Coal Quality and Resources of the Former Soviet Union: An ArcView Project
Oral Presentation

By Michael E. Brownfield¹, Douglas W. Steinshouer², Mikhail Yu. Povarennykh³, Ivan Eriomin⁴, Mikhail Shpirt⁴, Yevgeny Meitov⁵, Irena Sharova⁵, Nina Goriunova⁴, and Margarita V. Zyrianova²

¹U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO 80225.
²Contractor to the U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO 80225.
³Vernadsky State Geological Museum, Moscow, Russia 103009.
⁴Fossil Fuel Institute, Russian Federation Ministry of Geology, Moscow, Russia 117910.
⁵Institute of Mineralogy, Geochemistry and Crystal Chemistry of Rare Elements, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia 121257.

INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Committee on Geology of the Use of Subsurface Resources of the Russian Federation (ROSKOMNEDRA), and the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) in 1999 signed a Project Annex under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation in Geoscience, which was signed on June 23, 1994, and automatically extended in 1999. As part of this annex, the USGS, the Vernadsky State Geologic Museum (VSGM) representing the ROSKOMNEDRA, and the RAS collaborated to produce a Geographic Information System (GIS) product that contains information on geology, resources, and quality of coal from the Former Soviet Union (FSU). The FSU includes the Russian Federation (RF), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and the countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (fig. 1).

Figure 1. Map showing countries included in the Former Soviet Union.

[VIEW a high-quality printable PDF file]

The purpose of the GIS project is to integrate spatial data on the geology, coal basins and deposits by coal rank, coal reserves and resource categories, rail lines, rivers, and roads of the FSU utilizing Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) ArcInfo and ArcView software. The Russian coauthors supplied ArcInfo files that were modified by the USGS authors and combined with USGS data files to create an ArcView project (Brownfield and others, 2001). Coal deposit data contained in this project were selected from monographs, reference books, and unpublished Russian sources of data that were reviewed by the authors. The database includes information on 266 coal deposits with information on the deposit name, location, age, and rank. Coal reserve and resource reliability information are listed for 671 coal-bearing areas in the FSU. Coal samples included in the coal sample point database were selected from the most reliable sources of data critically reviewed by the Russian coauthors. Coal quality and chemical analyses are included for 180 coal samples with information on deposit name, location, age, rank, mine name and operator, lithology of coal-bearing rocks, proximate and ultimate analyses, mineral composition, and major-, minor-, and trace-element content.

Within the boundaries of the FSU there are hundreds of coal deposits that contain as much as 40 to 50 percent of the Earth's total coal resources (Brownfield and others, 2001). Russia is the sixth largest coal producer (fig. 2) in the world with a total coal production of 163 million metric tons (World Coal Institute, 2000). Less than 27 million metric tons of the production was exported in 1999 (Knapp, 2000). Coal deposits in the FSU formed under diverse geochemical and climatic conditions and have undergone various structural histories and were formed during eight geological periods: Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleogene, and Neogene. Because of this diversity, the coal quality shows wide ranges in composition.

Figure 2. Chernogorsky strip mine, located in the high volatile bituminous (Coal mark D, see table 1) Permian Chernogorskoye coal deposit, Krasnoyarsky district, Khakassiya region, Minusinsky coal basin, Russia. Photo by Mikhail Povarennykh, Vernadsky State Geological Museum. [VIEW a high-quality printable PDF file]

The Coal Quality and Resources of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) ArcView project is an interactive geologic product that allows the user to query coal quality and resource data. The many different steps that were necessary to produce the ArcView CD-ROM product and to maintain the coal quality databases are shown in figure 3. Figures 4 through 8 are examples of coverages and data sets used to produce and maintain the FSU ArcView project (Brownfield and others, 2001).

Figure 3. A diagram showing the different steps that were necessary to create and maintain the Coal Quality and Resources of the Former Soviet Union—An ArcView Project publication. Figures showing examples of data, ArcView databases, ArcInfo coverages, and metadata files are shown in parentheses. [VIEW a high-quality printable PDF file]

RUSSIAN STANDARD CLASSIFICATION FOR FSU COALS

Because of differing classification schemes, it is sometimes difficult to compare Russian coals with the same coal rank (equivalent to Russian coal mark) from different basins and deposits or to compare Russian coals with coals from other countries (USA, Australia, Southern Africa, Great Britain) that have developed their own coal classifications. The Committee of the Russian Federation for Standardization, Metrology, and Certification (GOSSTANDART or GOST) and its FSU predecessor approved several classification systems in an attempt to standardize the coal classification (Babkin, 1981, GOST 21489-76; Eriomin, 1988, GOST 25543-88; Fiodorova, 1995, GOST 30313-95).

The GOSSTANDART (GOST 25543-88) standard classification of coals for the Former Soviet Union coals describes brown and hard coals and anthracites (Eriomin, 1988). The Russian classification suggests that all physical, mechanical, chemical, and technological characteristics of organic fraction of coal could be derived from the mutual influence of the following three factors:

1. The degree of coal metamorphism
2. The petrographic composition
3. The degree of reductibility (Eriomin and Bronovetz, 1987)

The degree of coal metamorphism or rank is characterized by the vitrinite reflectance index in immersion oil, whereas the petrographic composition is characterized by the fusinized micro components content (inertinite) and the degree of reductibility is differentiated by a variety of characteristics for different ranks (Brownfield and others, 2001). For coals of low rank, the degree of reductibility is characterized by the semicoking resin yield. For coals of medium rank, this parameter is characterized by the volatile matter yield and the coal-caking ability that can be evaluated by the thickness of the Sapozhnikov plastic layer index (Sapozhnikov and Bazilevich, 1935; Eriomin and Bronovetz, 1987). For coals of high rank (anthracites), the degree of reductibility can be determined by the anisotropy of the vitrinite reflectance index.

According to the above parameters, Russian coal marks were developed and subdivided into groups and subgroups. Within the coals of low rank (brown), one coal mark B and three groups (1B, 2B, and 3B) are classified. Within the coals of medium rank, 15 marks D, DG, G, GzhO, GZh, Zh, KZh, K, KO, KSN, KS, OS, TS, SS, and T and 21 coal groups (1G, 2G, 1GzhO, 2GZhO, 1GZh, 2GZh, 1Zh, 2Zh, 1K, 2K, 1KO, 2KO, 1KS, 2KS, 1OS, 2OS, 1SS, 2SS, 3SS, 1T, and 2T) are classified. Within coals of high rank, one coal mark A and three groups (1A, 2A, and 3A) are classified.

A comparison between the Russian coal marks according to the GOST 25543-88 (Eriomin, 1988) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) coal classification (ASTM D388-98a, American Society for Testing and Materials, 1999b) was approximated by the Russian co-authors as follows:

1. Coal in the 1B group corresponds to lignite A and B.
2. Coal in the 2B group corresponds to subbituminous C coal.
3. Coal in the 3B group corresponds to subbituminous B coal.
4. Coal in coal mark D corresponds to subbituminous A coal.
5. Coal in coal marks DG, G, GZhO, GZh, and part of the mark Zh correspond to high volatile bituminous coals.
6. Coal in coal marks KZh, K, KO, KSN, and KS and the remaining part of the mark Zh correspond to medium volatile bituminous coals.
7. Coal in coal marks OS and TS correspond to low volatile bituminous coals.
8. Coal in coal mark T mainly corresponds to semi-anthracite.
9. Coal in the groups PA, 1A, and 2A corresponds to semi-anthracites and anthracites.
10. Coal in the group 3A corresponds mainly to meta-anthracite.

The USGS has modified the above comparisons in table 1 to include the missing coal ranks listed in the ASTM standard coal classification.

Table 1. Approximate coal rank relationships between the Former Soviet Union (Eriomin, 1988, GOSSTANDART, GOST 25543-88) and United States (American Society for Testing and Materials, 1999b) coal classifications.

[Exact equivalence of a particular sample depends on conditions of sample handling and chemical analyses as well as some variation in usage of terms in different parts of the world. ma, meta-anthracite; an, anthracite; sa, semianthracite; lvb, low volatile bituminous; mvb, medium volatile bituminous; hvAb, high volatile A bituminous; hvBb, high volatile B bituminous; hvCb, high volatile C bituminous; subA, subbituminous A; subB, subbituminous B; lig, lignite. FSU coal classification abbreviations are described by Eriomin (1988).]

FSU GEOLOGY, COAL QUALITY AND RESOURCE DATA

The purpose of this ArcView project is to integrate ArcInfo files (figs. 4, 5, 6) of the geology, coal basins and deposits by coal rank, and coal reserves and resource categories with rail lines, rivers, and roads of the FSU as supplied by the Russian coauthors. The USGS compiled a coal quality database from data reviewed and deemed reliable by the Russian coauthors. Coal deposit data points with information on the deposit name, location, age, and rank were included in the database; coal quality and chemical analyses were included for selected data points (sBrownfield and others, 2001, app. B). The Russian coauthors supplied ArcInfo files that were modified by the USGS and combined with USGS data files to create an ArcView project.

Figure 4. Schematic geologic map of the Kuznetsky Basin of western Siberia used as a view in the ArcView project. Modified from Ammosov's (1969) geologic map. [VIEW a high-quality printable PDF file]

Figure 5. An example of a georeferenced map of coal basins and sample points in the Former Soviet Union. Map modified from Tyzhnov and Molchanov (1976), scale 1:7,500,000. Country colors are the same as figure 1. [VIEW a high-quality printable PDF file]

Figure 6. Schematic geologic map of the Phan-Yagnob hard coal deposit, central Tadjikistan used as a view in the ArcView project. Map modified from Goroshko's (1992) geologic map, scale 1:25,000 (1-km grid shown in brown). [VIEW a high-quality printable PDF file]

The project includes 180 commercial and composite coal samples in the FSU. A commercial sample is a composite run-of-mine sample consisting of 15 to 30 primary samples obtained during a 3- to 4-month period of coal mining. A composite sample represents 100 or more primary trench samples collected from a coal bed in a coalfield or coal basin. An example of the general characteristics table of the coal sample point database is shown in table 2. Coal quality and chemical analyses are included for the 180 coal samples with information on deposit name, location, age, rank, mine name and operator, lithology of coal-bearing rocks, proximate and ultimate analyses, mineral composition, and major-, minor-, and trace-element content. An example of the data found in the element composition table of the coal sample database is shown in table 3. Data dictionaries and meta data files (figs. 7, 8) included with the ArcView project contain column definitions and abbreviations for all the databases.

Table 3. An example of data contained in the elemchem.dbf table of the coal sample point database in the Former Soviet Union ArcView Project (Brownfield and others, 2001).

Figure 8. A portion of the metadata file for the Surface Geology of Former Soviet Union Shapefile in the Coal Quality and Resources of the Former Soviet Union ArcView Project. [VIEW a high-quality printable PDF file]

Figure 7. An example of frequently anticipated metadata questions that are addressed in metadata files included in the Coal Quality and Resources of the Former Soviet Union ArcView Project. [VIEW a high-quality printable PDF file]

SUMMARY

The USGS Energy Resources Program, in response to the need for scientific support for national and international policy decisions, continues to assess coal resources and study their geochemical and physical characteristics. International coal studies focus on the variability of coal quality and on the environmental and human-health impacts of using coal. The USGS continues to provide objective and reliable data on coal quality and resources.

The Coal Quality and Resources of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) ArcView project is a complex and dynamic geologic publication that required many different steps to produce the ArcView CD-ROM product. This project was the result of extensive collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey, the Committee on Geology of the Use of Subsurface Resources of the Russian Federation, and the Russian Academy of Sciences and is the most comprehensive study compiled by the USGS to date of the coal in the FSU.

REFERENCES

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), 1999a, Standard terminology of coal and coke, D121-98, in 1999 Annual Book of ASTM Standards: Petroleum products, lubricants, and fossil fuels, sect. 5, v. 05.05: Gaseous fuels, coal, and coke: Philadelphia, Pa., American Society for Testing and Materials, 522 p.

———1999b, Standard classification of coals by rank, D388-98a, in 1999 Annual Book of ASTM Standards: Petroleum products, lubricants, and fossil fuels, sect. 5, v. 05.05: Gaseous fuels, coal, and coke: Philadelphia, Pa., American Society for Testing and Materials, 522 p.

Ammosov, I.I, ed., 1969, Kuznetsky, Gorlovsky basseyny I drugiye ugol'niye mestorozhdeniya Zapadnoy Sibiri, Tom 7, Geologiya mestorozhdeniy uglya i goryuchikh slantsev SSSR [Kuznetsky and Gorlovsky coal deposits of Western Siberia, v. 7, Geology of coal and combustible shale deposits of the USSR]: Moscow, Nedra, 912 p. [In Russian]

Babkin, V.S., ed., 1981, Ugli burye, kamennye i antratsity. Razdeleniye na stadii metamorfizma i klassy po pokazateliam otrazheniya vitrinita [Brown coals, hard coals and anthracites. Subdivision by stages of metamorphism and vitrinite reflectance classes], in GOSSTANDART, GOST 21489-76, Governmental Standard of the USSR: Moscow, Standards Publishing House, 4. [In Russian]

Brownfield, Michael E., Steinshouer, Douglas W., Povarennykh, Mikhail Yu., Eriomin, Ivan, Shpirt, Mikhail, Meitov, Yevgeny, Sharova, Irena, Goriunova, Nina, and Zyrianova, Margarita V., 2001, Coal quality and resources of the Former Soviet Union - An ArcView project: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 01-104. CD-ROM

Cherepovsky, V.F., Rogova, V.M., and Kler, V.R., eds., 1996, Tsenniye i toksichniye elementy v tovarnykh ugliakh Rossii. Spravochnik [Valuable and toxic elements in commercial coals of the Russia]: Moscow: Nedra, 238 p. [In Russian]

Eriomin, I.V. and Bronovetz, T.M., eds., 1987, Ugli kamennye: Metod opredeleniya plastometricheskikh polazateley [Method of determination of plastometric indices for hard coals], in GOSSTANDART, GOST 1186-87, Governmental Standard of the USSR: Moscow, Standards Publishing House, 17 p. [In Russian]

Eriomin, I.V., ed., 1988, Burye ugli, kamennye ugli i antratsity. Klassifikatsiya po geneticheskim i technologicheskim parametram, [Brown coals, hard coals and anthracites. Classification according to the genetic and technological parameters], in GOSSTANDART, GOST 25543-88, Governmental Standard of the USSR: Moscow, Printing house of Standards, 20 p. [In Russian]

Fiodorova, R.S., ed., 1995, Ugli kamennye i antratsity (Ugli srednego i vysokogo rangov) [Hard coals and anthracites (Coals of mean and high ranks)], in GOSSTANDART, GOST 30313-95, Governmental Standard of the USSR: Minsk, Interrepublican Council on Standardization, Metrology and Certification, 12 p. [In Russian]

Goroshko, E.V., ed., 1992, Metallonosnost` ugley Central`nogo Tadjikistana. Skhematicheskaya geologicheskaya karta kamennougol`nogo mestorozhdeniya Phan-Yagnob. [Metal-bearing capacity of coals of Central Tadjikistan: Schematic geological map of the Phan-Yagnob hard coal deposit, scale 1:25,000]: Magiansky Geological Survey Expedition, Tadjgeologiya (Ministry of Geology of Tadjik Republik and Industrial Association), Dushanbe. [In Russian]

Kler, V.R., Nenakhova, V.F., and Shpirt, M.Yak., eds., 1987, Geokhimiya elementov: Metallogeniya i geokhimiya uglenosnykh i slanets-soderzhaschykh tolsch SSSR [Geochemistry of elements, in Metallogeny and geochemistry of coal-bearing and fuel shale-bearing strata of the USSR]: Moscow, Nauka 256 p. [In Russian].

———1988, Zakonomernosti kontsentratsii elementov i metody ikh izucheniya: Metallogeniya i geokhimiya uglenosnykh i slanets-soderzhaschykh tolsch SSSR [Regularities of element concentrations and methods of investigation, in Metallogeny and geochemistry of coal-bearing and fuel shale-bearing strata of the USSR]: Moscow, Nauka, 240 p. [In Russian]

Knapp, Ron, 2000, Environmental challenges for coal: Seminar on Environmentally Clean Coal Technologies in the Russian Sector, Reformugol Foundation, Moscow, July 4-5, 2000: World Coal Institute Web site, http://www.wci-coal.com/, 6 p.

Shpirt, M.Yak., Kler, V.R., and Pertzikov, I.R., 1990, Neorganicheskiye komponenty tviordykh topliv [Inorganic compounds of solid fuels]: Moscow, Khimiya, 240 p. [In Russian]

Sapozhnikov, L.M., and Bazilevich, L.P., 1935, Investigation of the coking process: Classification of coals and calculation of coking mixtures on the basis of the plastometric kethod: Kharkov, State Scientific Publishing House of Ukraine, 33 p.

Tyzhnov, A.V., and Molchanov, I.I, eds., 1976, Obzornaya karta ugol`nykh basseynov i mestorozhdeniy SSSR (s ukazaniyem marochnogo sostava ugley), list 1, tom 12, Geologiya mestorozhdeniy uglya i goryuchikh slantsev SSSR, masshtaba 1:7500000 [Survey map of coal basins and deposits of the USSR (with indication of the coal mark composition), pl. 1, v. 12, Geology of coal and combustible shale deposits of the USSR, scale 1:7,500,000]: Moscow, Nedra, 259 p. [In Russian]

World Coal Institute, 2000, World Coal Institute web site, http://www.wci-coal.com/.

Yudovitch, Yak.Yel., Ketris M.P., and Mertz, A.V., 1985, Redkiye elementy v iskopayemykh ugliakh [Trace elements in fossil coals]: Leningrad, Nauka, 239 p. [in Russian]