DIGITAL CAMERA PHOTOGRAPH FROM SPACE
OF COAL MINING
�IN WYOMING, USA
REFERENCE:
Astronaut photograph ISS011-E-12863 was acquired September 11, 2005, with a Kodak 760C digital camera fitted with a 400 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and the Image Science & Analysis Group, Johnson Space Center. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.
North Antelope Rochelle and Black Thunder coal mines, Powder River Basin, Wyoming
The United States� highest rate of coal production is in Wyoming, with almost 4 million short tons extracted in 2004. The majority of this coal is burned to generate electricity within the United States, but a small percentage also goes to Spain and Canada. The Powder River Basin in the northeastern portion of the state is the most productive of Wyoming�s coalfields. The coal seams there range in thickness from 21 to 53m and were formed between 38 and 66 million years ago in the Cretaceous period.
Open-pit strip mining is the mode of extraction here. The image shows one of the largest of the mines, Peabody Energy�s North Antelope Rochelle Complex. Nearby is portion of Arch Coal�s Black Thunder Mine Complex.
Large draglines and shovels remove the overburden and expose the coal seam; blasting reduces the coal to easily loadable fragments. The coal is then transported by up to 2000 rail cars per day.
World Coal Distribution
(From Lonely Planet Guide to Coal by R. Johansen)As can be seen in the above map of coal distribution, large deposits of coking coal occur in three well-known regions, being the Rocky Mountains of western Canada, Appalachia in eastern USA, and the Sydney-Bowen Basin of Eastern Australia.
The ILLAWARRA COAL website tells the story of coal mining in the southern part of the Sydney Basin, the Illawarra region -- click below:
