At 01:22 11/12/04 +0100, Robert Waterhouse wrote:
>Does anyone know of a geologist who has expertise in identifying
localities from which particular samples of coal originate? I have a
number of 19th century coal samples from archaeological excavations at
Morwellham Quay in Devon, and would like to know where they are from. Its
likely that all are Welsh, but beyond that I know nothing.
Robert,
I've been through this exercise with coal from a 16th/17th century
lead/silver smelting site at Combe Martin. Vitrinite reflectance was used
to determine the ranking of the coal, ie. the percentage of carbon and the
volatile content. From there we would have then carried out a spore
analysis to determine the age of the coal but as the coal from Combe Martin
was a semi-anthracite insufficient spores had survived the geological
changes resulting in carburisation and that was not possible.
Prior to the collapse of the UK coal industry in the 1990s there were a
number of laboratories with personel capable of providing the analysis
required. Not so today - in the case described above it was necessary to
call upon the services of staff would are now retired. I'll provide some
contacts off list.
Peter
______________________________________________
Dr Peter Claughton,
Blaenpant Morfil, nr. Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. +44 (0)1437 532578; Fax. +44 (0)1437 532921; Mobile +44 (0)7831 427599
Hon. University Fellow
School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies (Centre for South
Western Historical Studies)
University of Exeter
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
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