Book Description:
Although it is a rock rather than a mineral (the building blocks of rocks), coal is often considered to be a mineral resource. Coal has been mined since ancient Roman times, but it has become a major energy source only since the Industrial Revolution. It currently provides 22 percent of the world's energy, and is used to generate approximately 40 percent of electricity worldwide. Coal generates more than half of all electricity in the United States. Coal is also an important ingredient in the creation of methanol which turns up in such items as plywood (binding resin) and plastic bottles (acetic acid). Reserves are widely distributed throughout the globe, although the United States, Russia, China, and India account for more than half of the world's recoverable coal reserves.This new book presents new research in the field.

Table of Contents:
Preface

Short Communications

Heavy Metal Contamination of Agronomic Crops Grown on Three Reclaimed Mine Wastelands in South China and Implications for Ecological Restoration
(Ming-Shun Li, School of Environment and Resources, Guangxi Normal Univ., Guilin, China, Yan-Ping Lai, School of Life Sciences, Guangxi Normal Univ., Guilin, China, Shichu Liang, School of Life Sciences, Guangxi Normal Univ., Guilin, China)

Note on Rhenium in Coal
(Yudovich, Ya. E., Ketris, M.P., Institute of Geology, Komi Scientific Center, Ural Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)

Research and Review Studies

The Effects of Coal Mining on the Freshwater Environment: Mining Subsidence Reservoirs, Invertebrates, Macrophytes and the Physical and Chemical Parameters of Surface Waters
(Iga Lewin, The Univ. of Silesia, Faculty of Biology & Environmental Protection, Dept. of Hydrobiology, Katowice, Poland)

Environmental Impact of Polycylic ARomatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Coal Particles on Sediment Quality
(Achten C., Yang Y., Dept. of Environmental Geosciences, Vienna Univ., Vienna, Austria, Pies, C., Institute of Geosciences, J. Gutenberg-Univ. Mainz, Mainz, Germany, Ternes, T., Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Koblenz, Germany, Hofmann, T., Dept. of Environmental Geosciences, Vienna Univ., Vienna, Austria)

^ Monitoring Activities of Leaching Microorganisms at Coal Mining Sites
(Thore Rohwerder, Aquatic Biotechnology, Biofilm Centre, University Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany, Bianca M. Florian, Aquatic Biotechnology, Biofilm Centre, University Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany, Sören Bellenberg, Aquatic Biotechnology, Biofilm Centre, University Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany, et al.)

Soil Biota Development in Areas in Affected by Open Coast Coal Mining in Europe and its Role in Soil Formation
(Frouz Jan, Institute of Soil Biology, Biology Centre ASCR, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic)

Contaminations by Natural Radionuclides as a Result of Coal Mining Activities
(Karsten Leopold, Institute of Radiation Protection, Helmholtz-Zentrum Munchen, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany)

Aquatic Hazard of Selenium Pollution from Coal Mining
(A. Dennis Lemly, USDA - Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Coldwater Fisheries Research Team)

Fluorine in Coal: A Review
(Ya. E. Yudovich, M.P. Ketris, Institute of Geology, Komi Scientific Center, Ural Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)

Environmentally Compatible Land Use Zoning in a Representative Power Grade Coalfield in India: A Multi-Criteria Optimization Approach
(Manas K. Mukhopadhyay, MECON Limited, Ranchi, India)

^ Pathogenesis, Assessment and Diagnostics of Respiratory Disorders
in Coal Miners
(Xaver Baur, Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine, University of Hamburg, Germany)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and its Determinants in Survivors after Coal Mining Disaster
(Magdalena Kaczmarek, Interdisciplinary Center for Behavior Genetic Research, Univ. of Warsaw, Bogdan Zawadzki, Faculty of Psychology, Univ. of Warsaw, Jan Strelau, Faculty of Psychology, Univ. of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland)

Index