Analyses of the major and minor oxide composition of two Kansas coal ash samples were included in a summary report on major ash constituents in U.S. coals by Abernethy et al. (1969, p. 4). Information on the major and minor elements of the Mulberry, Mulky, Croweburg, Fleming, Mineral, Tebo, Weir-Pittsburg, Drywood (spelled Dry Wood in Kansas), and Rowe coals in southwestern Missouri and the Bevier, Croweburg, and Rowe coals in northeastern Oklahoma that have stratigraphic continuity into Kansas is presented in Zubovic et al. (1967), Swanson et al. (1976), Wedge et al. (1976), Wedge and Hatch (1980), Burchett (1977), Finkelman et al. (1990), and Tewalt and Finkelman (1990). The Mulberry coal analyses obtained from samples collected in Bates County, Missouri by Wedge and Hatch (1980) are relevant to the characterization of Kansas coals because the locations are within 2 mi (3.2 km) of the Linn County, Kansas, area where the Mulberry coal has been extensively mined.
Mineral content in Kansas coals was discussed as part of a larger study by Hambleton (1953, p. 50-61) on the petrography of the Mineral, Croweburg, and Bevier coals. Detrital minerals determined in that study included quartz, clay minerals, and apatite with authigenic minerals consisting of calcite, aragonite, pyrite, marcasite, and minor amounts of sphalerite. Hatch, Avcin et al. (1976) and Cobb (1981) identified sphalerite in the Mineral, Croweburg, and Mulky coals in Kansas after preliminary sample analyses of these beds indicated high zinc contents. Sphalerite was also identified in the Mineral and Mulberry coals a few miles from the Kansas border in Vernon and Bates counties, Missouri. Based on X-ray diffraction work, Finkelman et al. (1990, p. 36) characterized the mineralogy of eight coal samples (including samples from the Mineral, Croweburg, and Bevier coals), showing the main minerals to be calcite and pyrite.
Part of the data listed in this report were published in three earlier reports. These include analyses of 14 samples in Swanson et al. (1976, p. 279-287), zinc and cadmium analyses for 16 samples in Hatch, Avcin et al. (1976), and proximate, ultimate, and trace element analyses of six samples of Rowe and Dry Wood coals in Welch and Brady (1982, p. 22-25). A summary paper of analytical data on coals from the western region of the Interior Coal Province by Finkelman and Tewalt (1990) included a summary of Kansas coal samples in addition to summaries of samples from Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.
Kansas Geological Survey
Web version March 18, 1998
http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Current/1997/brady/brady4.html
email:lbrosius@kgs.ku.edu