Engineering Commons^™

Geophysical Approaches To Coal Exploration, Gerald B. Rupert

UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy

The exploration for minerals by geophysical means has been confined largely to the search for hydrocarbons and metallics while applications to coal exploration are somewhat limited. However, the surface reflection seismic technique has been successfully applied not only to delineating coal deposits but also as a tool in mine exploitation. Furthermore, channel waves generated underground have demonstrated potential in detecting the presence of faults in advance of the coal face and Vibroisis* experiments have been conducted whereby abandoned underground workings have been detected by surface seismic arrays. Examples of all of the preceeding are presented and discussed.