Stach's Textbook of coal petrology

The titleof this book is atribute to Professor Erich Stach of Krefeld. Germany, who is one of the founding fathers of modern Coal Petrology. In his Original Lehrbuch der Kohlenpefrographie he showed, with many illustrations, the great merit and facility of examining the heterogeneity of coal with the aid of polished sections and oil immersion objectives. Great strides have been made in coal microscopy Since publication of the first edition in 1935. The current version is a complete new work by a number of authors of international repute, who have made contributions in their specific areas of expertise. In addition, the new edition is published in the English language and, like the original textbook, is profusely illustrated with excdlent photomicrographs and diagrams. The book is a comprehensive survey of nearly all aspects of coal petrology and since it is at present the only one of its kind, it most cerlainly fillsanimportant gap in fundamental scientific literature. It deals with the subject matter in five chapters, which have been written under single authorship or by several authors. with each contributing individual parts. The chapters have the following titles: I ) Introduction and historical survey (4 p.); 2) Fundamentals of coal pelrology (50 p.); 3 ) Origin d t h e petrographic constituents of coal (74 p.): 4) Methods and tools of examination (73 p.): 5 ) Applied coal petrology (80 p.). Chapter 2 discusses the origin of coal and the development of coal facies in relation to different peat-forming environments, and how the original vegetable material changes into coal is dealt with under diagenesis and coalification. Of interest also is a comparison between coalification (leading lo coal formation) and bituminization (leading tooil generation). The recently developed views of M. Tdchmuller regarding the formation of oily substances during the coalification process are briefly referred to. A large part of Chapter 2 is devoted to detailed descriptions and terminology of the macerals, themicrdithotypes and the lrthotypes of coal as defined by the International Committee on Coal Petrology. In Chapter 3 theindividual coal constituents are related to botanical entities and to specificconditions of peat formation. The alteration of these constituents duringthe peat, brown coal and hard coal stages is mentioned and illustrated with photomicrographs. Chapter 4 givesan excellent survey of the melhods used in preparing the coal for microscopic study; also described are the procedures used tor the quantitative maceral, microlithotype. and mineral matter analysis as well as for rank determinations. The latter are carried out by vitrinite reflectance measurements, which are dealt with in considerable detail. A section on coke microscopy is included also. For those unfamiliar with coal petrology, the last chapter of the book may well be a revelation. It shows how varied are theapplications of these investigations. They range from actual coal technological processes, such as coal preparation, and the evaluation of suitability of coking coals and their blends lor the production of metallurgical coke, to geological applications. In the latter field, the value of coal petrology for seam correlations and for oil and gas prospecting (through vitrinite reflectance measurements) are discussed in some detail. This book has coveredthe subject matter In a most admirable manner and the authors can be congratulated on a job well done. It is modern in concept, contains an extensive and up-to-date bibliography, and can be recommended for both college students and professionals who desire more information on this comparatively new field of scientific endeavour. Only the high price is considered a disadvantage tor individual purchases.