and gravel; Tidal energy.
Coastal Zone Management Act
Categories: Laws and conventions; government
and resources
Date: Enacted October 27, 1972
The Coastal Zone Management Act provides a frame-
work for protecting and developing the U.S. coastal
zones. Achieving both protection and development de-
pends on land management accompanied by land-use
planning and land-use regulation and control.
Background
The Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 was passed
by Congress in order to establish “a national policy
and develop a nationalprogram for the management,
beneficial use, protection, and development of the
land and water resources of the nation’s coastal zones,

and for other purposes.” The coastal zones included
in the act are those of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,
the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes. The length
of coastline involved is about 153,000 kilometers. The
extensive nature of the coastal area of the United
States means that thirty states and four territories—
Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American
Samoa—are eligible for coastal zone management as-
sistance.
The Coastal Zone Management Act was passed as a
result of concern for the vulnerable nature of the
coastal zones and their exposure to intensive develop-
ment pressures. These pressures include recreation,
fishing, agriculture, housing, transportation, and in-
dustrial development. With more than half oftheU.S.
population living within eighty kilometers of a coastal
area, the pressuresare considerable. The act is admin-
istered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration’s Office of Coastal Zone Management.
The federal role consists of providing assistance to
states asthey develop programstomanage the coastin
a manner sufficient to deal with the problems arising
from competing land uses.
Provisions
Federal assistance takes the form of both financial
and technical aid. Paragraph (h) of section 302 of the
act emphasizes the importance of a state’s role in ex-
ercising its authority over the land and water re-
sources of the coastal zone. Especially important in
this exercise of authority is the encouragement of

citizen involvement in the overall planning process.
From the state perspective, such citizen participation
has helped in the development of land-use planning
guidelines relating to designation of the coastal zone
areas, determination of land uses within the coastal
zone, the identification of areas of particular con-
cern, the identification of the ways by which the state
will control land and water uses, and guidelines for es-
tablishing the priority of uses.
Impact on Resource Use
Over the years, the Coastal Zone Management Act has
been amended several times. In 1976, the states were
given additional time and money for program devel-
opment. Energy-related coastal development, provi-
sions for access to public beaches, and increased
agency cooperation were also part of the 1976 amend-
ments. According to the Congressional Quarterly Alma-
nac (1985), the reauthorization of the Coastal Zone
Management Act in 1985 lowered the federal share
of costs to be paid. Changes in 1990 gave the states
more say over federal activities in offshore areas, espe
-
Global Resources Coastal Zone Management Act • 229