COAL RESOURCES OF THE MIDDLE AND LOWER KITTANNING COAL BEDS IN OHIO

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey performed statewide estimations of coal resources for the Middle Kittanning (No. 6) and the Lower Kittanning (No. 5) coal beds of eastern Ohio—the first for these coal beds in more than 60 years. These updated statewide coal resource estimates benefit both business and governmental interests by providing necessary information for future mine planning, development, and regulation. Basal structure and thickness maps were generated from more than 25,000 existing stratigraphic data points. Maps showing the extents and thicknesses of both coal beds were created using GIS data and were used in the calculation of countywide coal tonnages. Project results show that there are 17.4 billion short tons of Middle Kittanning and 14.3 billion short tons of Lower Kittanning coal remaining. Nearly all of these remaining resources are deep-minable, with less than 1 billion short tons of each seam being surface-minable. Mapping calculations show that to date, only 1.8 billion short tons and 0.81 billion short tons of coal have been mined from the Middle Kittanning and Lower Kittanning seams, respectively. While mapping the coal deposits, coal thickness patterns were noted that appeared to follow sinuous channel-like forms, which were interpreted as paleodrainage channels that existed prior to peat deposition. Thick coal deposits, between 6 and 13 feet thick, formed in some of these abandoned channels, valleys, or oxbow lakes, where early peat deposition occurred before accumulating and spreading to the floodplain. Conversely in some areas, thick fluvial sandstone channels underlie the coal. Differential compaction between these underlying sandstone and mudstone deposits may have produced paleotopographic highs in the areas above the sandstone channels. These highs would have precluded peat development, therefore resulting in thinner coal deposits in these areas. Performing updated resource estimates offers greater insights into the geology of these coal deposits, which have not been studied in detail for decades.