Schlüsselwort: vitrinite reflection

Coal petrology has undergone extremely rapid development since the appearance of the Second Edition of the "Textbook of Coal Petrology" in 1975. The advances have been not only in the techniques and methods used but also in applications to geological and industrial problems. The surprisingly rapid depletion of all available stocks of the Second Edition can be attributed, among other things, to the fact that those now keenly interested in the techniques and results of coal petrology include not only coal scientists but also geologists, geophysicists and petrologists in neighbouring fields. Much new information has become available on matters relating to coal facies and the origin of macerals as a result of studies on North American peat occurrences and of fluorescence microscopy of coals and oil shales. As with petroleum research, some of the most significant advances have come from the integration of coal petrographic and organic geochemical studies. Computers have led to technical advances in maceral analysis, reflectance measurement and the characterization of fluorescence spectra. Reflected light fluorescence microscopy has been notably productive of new results for both coals and petroleum source rocks. It is for this reason that the Third Edition of the "Textbook" includes two colour plates to illustrate fluorescence. Microscopic techniques for the determination of rank have been of special value since measurements of vitrinite reflectance in different rocks are applied to the assessment of the degree of diagenesis and metamorphism, to unravelling the tectonic history of sedimentary basins and to estimating palaeogeothermal gradients. In petroleum geology the reflectance of vitrinite is now widely accepted as the best measure of maturity of source rocks. The use of fluorescence microscopy has become indispensable to the petroleum industry because it enables oil-generating macerals to be recognized and their abundance estimated. "Coal petrology" in a narrow sense has given way to the much broader pursuit of "organic petrology". Coal petrographic studies now provide insights into the process of carbonization and liquefaction. The formation of coke has been shown to be influenced (amongst other things) by the way in which the reactive macerals and inertinite are associated with each other in the coal. Comparative studies of maceral composition and rank with those of the relevant hydrogenation residues enable conversion rates and efficiencies to be assessed for the various coals. Numerous additions (109 pages with 5 plates, 2 of which coloured, 45 figures and 10 tables) to the previous second edition appear after the original relevant sections. New references will be found separately at the end of the previous literature section.