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"Industrial restructuring without parallel in recent British industrial history" is how the current Chairman of British Coal, Sir Robert Haslam, has described events in that industry. Since 1960 upwards of three quarters of a million jobs have gone in the deep coal mining industry alone. Numerous studies have analysed the underlying mechanisms behind the rapid decline of the nationalised coal industry, but hitherto little attention has been paid to the national linkage effects of that decline. This thesis is an attempt to analyse the consequences of industrial restructuring in coal mining on its UK engineering suppliers. In so doing, the thesis develops into much more than an empirical case study of industrial linkage and becomes a critical analysis of state capital-private capital relations. In particular, it focusses on the shifting boundaries of state ownership in the energy sector of the 'eighties. It considers what are the main processes involved and some of the consequences for those people and places most dependent on mining related jobs for their livelihoods.

Microbes, including fungi and bacteria, and insects are responsible for the consumption and subsequent degradation of plant materials into humus. These microbes directly and indirectly affect the physical and chemical characteristics of coal macerals. Efforts to understand and determine the origins of inertinite macerals are largely misrepresented in the literature, conforming to a single origin of fire. This study focuses on the variability of physical and inferred chemical differences observed petrographically between the different inertinite macerals and discusses the multiple pathways plant material may take to form and or degrade these macerals. Petrographic results show that fungal activity plays a fundamental role in the formation of inertinite macerals, specifically macrinite and non-fire derived semifusinite. Fungal activity chemically removes the structural framework of woody plant tissues, forming less structured to unstructured macerals. Insect activity within a mire also greatly influences the inertinite maceral composition. Wood-consuming insects directly degrade wood tissue leading to the formation of less structured inertinites, as well as producing large conglomerates of inert fecal pellets chemically similar to the original plant tissue that may be represented in the inertinite maceral composition.

The Eastern Kentucky Coal Field is located in the central portion of the Appalachian Basin. The Pennsylvanian Breathitt Formation in this region is characterized by numerous sequences of bituminous coal-bearing sedimentary rocks. These coals have distinct maceral compositions due to variations in depositional environments. Coal characterization is an important method for determining conditions that influenced peat accumulation and overall depositional settings of mires. This study focuses on the characterization of the maceral composition of the Middle Pennsylvanian-age Leatherwood coal bed. It utilizes petrographical, palynological, and geochemical analyses to describe specific depositional environments and associated peat accumulation conditions. Petrographic analyses indicate that these coals have relatively high liptinite and varying inertinite content, along with trace amounts of mineral matter. Vitrinite, mainly in the form of collotelinite, is the most dominant maceral group. Geochemical data reveal low ash and sulfur content. Ancillary palynological data shows the palynomorph assemblage to be dominated by tree fern and large lycopsid tree spores, with lesser amounts of small lycopsid tree, small fern, and cordaites and calamites spores. The petrographic, geochemical and palynological data indicate that both domed, ombrotrophic, and planar, rheotrophic mire conditions, with limited local detrital influx, contributed to the formation of the Leatherwood coal.

Potential lacustrine source rocks have been recognised in several Cretaceous syn-rift basins including the producing Taranaki Basin, but have not been officially recognised from drill core and seismic data. The late-Cretaceous Paparoa Coal Measures contain three lacustrine mudstone formations which outcrop in several localities and have been extensively drilled for coal mining. These formations are considered to be an easily accessible analogue for late-Cretaceous lacustrine source rocks in New Zealand and also provide valuable information regarding syn-depositional tectonics and basin formation during the late-Cretaceous. Stratigraphic columns and isopach maps were constructed from field work and drill hole descriptions and results showed variations in lithofacies across the basin. The western side of the basin is characterised by sandy lithofacies, abundant proximal turbidites and debris flows. The transition to a sub-aerial environment is marked by thick conglomerate and meter wide rip-up clasts. The central and eastern sections of the basin show massive mudstone, distal turbidites, low energy fluvial sandstones and thin, discontinuous coal. Isopach maps constructed from drill hole data identified three NNE – SSW oriented lakes with lacustrine sediment of up to 180m thick truncated by the eastern Roa – Mt Buckley Fault Zone. It was determined fault control during deposition was to the west and the basin extended further than its current location. Revisions to isopach models highlighted a lack of change in basin orientation during deposition of the Paparoa sediments. Plate reconstructions combined with direct evidence from the basin indicate formation of the Paparoa Coal Measures could have occurred in either a rift or transtensional basin. The mudstones were geochemically assessed for hydrocarbon potential using a Source Rock Analyser (SRA). Preliminary analysis of the three mudstones has shown TOC values ranging from 1.0 to 4.5 wt.%, HI values ranging from 68 to 552 mHC/gTOC and Tmax results show the mudstones to range in maturity from immature to late – mature. A sample from the Waiomo Formation has excellent potential for oil generation and the low maturity results for the Goldlight Formation make it a potential shale gas resource. These results have shown the potential for hydrocarbon bearing lacustrine source rocks to exist in the Greymouth Coalfield. In addition, revisions have been made to basin formation which should be considered. Due to the availability of data from the Paparoa lacustrine source rocks, they should be used as an accessible analogue for Taranaki and other Late Cretaceous basins.

No description available.

No description available.