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Coal                                                               7













             Northern Hemisphere
                Equator
             Southern Hemisphere





                                                            Coal deposits
           Figure 1.4 Geographical distribution of known coal deposits in the world.
           Modified from the original figure sourced by Saturn Minerals.

                      Palaeozoic                Mesozoic             Cenozoic
                    Carboniferous  Permian  Triassic  Jurassic  Cretaceous  Tertiary

                Eastern USA                            Western USA
                  Eastern Canada           Western Canada
                    Europe                                      Europe
                     CIS
                     China
                         Australia                              Australia
                           India                                      India
            Other Far East Regions
                       South Africa
                      South America

            400    350      300     250     200      150     100     50       0
                                          Million years
           Figure 1.5 Geological ages and geographical distribution of coal deposits.
           Modified from Walker, S., 2000. Major Coalfields of the World, Coal Research, International
           Energy Agency, Vienna, 126 pp.
              Coal deposits from the Late Triassic (the Mesozoic era) are found in China, South
           America, and the Far East. China and South America together with the CIS and West-
           ern Canada also contain deposits of the Jurassic and Cretaceous ages. Moreover, Late
           Cretaceous coal deposits developed in the Western United States and Jurassic coal de-
           posits in the Far East.
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