It is no secret that the mere mention of the word coal is divisive. Yet, people on either side of the debate have a far from adequate understanding of what coal actually is. Practically no one who is talking about coal these days has the faintest idea of the conditions under which it is formed, […]
The 2nd edition of “Coal and Coalbed Gas: Future Directions and Opportunities” is in production and should be out in September of 2023 – this year! As many of you know the first edition was published in 2014 by Dr Romeo Flores and the second edition is authored by Romeo again as well as Tim […]
It is already the most downloaded paper for the International Journal of Coal Geology*. No wonder – a fundamental attribute of any rock is knowing how it gets there. Sure, coal comes from peat, but it is those small changes in peat type that result in large differences in coal type and those differences result […]
It looked like machines and the weather were conspiring against us. The last flight from Denver to Gillette, Wyoming was ‘temporarily’ delayed (which in airport speak means “quite possibly cancelled”) and then there was the weather. I had flown the previous day from Brisbane, Australia to Denver to meet the field trip participants at one […]
Why does Indonesia have so much coal? This might be like asking why is the sky blue? – but, like that question, it is fundamental and few seem to have considered it. A new paper by Mike Friederich, Tim Moore and Romeo Flores (“A regional review and new insights into SE Asian Cenozoic coal-bearing sediments: […]
Considering the impact that coal has on the world, there are surprisingly few technical books dedicated to the subject. Romeo Flores, recently retired from the US Geological Survey (but still a Cipher Associate [see: https://www.ciphercoal.com/the-team/dr-romeo-m-flores/ ]), has gone some way to remedy this situation. His book “Coal and Coalbed Gas: Fueling the Future” has just […]
While attending the International Geological Congress (IGC) in Brisbane in early August, I and my partner Aretha and son Micah stayed at my good friend and colleague Joan Esterle’s house. Joan is a professor at University of Queensland and notably (to myself and Aretha) is the godmother to Micah. Also staying at Joan’s house were […]