Core, Coal, and Coal Bed Methane Workshop

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Image showing cover of Corebook of Pennsylvanian Rocks in the Illinois Basin. Click to learn more about the corebook, including how to purchase a copy.

Indiana Geological Survey
Core, Coal, and Coal Bed Methane Workshop

Are you interested in:

Maximizing the geological and engineering information you can extract from your rock coring programs?
Learning a systematic method of core description that is both reproducible and computer friendly?
Obtaining the latest information on Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in Indiana?

The Indiana Geological Survey (IGS) is offering a one-day workshop that will focus on the use of the IGS Corebook of Pennsylvanian Rocks in the Illinois Basin and its application to coal mining, exploration, and CBM potential. Registrants will receive a copy of the corebook.

Date: October 20, 2004
Price: $75.00
Registration information: contact the IGS at 812-855-7636 or
Registration form: Open the form (Requires Adobe® Reader®)
Registration deadline: October 15, 2004
Location: IGS, Geology Bldg., corner of N. Walnut Grove and E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN

The workshop will show how the IGS corebook can help you:

Maximize information from rock coring operations.
Facilitate coal quality predictions and help evaluate coal bed methane potential.
Improve coal correlations and resource estimates.
Enhance planning for mining conditions.
Facilitate rapid, detailed, systematic and reproducible core and sample descriptions.
Generate core and sample descriptions that are easily convertible to computer applications.

To register, open the form (Requires Adobe® Reader®), fill it out online, print it, then send it to the address on the form. The final day to register is October 15, 2004.

The number of workshop participants will be limited, so register soon.

Photo showing past corebook workshop participant looking at cores.
Past corebook workshop participant looking at cores.

In Indiana, regional correlations of coal-bearing units are sometimes difficult, particularly within the uppermost part of the Mansfield Formation, Brazil Formation, and Staunton Formation intervals, where some of the lowest sulfur coals in the state exist. Imprecise correlations can lead to false coal resource estimates and other geological and mining problems. Recent studies by the Indiana Geological Survey suggest that the most regionally correlateable units are often "paleosols" ("underclays" or "seat-rock"), the rooted horizons that typically underlie coals. Paleosols can be demonstrated to persist over broad areas, even when the coals have thinned or disappeared. This workshop will help you recognize these and other useful horizons of correlation.

Megascopic coal description and classification will also be presented as a means to getting early coal quality predictions and indications about coalbed methane potential. Lithotype structure of coal beds and cleat characteristics will be discussed in the context of coalbed methane generation, preservation, and their influence on potential gas production. Techniques of canister gas-desorption will also be demonstrated.

More information

For more information about the workshop, contact Brian Keith at 812-855-4213 or .

Bloomington area lodging

For information about where to stay in Bloomington, visit the Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site.