Mercury in U.S. coal; abundance, distribution, and modes of occurrence

Susan J. Tewalt; Linda J. Bragg; Robert B. Finkelman

doi:10.3133/fs09501

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Mercury in U.S. coal; abundance, distribution, and modes of occurrence

Susan J. Tewalt·Linda J. Bragg·Robert B. Finkelman

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Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has compiled a nationwide coal information database over the last 25 years. A subset of the data, called COALQUAL, contains analyses of over 7,000 coal samples that have been collected or calculated to represent the entire thickness of a coal bed in the ground. The COALQUAL database is an extremely valuable source of information for raw or in-ground trace-element concentrations in U.S. coals and, if adjusted for the effect of coal cleaning in appropriate coals, can provide a first estimate of as-shipped mercury concentration in coal where data are not available.

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Susan J. Tewalt, Linda J. Bragg, Robert B. Finkelman. 2001. Mercury in U.S. coal; abundance, distribution, and modes of occurrence. https://doi.org/10.3133/fs09501

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