Cannel coal from the Pennsylvanian of Kentucky, USA. (USNM 34152, United States National Museum - National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., USA; public domain photograph provided by the Smithsonian Institution)

Cannel coals are odd varieties of coal. They don’t have the look and feel of ordinary coals such as lignite, bituminous coal, and anthracite. Cannel coals are lightweight, as all coals are, but are surprisingly tight and solid - they hold up to natural weathering pretty well, considering they’re coals. They are not sooty to the touch, and have conchoidal fracture (smooth & curved fracture surfaces). Cannel coals lack the well-developed horizontal bedding & laminations seen in lignites and bituminous coals.

Not surprisingly, the differences in physical characterstics between cannel coal and other ranks of coal are due to the organic matter content. Cannel coals are composed principally of fossil spores (sporinite phytoclasts). Garden-variety coals are composed principally of a mix of altered fragmented plant debris that was originally woody tissue, leaves, bark, fungi, and spores. Cannel coals are generally interpreted to have formed in pond, lagoon, or channel facies within a larger coal swamp setting.

Stratigraphy: unrecorded / undisclosed (possibly from the Breathitt Group, Middle Pennsylvanian)

Location: unrecorded / undisclosed locality in Breathitt County, eastern Kentucky, USA

NON-NUCLEAR COMPONENT STORES BUILDING 60 –

The function of the non-nuclear component stores was to hold the high explosive part of the bomb and its outer casing. The casing could probably be split into two units, the tail and forward part containing the high explosive and electronics. The bombs, minus their fissile components, were housed in three almost identical stores buildings 59-61, known as Storage Building Type 'D-D'. These are arranged in an arrowhead pattern, and are accessed from the internal loop road, and are all surrounded by 14ft 6in high earth traverses, revetted by a reinforced concrete retaining wall against the roadway.

The western store, building 59 was gutted by a fire during the 1980's and has subsequently been demolished. Its floor plan remains visible on the remaining concrete floor slab. The two remaining stores, buildings 60 and 61 are rectangular in plan, and are constructed from reinforced concrete columns and beams. Internally there are two rows of columns, 13in², which support the roof beams, 2ft by 9in, which carry the 9in thick reinforced concrete roof slab which is covered with bituminous felt. The rainwater gutters and down pipes are cast asbestos.

The wall sections are filled with 18in by 9in by 9in precast concrete blocks, internally the main storage area measures 190ft 2½in by 60ft. It is divided longitudinally into eleven 17ft by 3ft bays and cross ways into three bays the outer bays measure 17ft 6in and the central bay is 25ft wide. The maximum clear internal height was 12ft from the floor to the underside of the roof beams. The floor is surfaced with a hard gritless asphalt with the patent name 'Ironite'. The walls are painted pale green colour and the ceiling cream. in store building 61 the bay letters 0, N, M, and L are visible on the rear columns on the eastern side, suggesting the store was divided into 22 bays along the outer walls.

Abutting on to the front of the stores, and flanking the entrances, are plant and switch rooms, which originally contained heating and air conditioning plant to maintain a stable environment within the stores. A raised air extract duct is placed asymmetrically on the roofs of the stores. Entry into the stores is through a 10ft wide door opening with 12ft high doors. In the rear wall of the stores is a single door width, outward opening emergency exit. The first nuclear weapon the store was designed to hold was relatively large, a ''Blue Danube'' bomb measured 24ft in length and weighed 10,000lbs.

The problems of handling such large objects are reflected in the provision of substantial lifting gantries at the entrance to each store. Two variants are found, the simplest, exemplified by the middle store building 60 comprises a straight gantry. Over the roadway the gantry is supported by four 24in by 18in reinforced concrete columns, which support two 51in by 24in reinforced concrete beams. The upper beams of the gantry taper towards the entrance to the store where they are suppurted by two reinforced concrete columns. On the underside of the gantry is attached a 20in by 6½in rolled steel joist runway beam which runs to the entrance to the building. This was originally fitted with a 10 ton hoist. The gantry is covered by asbestos sheeting to provide a dry working area.

On the eastern and western stores the gantries were set at 30° to the front of the stores. In this variant an extra set of columns was placed at the 30° dogleg. Internally there is no evidence for a runway beam, so it presumed the bombs were lifted off a road transporter and loaded onto a bomb trolley for storage. It is not known how many bombs were kept in each store, or if the tail units were separated from the front part of the bomb for storage. Subsequent to the site being relinquished by the RAF a central corridor has been created in the stores by the insertion of breeze block walls. Doors in these walls give access to workshops along either side of the buildings. External windows have also been inserted in some of the bays.

Information sourced from English Heritage.

Original Caption: Announcing the queen and her attendants of the Fourth of July celebration on this city, center of Utah Coal Mining acitivity. Price, Carbon County, Utah.

U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 245-MS-533L

From:: Photographs of the Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry, compiled 1946 - 1947

Created By:: Department of the Interior. Solid Fuels Administration For War. (04/19/1943 - 06/30/1947)

Production Date: 07/03/1946

Persistent URL: arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=540474

Repository: Still Picture Records Section, National Archives at College Park (College Park, MD)

For information about ordering reproductions of photographs held by the Still Picture Unit, visit: www.archives.gov/research/order/still-pictures.html

Reproductions may be ordered via an independent vendor. NARA maintains a list of vendors at www.archives.gov/research/order/vendors-photos-maps-dc.html

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted

Use Restrictions: Unrestricted

Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.

Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).

----------------------------------

Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):

Origin of Coal

Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.

Formation of Coal

The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.

Rank of Coal

The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.

Bituminous

Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.

In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.

----------------------------------

This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.

Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous

Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA

Destroyed 2004.

In preparation for the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme of the 1930s, this hut was built for the SEC in the summer of 1932-3 to accommodate the snow research program manager, the resident engineer for the scheme{ Lawrence: 25,32 states 1933-4 and 1932-3 as const. date?}. The cottage was sited next to a hydro-meteorological station, set on stilts above the snow in the same year{ Carlyon}. This was not a refuge hut but a permanent residence for all of the year. The hut was designed by WE Gower (later SEC Chief Architect) and built by Joe Holston and C Jassund{ Carlyon, other sources say builder was Bill Spargo and designer, GT Dyson}. The materials for the hut were carted on a sled or pack horse by High Plains cattleman, Wally Ryder, and his brother-in-law, George Hobbs, along what is now the Alpine Walking Track from Mt Hotham{ ibid.; Holth & Holth: 110; VOM: 25; Carlyon says only Hobbs}. They had successfully tendered for the job in 1932{ VOM}. The frame was of Oregon, the weatherboards stained, the roof clad with bituminous felt layers placed over timber T&G decking, the interior lined with `Caniete' or a similar composite board, and the timber casement windows were double-glazed{ ibid.}. A photograph by Weston taken in December 1932 shows the hut in construction with the stud frame visible, the chimney built and the felt going in over the roof with purlins placed on top appearing ready to receive corrugated iron{ copy held at hut; compare with above roof cladding description}. A large shed with a thatch and canvas roof was built about 20m from the hut, housing wood, stores and an earth-drying stove (reputedly done during the Trimble occupation, c1942-6){ ibid.}. The work was sanctioned in 1932 after pioneering SEC weatherman, Joe Holston, had been operating from Wallace's Hut and later, the Pretty Valley Hut, from c1928{ Napier: 36}. Federal money and Bureau of Meteorology assistance was won and these two early huts were a base for construction of this building. Snow pole lines were established from Pretty Valley to Mt Cope and from Wallace's down Fall's Creek to allow weather station construction. The work carried out there included operation of a meteorological station at the cottage, measuring the snow depth and density along two pole lines, and operating stream gauging stations in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. The engineers included TO Olsen (1933-4), a Swiss engineer Adrian Rufenacht (1934-6), a Norwegian Martin Romuld (1936-42) and Stan Trimble until the program ceased in 1946{ ibid.; Napier: 37}. Olsen was reputedly a `brilliant engineer', the co-builder of this hut and the instigator of the research programme{ see Napier: 37}. He was credited as being the one of the masterminds behind the Snowy Mountains hydro-electricity scheme{ Holth & Holth: 110-}. Romuld, on the other hand, was a champion skier, constructing a ski-jump and a grass tennis court near the hut during his residency{ ibid.; Carlyon states that the court is still apparent by the collapsed wire mesh and posts}. The tennis court was reputedly the venue for a tournament which attracted some 39 entrants, drawn from the SEC camps in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. SEC worker, Warrand Begg, described life at the weather station under Olsen in the 1930s, himself resident at Cope Hut: `A very comfortable, if somewhat compact house has been built in which lived the engineer, Mr Olsen, Mrs Olsen and their son, Lasse{ Napier: 38}…I had to ski to work each morning (1 mile). The scope of the work carried out at the station is very wide; in addition to standard meteorological work… it also covers a detailed study of the behaviour of the water (including snow) both on and in the ground and to take samples of the soil every foot. These samples were taken to the station where the moisture content was determined..'{ ibid.}. Begg would go with Olsen or alone to inspect the weather stations on the pole line, going down to Roper's Hut or Pretty Valley{ ibid.}. The pioneering alpine ecological research done by Maisie Fawcett was undertaken from this (staying with the Trimbles) and the Rover Scout hut in the early 1940s{ Gillbank: 224}. Special radio broadcasts (both in English and coded) from 3UZ to the battery powered wireless at the cottage were a feature of each night 6.45-7.00 pm{ Carlyon}. During Trimble's occupation, in 1946, the hut was covered by a snow drift and the family trapped. Only the chimney tops of the hut were visible but the arrival of Rover Scouts meant the family's rescue although it took some 5 days to dig them out, with cracked rafters and a leaning hut as one result{ Holth, COTHC: 116}. The drift was thought to be caused by the lack of trees on the hill near the hut, allowing drifts to build up{ Carlyon}. The store which had been erected at the Cottage, reputedly during Trimble's time, was to become a storeroom for the Rover Scouts{ ibid.}. Access to stores for the building's occupiers was made a little easier when the Fitzgeralds cut a pack track for the SEC from Shannonvale{ Carlyon}. In the Trimble era, the porch was removed and in its place a bunk room was built, with a long entry passage: this was connected via a covered way to the shed{ Carlyon}. Regarded as luxurious by the local cattlemen, the hut had an attic level and had hot and cold running water{ ibid.}. Nevertheless it was pictured in `The Alps at the Crossroads' as a typical gabled weatherboarded hut form (now clad with metal sheet), albeit with an attic window, and a skillion entry annexe in the place of the typical verandah. The corrugated iron cladding of the skillion vestibule has however remained. Two metal chimneys were visible; the one at the south end since replaced by the kitchen alcove{ Johnson: 118}. The south kitchen window shown has also been replaced. The hut was sold in 1948 to the Victorian Ski Club and renamed Wilkinson Lodge, Wilkinson Robert Wood Wilkinson, best known as 'Wilkie, was indisputably the 'Father figure' of Victorian skiing. He first visited the snow at Mount Buffalo in 1909, at the age of thirty-five years, and was fifty when he joined the Ski Club of Victoria as one of its earliest members, in 1924. He had an immense influence on the Club in its formative years and played a prominent part in some of the earliest trips of exploration "Robert Wood Wilkinson was born at Talbot (Victoria) in 1874, and was at the age of sixteen apprenticed to his father, who was at that time a chemist at Maryborough. Mr Wilkinson led the first party across the Bogong High Plains in the winter of 1926, pioneering Mt Nelse on the same trip. In 1927, with Jack Docherty, he was the first to climb Mt Fainter on ski. Again, in 1929, Mr Wilkinson, with a party from the Club, were the first to climb Mt McKay on ski. As a photographer, he was known far and wide. Cope Hut, on the Bogong High Plains, as well as the lines of snow poles were the outcome of his untiring efforts. As long as people ski in Victoria the name of Robert Wilkinson should be remembered, because of his devotion to the sport, and his untiring efforts to assist the Ski Club of Victoria in its growth and activities." Robert Wood Wilkinson died on May 22, 1939. The hut was resold some 12 years later to the Melbourne Bushwalkers club{ Lawrence: 25 says 1948; Lloyd: 294 says 1949 but shows cheque dated 1948}. Johnson, in `The Alps at the Crossroads' gives the purchase date as 1959, noting that club member Darrel Sullivan (and later Doug Pocock) organised and `..carried out extensive renovations' to the hut{ Johnson: 118}. Sullivan and Art Terry led club work parties who maintained the Long Hill-Crinoline and Gillio's Tracks{ ibid.}. In 1983, the National Parks Service described the building as an old SEC hut which had been purchased and, afterwards, maintained and occupied solely by the Melbourne Bushwalking Club (locked). It was in good condition but offered no public refuge: they recommended that some space in the hut be provided for refuge after negotiations with the club{ NPS (1983): 47}. ....'

Nimrud, ASSYRIA

NW palace of Ashurnasirpal II

885BC-856BC

bituminous limestone

California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco

P1120050

Cannel coal from the Pennsylvanian of Virginia, USA. (USNM, United States National Museum - National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., USA; public domain photograph provided by the Smithsonian Institution)

Cannel coals are odd varieties of coal. They don’t have the look and feel of ordinary coals such as lignite, bituminous coal, and anthracite. Cannel coals are lightweight, as all coals are, but are surprisingly tight and solid - they hold up to natural weathering pretty well, considering they’re coals. They are not sooty to the touch, and have conchoidal fracture (smooth & curved fracture surfaces). Cannel coals lack the well-developed horizontal bedding & laminations seen in lignites and bituminous coals.

Not surprisingly, the differences in physical characterstics between cannel coal and other ranks of coal are due to the organic matter content. Cannel coals are composed principally of fossil spores (sporinite phytoclasts). Garden-variety coals are composed principally of a mix of altered fragmented plant debris that was originally woody tissue, leaves, bark, fungi, and spores. Cannel coals are generally interpreted to have formed in pond, lagoon, or channel facies within a larger coal swamp setting.

Stratigraphy: unrecorded / undisclosed

Location: unrecorded / undisclosed locality in Wise County, far-western Virginia, USA

Pyritized charcoal in weathered coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (~10.8 cm across at its widest)

This rock is from the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).

The sample is derived from the Bedford Coal, a horizon that occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone (or Upper Mercer Flint). Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.

At this locality, the Bedford Coal consists of cannel coal and bituminous coal. This specimen is weathered coal with pieces of compressed fossil charcoal (= striated structures - click on the above photo to zoom in and look around). The dull brassy gold-colored piece of charcoal to the right-of-center is pyritized. The lustrous black area near the upper right is non-pyritized charcoal. The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder. Sometimes, the fossil charcoal is partially pyritized.

Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)

The Meigs Creek Coal (a.k.a. Sewickley Coal) is a horizontally-bedded & laminated bituminous coal horizon in the Upper Pennsylvanian Monongahela Group of eastern Ohio, USA. (field of view ~8.4 cm across)

Locality: Narrows Run North outcrop - roadcut on the western side of Rt. 7, just north of Narrows Run (an east-flowing tributary of the Ohio River), northeastern York Township, southeastern Belmont County, Ohio, USA

Asphalt road construction in Thailand, blurred images

Locality: Black Mesa, Arizona

Asphaltic concrete road in Thailand

Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.

Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).

----------------------------------

Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):

Origin of Coal

Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.

Formation of Coal

The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.

Rank of Coal

The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.

Bituminous

Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.

In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.

----------------------------------

This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.

Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous

Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA

In order to feed Big Boy's voracious appetite for coal, a large Stoker was used. This was like a cork screw, or auger, that pulled coal from the tender, broke it up, churned it through a large diameter pipe leading from the tender to the Fire Box and shot it into the fire. A fireman could never shovel fast enough to feed the engine. Big Boy ate an average of 122,500 lbs of water (12,500 gallons) and 22 tons (44,000 lbs) of semi-bituminous coal per hour!

On our trip down south, February 24, 2018. We stopped at Shag Point/Matakaea as I had never been there before. Matakaea is the name of the pa (fortified village). We have left Dunedin and going to stay in Timaru for a night before heading back to Christchurch.

Shag Point/Matakaea has a rich history, from early Ngai Tahu settlement to historic coalmining. The area has diverse marine life. It has interesting flora, is great for wildlife viewing, and is geologically fascinating.

Flat rock platforms provide an easy haul-out site for New Zealand fur seals, and cliff-top viewing areas allow you to observe seal behaviour without disturbing their rest.

Whalers discovered the first bituminous coal in New Zealand here in the 1830s. By 1862 the exposed coal seams were found to be commercially viable and were successfully mined until 1972, when flooding eventually closed shafts that extended under the coast. Evidence of coal mining is still obvious throughout the reserve.

Matakaea is jointly managed by DOC and Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu. Matakaea has Topuni status. The mana (authority) and rangatiratanga (chieftainship) of Ngai Tahu over the area is recognised publicly by this status. Ngai Tahu takes an active role in managing the natural and cultural values of the area.

For More Info: www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/otago/p...

Destroyed 2004.

In preparation for the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme of the 1930s, this hut was built for the SEC in the summer of 1932-3 to accommodate the snow research program manager, the resident engineer for the scheme{ Lawrence: 25,32 states 1933-4 and 1932-3 as const. date?}. The cottage was sited next to a hydro-meteorological station, set on stilts above the snow in the same year{ Carlyon}. This was not a refuge hut but a permanent residence for all of the year. The hut was designed by WE Gower (later SEC Chief Architect) and built by Joe Holston and C Jassund{ Carlyon, other sources say builder was Bill Spargo and designer, GT Dyson}. The materials for the hut were carted on a sled or pack horse by High Plains cattleman, Wally Ryder, and his brother-in-law, George Hobbs, along what is now the Alpine Walking Track from Mt Hotham{ ibid.; Holth & Holth: 110; VOM: 25; Carlyon says only Hobbs}. They had successfully tendered for the job in 1932{ VOM}. The frame was of Oregon, the weatherboards stained, the roof clad with bituminous felt layers placed over timber T&G decking, the interior lined with `Caniete' or a similar composite board, and the timber casement windows were double-glazed{ ibid.}. A photograph by Weston taken in December 1932 shows the hut in construction with the stud frame visible, the chimney built and the felt going in over the roof with purlins placed on top appearing ready to receive corrugated iron{ copy held at hut; compare with above roof cladding description}. A large shed with a thatch and canvas roof was built about 20m from the hut, housing wood, stores and an earth-drying stove (reputedly done during the Trimble occupation, c1942-6){ ibid.}. The work was sanctioned in 1932 after pioneering SEC weatherman, Joe Holston, had been operating from Wallace's Hut and later, the Pretty Valley Hut, from c1928{ Napier: 36}. Federal money and Bureau of Meteorology assistance was won and these two early huts were a base for construction of this building. Snow pole lines were established from Pretty Valley to Mt Cope and from Wallace's down Fall's Creek to allow weather station construction. The work carried out there included operation of a meteorological station at the cottage, measuring the snow depth and density along two pole lines, and operating stream gauging stations in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. The engineers included TO Olsen (1933-4), a Swiss engineer Adrian Rufenacht (1934-6), a Norwegian Martin Romuld (1936-42) and Stan Trimble until the program ceased in 1946{ ibid.; Napier: 37}. Olsen was reputedly a `brilliant engineer', the co-builder of this hut and the instigator of the research programme{ see Napier: 37}. He was credited as being the one of the masterminds behind the Snowy Mountains hydro-electricity scheme{ Holth & Holth: 110-}. Romuld, on the other hand, was a champion skier, constructing a ski-jump and a grass tennis court near the hut during his residency{ ibid.; Carlyon states that the court is still apparent by the collapsed wire mesh and posts}. The tennis court was reputedly the venue for a tournament which attracted some 39 entrants, drawn from the SEC camps in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. SEC worker, Warrand Begg, described life at the weather station under Olsen in the 1930s, himself resident at Cope Hut: `A very comfortable, if somewhat compact house has been built in which lived the engineer, Mr Olsen, Mrs Olsen and their son, Lasse{ Napier: 38}…I had to ski to work each morning (1 mile). The scope of the work carried out at the station is very wide; in addition to standard meteorological work… it also covers a detailed study of the behaviour of the water (including snow) both on and in the ground and to take samples of the soil every foot. These samples were taken to the station where the moisture content was determined..'{ ibid.}. Begg would go with Olsen or alone to inspect the weather stations on the pole line, going down to Roper's Hut or Pretty Valley{ ibid.}. The pioneering alpine ecological research done by Maisie Fawcett was undertaken from this (staying with the Trimbles) and the Rover Scout hut in the early 1940s{ Gillbank: 224}. Special radio broadcasts (both in English and coded) from 3UZ to the battery powered wireless at the cottage were a feature of each night 6.45-7.00 pm{ Carlyon}. During Trimble's occupation, in 1946, the hut was covered by a snow drift and the family trapped. Only the chimney tops of the hut were visible but the arrival of Rover Scouts meant the family's rescue although it took some 5 days to dig them out, with cracked rafters and a leaning hut as one result{ Holth, COTHC: 116}. The drift was thought to be caused by the lack of trees on the hill near the hut, allowing drifts to build up{ Carlyon}. The store which had been erected at the Cottage, reputedly during Trimble's time, was to become a storeroom for the Rover Scouts{ ibid.}. Access to stores for the building's occupiers was made a little easier when the Fitzgeralds cut a pack track for the SEC from Shannonvale{ Carlyon}. In the Trimble era, the porch was removed and in its place a bunk room was built, with a long entry passage: this was connected via a covered way to the shed{ Carlyon}. Regarded as luxurious by the local cattlemen, the hut had an attic level and had hot and cold running water{ ibid.}. Nevertheless it was pictured in `The Alps at the Crossroads' as a typical gabled weatherboarded hut form (now clad with metal sheet), albeit with an attic window, and a skillion entry annexe in the place of the typical verandah. The corrugated iron cladding of the skillion vestibule has however remained. Two metal chimneys were visible; the one at the south end since replaced by the kitchen alcove{ Johnson: 118}. The south kitchen window shown has also been replaced. The hut was sold in 1948 to the Victorian Ski Club and renamed Wilkinson Lodge, Wilkinson Robert Wood Wilkinson, best known as 'Wilkie, was indisputably the 'Father figure' of Victorian skiing. He first visited the snow at Mount Buffalo in 1909, at the age of thirty-five years, and was fifty when he joined the Ski Club of Victoria as one of its earliest members, in 1924. He had an immense influence on the Club in its formative years and played a prominent part in some of the earliest trips of exploration "Robert Wood Wilkinson was born at Talbot (Victoria) in 1874, and was at the age of sixteen apprenticed to his father, who was at that time a chemist at Maryborough. Mr Wilkinson led the first party across the Bogong High Plains in the winter of 1926, pioneering Mt Nelse on the same trip. In 1927, with Jack Docherty, he was the first to climb Mt Fainter on ski. Again, in 1929, Mr Wilkinson, with a party from the Club, were the first to climb Mt McKay on ski. As a photographer, he was known far and wide. Cope Hut, on the Bogong High Plains, as well as the lines of snow poles were the outcome of his untiring efforts. As long as people ski in Victoria the name of Robert Wilkinson should be remembered, because of his devotion to the sport, and his untiring efforts to assist the Ski Club of Victoria in its growth and activities." Robert Wood Wilkinson died on May 22, 1939. The hut was resold some 12 years later to the Melbourne Bushwalkers club{ Lawrence: 25 says 1948; Lloyd: 294 says 1949 but shows cheque dated 1948}. Johnson, in `The Alps at the Crossroads' gives the purchase date as 1959, noting that club member Darrel Sullivan (and later Doug Pocock) organised and `..carried out extensive renovations' to the hut{ Johnson: 118}. Sullivan and Art Terry led club work parties who maintained the Long Hill-Crinoline and Gillio's Tracks{ ibid.}. In 1983, the National Parks Service described the building as an old SEC hut which had been purchased and, afterwards, maintained and occupied solely by the Melbourne Bushwalking Club (locked). It was in good condition but offered no public refuge: they recommended that some space in the hut be provided for refuge after negotiations with the club{ NPS (1983): 47}. ....'

This is a parked, east-bound, loaded coal train at Rozet, Wyoming on 20 June 2018. Loaded coal trains are common along this east-west line in northern Wyoming. The trains transport coal to various power plants, where the coal is burned to generate electricity. The coal is of sub-bituminous rank and comes from the Wyodak Coal, a 70 to 90 feet thick coal bed in the Fort Union Formation (Upper Paleocene). This is the thickest economic coal bed in America. It is extensively mined in the vicinity of the town of Gillette in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.

Fairhaven United Reformed Church GV II Also known as "the White Church". Congregational church, now united Reformed church. 1904 and 1911, by Briggs, Wolstenholme and Thornley; with stained glass by Luke S. Walmesley of St Annes and Charles Elliott of London. Mostly white faience, but hall to rear of red brick with buff terracotta dressings; slate and bituminous asphalt roofs. Free Byzantine style. The principal element is a square vessel with a domed roof, a tall octagonal minaret tower at the north-east corner and octagonal turrets with domed lanterns at the south-east and north-west corners. Each of these 3 corners has an extruded 3-sided porch with pilasters, dentilled cornice and geometrical panelled parapet, and a round-headed doorway in the centre bay; the roof of the main porch, at the north-east corner, has swept and scrolled brackets to the corners of the tower, which has tall round-headed panels in the sides, a dentilled cornice, and a 3-stage lantern or belfry, the 1st stage open-arcaded, the 2nd with latticed windows, and the top with a domed roof surmounted by a cross. The 2 principal sides are filled with wide projected gabled bays which have large segmental-headed tripartite windows, and parapets; and attached to the west side of the north-west porch is an octagonal parlour with round-headed windows and a domed roof. Attached at the rear is a hall of red brick, on a parallel axis, the east gable having a Diocletian window with run-out vousoirs of buff terracotta. INTERIOR: square main vessel with chamfered corners (porches in 2 corners, choir vestry and organ chamber in the others) and in each side a wide segmental-arched alcove illuminated by stained glass windows illustrating biblical scenes, a large number of historical religious figures, and events such as the departure of the Pilgrim fathers and the Great Ejection of Nonconformist clergy. The item is an unusual design and forms a very conspicuous and well-known landmark between Lytham and St Annes. EH Listing

TARCO OFFERS 30-YEAR MATERIAL WARRANTY ON THREE SELF-ADHERING METAL AND TILE UNDERLAYMENTS

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS – Tarco today announced coverage of three products in its LeakBarrier family of premium underlayment products. The warranty is titled the “Thirty Year Self-Adhesive Metal and Tile Underlayment Material Warranty.”

Coverage and conditions pertaining to warranty coverage are detailed in the warranty, which is available on the Tarco Website. The warranty applies to any of Tarco’s three self-adhering, metal and tile roofing underlayment products, including PS200MU, PS200HT and NR500HT Ice and Water Armor.

Each of these underlayment products is specially formulated for use in high temperature environments. Their differences are as follows:

• PS200MU Ice and Water Armor is a self-adhesive, glass-fiber reinforced, modified bituminous underlayment with a nonabrasive polyolefinic film that has anti-skid properties for good walkability.

•PS200HT Ice and Water Armor is a self-adhesive, glass-fiber reinforced, modified bituminous underlayment with a polyester upper-side that provides good walkability and excellent tile foam attachment properties.

• NR500HT Ice and Water Armor is a premium 40 mil (1 mm) thick, non-reinforced, self-adhering roofing underlayment with an upper surface of cross-laminated polyethylene-based Valeron film, which also provides good walkability.

All three products withstand high temperatures and provide good walkability. Two key attributes of a metal roofing underlayment are that it slides under the metal roof without scratching it; and that it is tolerant of high temperatures often reached beneath a metal roof. All three of these products have these features, and so all three are suitable for use under metal as well as tile.

“The Thirty Year Material Warranty for these metal and tile roofing underlayment products reflects the application,” says Steve Ratcliff, President of Tarco. “Tarco has perfected its membrane formulations, product designs and manufacturing processes sufficiently so that it can offer these 30-year warranties with complete confidence.”

According to Ratcliff, metal or tile roofs typically have long service lives so there is an expectation that the underlayment also will last for decades. In these applications, the metal or tile serves as a primary roof, protecting the underlayment from physical damage, but metal and tile are not completely watertight. Hence, a watertight underlayment is necessary to protect the interior of the building from moisture penetration. “The two system components – primary roof and secondary water barrier -- complement each other perfectly,” concludes Ratcliff.

For more details, contact Tarco, One Information Way, Suite 225, Little Rock, AR 72202. Phone 501-945-4506, Toll Free 800-365-4506, Fax 501-945-7718. Visit Tarco on the Internet at www.tarcoroofing.com.

Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.

Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).

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Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):

Origin of Coal

Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.

Formation of Coal

The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.

Rank of Coal

The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.

Bituminous

Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.

In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.

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This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.

Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous

Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA

Fossil charcoal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (2.5 cm across along the base)

This fossil is from the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).

The specimen is derived from the Bedford Coal, a horizon that occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone (or Upper Mercer Flint). Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.

At this locality, the Bedford Coal consists of cannel coal and bituminous coal. This fossil is a thin, delicate, detached crust of compressed fossil charcoal. The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder. Sometimes, the fossil charcoal is partially pyritized.

The faint rainbow-colored area is a weathering film composed of turgite (hydrous iron oxide).

Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)

Number 3 Coal Mine National historic site

The mines in the Drumheller area provided sub-bituminous coal, chiefly used for home heating and cooking. The flat-lying seams were easier to mine than those found in more mountainous areas, with lower levels of methane gas. The coal-mining era lasted from 1911 to 1979, when the Atlas No. 3 and 4 mines closed. The Atlas No. 3 Mine structures were preserved and form the basis of the National Historic Site, administered by the Atlas Mine Historical Society.[1]

The mine features the last wooden coal tipple in Canada. Built in 1936, the tipple is a coal loading and sorting machine. At over 40 feet tall the tipple now serves as a reminder of the rich mining history of the Drumheller Valley. Old mining equipment, including a working 1936 battery powered locomotive and several buildings including the wash house, supply house, lamp house, and mine office still stand at the site. The site preserves the stories and artifacts of the men who once mined the black. The Atlas is the last of 139 mines that once ruled the valley.

[edit]

From Wikipedia

Brick paved streets so this is pretty old!! I don't see any cars, just horses with wagons/buggies, so this is probably about 1900. I'd like to do a recent photo of this to compare. Photographer possibly Myron Thomas, circa 1900, Thomas Studios, Shamokin, PA.

Huge culm bank in background of photo. Culm is the Anthracite Region term for waste coal, usually called gob in Western PA and other Bituminous coal mining regions.

www.energyjustice.net/coal/wastecoal

The big white building has writing across the top at the roofline so I am thinking it is some sort of manufacturing facility. Shamokin had a huge textile industry as well as the coal industry back in the day.

If you click on the map to the right you can choose Satellite and see what the area looks like now. Where the big building is now looks like homes or individual buildings.

Destroyed 2004.

In preparation for the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme of the 1930s, this hut was built for the SEC in the summer of 1932-3 to accommodate the snow research program manager, the resident engineer for the scheme{ Lawrence: 25,32 states 1933-4 and 1932-3 as const. date?}. The cottage was sited next to a hydro-meteorological station, set on stilts above the snow in the same year{ Carlyon}. This was not a refuge hut but a permanent residence for all of the year. The hut was designed by WE Gower (later SEC Chief Architect) and built by Joe Holston and C Jassund{ Carlyon, other sources say builder was Bill Spargo and designer, GT Dyson}. The materials for the hut were carted on a sled or pack horse by High Plains cattleman, Wally Ryder, and his brother-in-law, George Hobbs, along what is now the Alpine Walking Track from Mt Hotham{ ibid.; Holth & Holth: 110; VOM: 25; Carlyon says only Hobbs}. They had successfully tendered for the job in 1932{ VOM}. The frame was of Oregon, the weatherboards stained, the roof clad with bituminous felt layers placed over timber T&G decking, the interior lined with `Caniete' or a similar composite board, and the timber casement windows were double-glazed{ ibid.}. A photograph by Weston taken in December 1932 shows the hut in construction with the stud frame visible, the chimney built and the felt going in over the roof with purlins placed on top appearing ready to receive corrugated iron{ copy held at hut; compare with above roof cladding description}. A large shed with a thatch and canvas roof was built about 20m from the hut, housing wood, stores and an earth-drying stove (reputedly done during the Trimble occupation, c1942-6){ ibid.}. The work was sanctioned in 1932 after pioneering SEC weatherman, Joe Holston, had been operating from Wallace's Hut and later, the Pretty Valley Hut, from c1928{ Napier: 36}. Federal money and Bureau of Meteorology assistance was won and these two early huts were a base for construction of this building. Snow pole lines were established from Pretty Valley to Mt Cope and from Wallace's down Fall's Creek to allow weather station construction. The work carried out there included operation of a meteorological station at the cottage, measuring the snow depth and density along two pole lines, and operating stream gauging stations in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. The engineers included TO Olsen (1933-4), a Swiss engineer Adrian Rufenacht (1934-6), a Norwegian Martin Romuld (1936-42) and Stan Trimble until the program ceased in 1946{ ibid.; Napier: 37}. Olsen was reputedly a `brilliant engineer', the co-builder of this hut and the instigator of the research programme{ see Napier: 37}. He was credited as being the one of the masterminds behind the Snowy Mountains hydro-electricity scheme{ Holth & Holth: 110-}. Romuld, on the other hand, was a champion skier, constructing a ski-jump and a grass tennis court near the hut during his residency{ ibid.; Carlyon states that the court is still apparent by the collapsed wire mesh and posts}. The tennis court was reputedly the venue for a tournament which attracted some 39 entrants, drawn from the SEC camps in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. SEC worker, Warrand Begg, described life at the weather station under Olsen in the 1930s, himself resident at Cope Hut: `A very comfortable, if somewhat compact house has been built in which lived the engineer, Mr Olsen, Mrs Olsen and their son, Lasse{ Napier: 38}…I had to ski to work each morning (1 mile). The scope of the work carried out at the station is very wide; in addition to standard meteorological work… it also covers a detailed study of the behaviour of the water (including snow) both on and in the ground and to take samples of the soil every foot. These samples were taken to the station where the moisture content was determined..'{ ibid.}. Begg would go with Olsen or alone to inspect the weather stations on the pole line, going down to Roper's Hut or Pretty Valley{ ibid.}. The pioneering alpine ecological research done by Maisie Fawcett was undertaken from this (staying with the Trimbles) and the Rover Scout hut in the early 1940s{ Gillbank: 224}. Special radio broadcasts (both in English and coded) from 3UZ to the battery powered wireless at the cottage were a feature of each night 6.45-7.00 pm{ Carlyon}. During Trimble's occupation, in 1946, the hut was covered by a snow drift and the family trapped. Only the chimney tops of the hut were visible but the arrival of Rover Scouts meant the family's rescue although it took some 5 days to dig them out, with cracked rafters and a leaning hut as one result{ Holth, COTHC: 116}. The drift was thought to be caused by the lack of trees on the hill near the hut, allowing drifts to build up{ Carlyon}. The store which had been erected at the Cottage, reputedly during Trimble's time, was to become a storeroom for the Rover Scouts{ ibid.}. Access to stores for the building's occupiers was made a little easier when the Fitzgeralds cut a pack track for the SEC from Shannonvale{ Carlyon}. In the Trimble era, the porch was removed and in its place a bunk room was built, with a long entry passage: this was connected via a covered way to the shed{ Carlyon}. Regarded as luxurious by the local cattlemen, the hut had an attic level and had hot and cold running water{ ibid.}. Nevertheless it was pictured in `The Alps at the Crossroads' as a typical gabled weatherboarded hut form (now clad with metal sheet), albeit with an attic window, and a skillion entry annexe in the place of the typical verandah. The corrugated iron cladding of the skillion vestibule has however remained. Two metal chimneys were visible; the one at the south end since replaced by the kitchen alcove{ Johnson: 118}. The south kitchen window shown has also been replaced. The hut was sold in 1948 to the Victorian Ski Club and renamed Wilkinson Lodge, Wilkinson Robert Wood Wilkinson, best known as 'Wilkie, was indisputably the 'Father figure' of Victorian skiing. He first visited the snow at Mount Buffalo in 1909, at the age of thirty-five years, and was fifty when he joined the Ski Club of Victoria as one of its earliest members, in 1924. He had an immense influence on the Club in its formative years and played a prominent part in some of the earliest trips of exploration "Robert Wood Wilkinson was born at Talbot (Victoria) in 1874, and was at the age of sixteen apprenticed to his father, who was at that time a chemist at Maryborough. Mr Wilkinson led the first party across the Bogong High Plains in the winter of 1926, pioneering Mt Nelse on the same trip. In 1927, with Jack Docherty, he was the first to climb Mt Fainter on ski. Again, in 1929, Mr Wilkinson, with a party from the Club, were the first to climb Mt McKay on ski. As a photographer, he was known far and wide. Cope Hut, on the Bogong High Plains, as well as the lines of snow poles were the outcome of his untiring efforts. As long as people ski in Victoria the name of Robert Wilkinson should be remembered, because of his devotion to the sport, and his untiring efforts to assist the Ski Club of Victoria in its growth and activities." Robert Wood Wilkinson died on May 22, 1939. The hut was resold some 12 years later to the Melbourne Bushwalkers club{ Lawrence: 25 says 1948; Lloyd: 294 says 1949 but shows cheque dated 1948}. Johnson, in `The Alps at the Crossroads' gives the purchase date as 1959, noting that club member Darrel Sullivan (and later Doug Pocock) organised and `..carried out extensive renovations' to the hut{ Johnson: 118}. Sullivan and Art Terry led club work parties who maintained the Long Hill-Crinoline and Gillio's Tracks{ ibid.}. In 1983, the National Parks Service described the building as an old SEC hut which had been purchased and, afterwards, maintained and occupied solely by the Melbourne Bushwalking Club (locked). It was in good condition but offered no public refuge: they recommended that some space in the hut be provided for refuge after negotiations with the club{ NPS (1983): 47}. ....'

Much stone was removed to keep this section of railroad track on a level bed. This once belonged to the Deepwater Railway, later merging to create the Virginian Railway, built to haul high quality bituminous coal from the mines to ships at the port of Hampton Roads.

Destroyed 2004.

In preparation for the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme of the 1930s, this hut was built for the SEC in the summer of 1932-3 to accommodate the snow research program manager, the resident engineer for the scheme{ Lawrence: 25,32 states 1933-4 and 1932-3 as const. date?}. The cottage was sited next to a hydro-meteorological station, set on stilts above the snow in the same year{ Carlyon}. This was not a refuge hut but a permanent residence for all of the year. The hut was designed by WE Gower (later SEC Chief Architect) and built by Joe Holston and C Jassund{ Carlyon, other sources say builder was Bill Spargo and designer, GT Dyson}. The materials for the hut were carted on a sled or pack horse by High Plains cattleman, Wally Ryder, and his brother-in-law, George Hobbs, along what is now the Alpine Walking Track from Mt Hotham{ ibid.; Holth & Holth: 110; VOM: 25; Carlyon says only Hobbs}. They had successfully tendered for the job in 1932{ VOM}. The frame was of Oregon, the weatherboards stained, the roof clad with bituminous felt layers placed over timber T&G decking, the interior lined with `Caniete' or a similar composite board, and the timber casement windows were double-glazed{ ibid.}. A photograph by Weston taken in December 1932 shows the hut in construction with the stud frame visible, the chimney built and the felt going in over the roof with purlins placed on top appearing ready to receive corrugated iron{ copy held at hut; compare with above roof cladding description}. A large shed with a thatch and canvas roof was built about 20m from the hut, housing wood, stores and an earth-drying stove (reputedly done during the Trimble occupation, c1942-6){ ibid.}. The work was sanctioned in 1932 after pioneering SEC weatherman, Joe Holston, had been operating from Wallace's Hut and later, the Pretty Valley Hut, from c1928{ Napier: 36}. Federal money and Bureau of Meteorology assistance was won and these two early huts were a base for construction of this building. Snow pole lines were established from Pretty Valley to Mt Cope and from Wallace's down Fall's Creek to allow weather station construction. The work carried out there included operation of a meteorological station at the cottage, measuring the snow depth and density along two pole lines, and operating stream gauging stations in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. The engineers included TO Olsen (1933-4), a Swiss engineer Adrian Rufenacht (1934-6), a Norwegian Martin Romuld (1936-42) and Stan Trimble until the program ceased in 1946{ ibid.; Napier: 37}. Olsen was reputedly a `brilliant engineer', the co-builder of this hut and the instigator of the research programme{ see Napier: 37}. He was credited as being the one of the masterminds behind the Snowy Mountains hydro-electricity scheme{ Holth & Holth: 110-}. Romuld, on the other hand, was a champion skier, constructing a ski-jump and a grass tennis court near the hut during his residency{ ibid.; Carlyon states that the court is still apparent by the collapsed wire mesh and posts}. The tennis court was reputedly the venue for a tournament which attracted some 39 entrants, drawn from the SEC camps in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. SEC worker, Warrand Begg, described life at the weather station under Olsen in the 1930s, himself resident at Cope Hut: `A very comfortable, if somewhat compact house has been built in which lived the engineer, Mr Olsen, Mrs Olsen and their son, Lasse{ Napier: 38}…I had to ski to work each morning (1 mile). The scope of the work carried out at the station is very wide; in addition to standard meteorological work… it also covers a detailed study of the behaviour of the water (including snow) both on and in the ground and to take samples of the soil every foot. These samples were taken to the station where the moisture content was determined..'{ ibid.}. Begg would go with Olsen or alone to inspect the weather stations on the pole line, going down to Roper's Hut or Pretty Valley{ ibid.}. The pioneering alpine ecological research done by Maisie Fawcett was undertaken from this (staying with the Trimbles) and the Rover Scout hut in the early 1940s{ Gillbank: 224}. Special radio broadcasts (both in English and coded) from 3UZ to the battery powered wireless at the cottage were a feature of each night 6.45-7.00 pm{ Carlyon}. During Trimble's occupation, in 1946, the hut was covered by a snow drift and the family trapped. Only the chimney tops of the hut were visible but the arrival of Rover Scouts meant the family's rescue although it took some 5 days to dig them out, with cracked rafters and a leaning hut as one result{ Holth, COTHC: 116}. The drift was thought to be caused by the lack of trees on the hill near the hut, allowing drifts to build up{ Carlyon}. The store which had been erected at the Cottage, reputedly during Trimble's time, was to become a storeroom for the Rover Scouts{ ibid.}. Access to stores for the building's occupiers was made a little easier when the Fitzgeralds cut a pack track for the SEC from Shannonvale{ Carlyon}. In the Trimble era, the porch was removed and in its place a bunk room was built, with a long entry passage: this was connected via a covered way to the shed{ Carlyon}. Regarded as luxurious by the local cattlemen, the hut had an attic level and had hot and cold running water{ ibid.}. Nevertheless it was pictured in `The Alps at the Crossroads' as a typical gabled weatherboarded hut form (now clad with metal sheet), albeit with an attic window, and a skillion entry annexe in the place of the typical verandah. The corrugated iron cladding of the skillion vestibule has however remained. Two metal chimneys were visible; the one at the south end since replaced by the kitchen alcove{ Johnson: 118}. The south kitchen window shown has also been replaced. The hut was sold in 1948 to the Victorian Ski Club and renamed Wilkinson Lodge, Wilkinson Robert Wood Wilkinson, best known as 'Wilkie, was indisputably the 'Father figure' of Victorian skiing. He first visited the snow at Mount Buffalo in 1909, at the age of thirty-five years, and was fifty when he joined the Ski Club of Victoria as one of its earliest members, in 1924. He had an immense influence on the Club in its formative years and played a prominent part in some of the earliest trips of exploration "Robert Wood Wilkinson was born at Talbot (Victoria) in 1874, and was at the age of sixteen apprenticed to his father, who was at that time a chemist at Maryborough. Mr Wilkinson led the first party across the Bogong High Plains in the winter of 1926, pioneering Mt Nelse on the same trip. In 1927, with Jack Docherty, he was the first to climb Mt Fainter on ski. Again, in 1929, Mr Wilkinson, with a party from the Club, were the first to climb Mt McKay on ski. As a photographer, he was known far and wide. Cope Hut, on the Bogong High Plains, as well as the lines of snow poles were the outcome of his untiring efforts. As long as people ski in Victoria the name of Robert Wilkinson should be remembered, because of his devotion to the sport, and his untiring efforts to assist the Ski Club of Victoria in its growth and activities." Robert Wood Wilkinson died on May 22, 1939. The hut was resold some 12 years later to the Melbourne Bushwalkers club{ Lawrence: 25 says 1948; Lloyd: 294 says 1949 but shows cheque dated 1948}. Johnson, in `The Alps at the Crossroads' gives the purchase date as 1959, noting that club member Darrel Sullivan (and later Doug Pocock) organised and `..carried out extensive renovations' to the hut{ Johnson: 118}. Sullivan and Art Terry led club work parties who maintained the Long Hill-Crinoline and Gillio's Tracks{ ibid.}. In 1983, the National Parks Service described the building as an old SEC hut which had been purchased and, afterwards, maintained and occupied solely by the Melbourne Bushwalking Club (locked). It was in good condition but offered no public refuge: they recommended that some space in the hut be provided for refuge after negotiations with the club{ NPS (1983): 47}. ....'

Limestone over coal in the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.

This eastern Ohio exposure is in the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).

The Upper Mercer Limestone is a moderately laterally persistent chertified limestone horizon in the Pottsville Group. It is often composed of black-colored chert/flint but can be dark bluish to bluish-black colored as well (the latter colors are referred to as "Nellie Blue Flint"). Upper Mercer Flint has whitish-colored fossils and fossil fragments that include fusulinid foraminifera, crinoid ossicles, and other Late Paleozoic normal marine fossils. Apparent phylloidal algae can also be present as squiggly lines.

Non-chertified limestone is frequently present in the Upper Mercer horizon, although minor in volume. Limestone usually occurs along the outside portions of chert masses, but also in relatively small patches within the chert.

In places, the Upper Mercer Flint/Limestone horizon is missing, usually removed by paleoerosion.

American Indians sometimes used Upper Mercer Flint to make arrowheads and spear points and knife blades. "Flint Ridge Flint" (= Vanport Flint) was the most desirable source rock for these objects, but other chert horizons also attracted attention.

At this outcrop, limestone makes up most of the Upper Mercer, which is unusual. Black, irregularly-shaped flint nodules are present in the limestone.

The prominent ledge is the Upper Mercer Limestone. Below it is the Bedford Coal, which at this site is composed of bituminous coal and cannel coal. Below the coal is an "underclay" (= bottom portion of photo), which is composed of shale that has been subjected to chemical weathering from minor sulfuric acid percolating downward from the coal. The sulfuric acid was generated by oxidation of pyrite (in the presence of water) in the coal. Pyrite in the Bedford Coal occurs as small nodules, disseminated tiny crystals, and is in partially pyritized fossil charcoal.

Stratigraphy: Upper Mercer Limestone over Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)

Destroyed 2004.

In preparation for the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme of the 1930s, this hut was built for the SEC in the summer of 1932-3 to accommodate the snow research program manager, the resident engineer for the scheme{ Lawrence: 25,32 states 1933-4 and 1932-3 as const. date?}. The cottage was sited next to a hydro-meteorological station, set on stilts above the snow in the same year{ Carlyon}. This was not a refuge hut but a permanent residence for all of the year. The hut was designed by WE Gower (later SEC Chief Architect) and built by Joe Holston and C Jassund{ Carlyon, other sources say builder was Bill Spargo and designer, GT Dyson}. The materials for the hut were carted on a sled or pack horse by High Plains cattleman, Wally Ryder, and his brother-in-law, George Hobbs, along what is now the Alpine Walking Track from Mt Hotham{ ibid.; Holth & Holth: 110; VOM: 25; Carlyon says only Hobbs}. They had successfully tendered for the job in 1932{ VOM}. The frame was of Oregon, the weatherboards stained, the roof clad with bituminous felt layers placed over timber T&G decking, the interior lined with `Caniete' or a similar composite board, and the timber casement windows were double-glazed{ ibid.}. A photograph by Weston taken in December 1932 shows the hut in construction with the stud frame visible, the chimney built and the felt going in over the roof with purlins placed on top appearing ready to receive corrugated iron{ copy held at hut; compare with above roof cladding description}. A large shed with a thatch and canvas roof was built about 20m from the hut, housing wood, stores and an earth-drying stove (reputedly done during the Trimble occupation, c1942-6){ ibid.}. The work was sanctioned in 1932 after pioneering SEC weatherman, Joe Holston, had been operating from Wallace's Hut and later, the Pretty Valley Hut, from c1928{ Napier: 36}. Federal money and Bureau of Meteorology assistance was won and these two early huts were a base for construction of this building. Snow pole lines were established from Pretty Valley to Mt Cope and from Wallace's down Fall's Creek to allow weather station construction. The work carried out there included operation of a meteorological station at the cottage, measuring the snow depth and density along two pole lines, and operating stream gauging stations in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. The engineers included TO Olsen (1933-4), a Swiss engineer Adrian Rufenacht (1934-6), a Norwegian Martin Romuld (1936-42) and Stan Trimble until the program ceased in 1946{ ibid.; Napier: 37}. Olsen was reputedly a `brilliant engineer', the co-builder of this hut and the instigator of the research programme{ see Napier: 37}. He was credited as being the one of the masterminds behind the Snowy Mountains hydro-electricity scheme{ Holth & Holth: 110-}. Romuld, on the other hand, was a champion skier, constructing a ski-jump and a grass tennis court near the hut during his residency{ ibid.; Carlyon states that the court is still apparent by the collapsed wire mesh and posts}. The tennis court was reputedly the venue for a tournament which attracted some 39 entrants, drawn from the SEC camps in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. SEC worker, Warrand Begg, described life at the weather station under Olsen in the 1930s, himself resident at Cope Hut: `A very comfortable, if somewhat compact house has been built in which lived the engineer, Mr Olsen, Mrs Olsen and their son, Lasse{ Napier: 38}…I had to ski to work each morning (1 mile). The scope of the work carried out at the station is very wide; in addition to standard meteorological work… it also covers a detailed study of the behaviour of the water (including snow) both on and in the ground and to take samples of the soil every foot. These samples were taken to the station where the moisture content was determined..'{ ibid.}. Begg would go with Olsen or alone to inspect the weather stations on the pole line, going down to Roper's Hut or Pretty Valley{ ibid.}. The pioneering alpine ecological research done by Maisie Fawcett was undertaken from this (staying with the Trimbles) and the Rover Scout hut in the early 1940s{ Gillbank: 224}. Special radio broadcasts (both in English and coded) from 3UZ to the battery powered wireless at the cottage were a feature of each night 6.45-7.00 pm{ Carlyon}. During Trimble's occupation, in 1946, the hut was covered by a snow drift and the family trapped. Only the chimney tops of the hut were visible but the arrival of Rover Scouts meant the family's rescue although it took some 5 days to dig them out, with cracked rafters and a leaning hut as one result{ Holth, COTHC: 116}. The drift was thought to be caused by the lack of trees on the hill near the hut, allowing drifts to build up{ Carlyon}. The store which had been erected at the Cottage, reputedly during Trimble's time, was to become a storeroom for the Rover Scouts{ ibid.}. Access to stores for the building's occupiers was made a little easier when the Fitzgeralds cut a pack track for the SEC from Shannonvale{ Carlyon}. In the Trimble era, the porch was removed and in its place a bunk room was built, with a long entry passage: this was connected via a covered way to the shed{ Carlyon}. Regarded as luxurious by the local cattlemen, the hut had an attic level and had hot and cold running water{ ibid.}. Nevertheless it was pictured in `The Alps at the Crossroads' as a typical gabled weatherboarded hut form (now clad with metal sheet), albeit with an attic window, and a skillion entry annexe in the place of the typical verandah. The corrugated iron cladding of the skillion vestibule has however remained. Two metal chimneys were visible; the one at the south end since replaced by the kitchen alcove{ Johnson: 118}. The south kitchen window shown has also been replaced. The hut was sold in 1948 to the Victorian Ski Club and renamed Wilkinson Lodge, Wilkinson Robert Wood Wilkinson, best known as 'Wilkie, was indisputably the 'Father figure' of Victorian skiing. He first visited the snow at Mount Buffalo in 1909, at the age of thirty-five years, and was fifty when he joined the Ski Club of Victoria as one of its earliest members, in 1924. He had an immense influence on the Club in its formative years and played a prominent part in some of the earliest trips of exploration "Robert Wood Wilkinson was born at Talbot (Victoria) in 1874, and was at the age of sixteen apprenticed to his father, who was at that time a chemist at Maryborough. Mr Wilkinson led the first party across the Bogong High Plains in the winter of 1926, pioneering Mt Nelse on the same trip. In 1927, with Jack Docherty, he was the first to climb Mt Fainter on ski. Again, in 1929, Mr Wilkinson, with a party from the Club, were the first to climb Mt McKay on ski. As a photographer, he was known far and wide. Cope Hut, on the Bogong High Plains, as well as the lines of snow poles were the outcome of his untiring efforts. As long as people ski in Victoria the name of Robert Wilkinson should be remembered, because of his devotion to the sport, and his untiring efforts to assist the Ski Club of Victoria in its growth and activities." Robert Wood Wilkinson died on May 22, 1939. The hut was resold some 12 years later to the Melbourne Bushwalkers club{ Lawrence: 25 says 1948; Lloyd: 294 says 1949 but shows cheque dated 1948}. Johnson, in `The Alps at the Crossroads' gives the purchase date as 1959, noting that club member Darrel Sullivan (and later Doug Pocock) organised and `..carried out extensive renovations' to the hut{ Johnson: 118}. Sullivan and Art Terry led club work parties who maintained the Long Hill-Crinoline and Gillio's Tracks{ ibid.}. In 1983, the National Parks Service described the building as an old SEC hut which had been purchased and, afterwards, maintained and occupied solely by the Melbourne Bushwalking Club (locked). It was in good condition but offered no public refuge: they recommended that some space in the hut be provided for refuge after negotiations with the club{ NPS (1983): 47}. ....'

The geology of Kimmeridge civil parish comprises bedrock formed in the Late Jurassic epoch, overlain in many places by superficial Quaternary head deposits. The bedrock is mostly Kimmeridge clay, except for the top of Smedmore Hill and along to Swyre Head, which is formed from Portland stone. Between this and the Kimmeridge clay, and outcropping just beneath the top of the hill, is a thin band of Portland sand. Landslip deposits from the Portland stone cover most of the steep southwest-facing slopes of the hills. Within the Kimmeridge clay are bands of bituminous shale and dolostone, which form flat ledges within Kimmeridge Bay that are exposed at low tide.

Kimmeridge gives its name to the Kimmeridgian, the division of the Jurassic period in which the beds were laid down, because of the quality of the cliffs and the fossils they yield. Kimmeridge is also the type locality for the Jurassic age Kimmeridge Clay formation, which is well represented in southern England, and provides one of the source rocks for hydrocarbons found in the Wessex and North Sea Basins.

Wikipedia

Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.

Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).

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Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):

Origin of Coal

Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.

Formation of Coal

The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.

Rank of Coal

The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.

Bituminous

Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.

In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.

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This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.

Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous

Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA

No. 1 - 4: Ulm to Karlsruhe, part of the long journey home: (29/5/10)

A lamp at the station, and two electricity pylons - German style!

To see Large: farm4.static.flickr.com/3393/4618156626_7451f6870e_b.jpg

Taken on October 17, 2007 at 14:40

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Energy in Germany

The energy sector in Germany is one of the biggest in the world with state of the art clean energy industry.

The German economy is large and developed, ranking fifth in the world by GDP (PPP). Because of this, Germany consumed the fifth most energy per capita in the world in 2004.

In 2002, Germany was Europe's largest consumer of electricity; electricity consumption that year totaled 512.9 billion kilowatt-hours.

Energy policy

Government policy emphasizes conservation and the development of renewable sources, such as solar, wind, biomass, water, and geothermal power. As a result of energy saving measures, energy efficiency (the amount of energy required to produce a unit of gross domestic product) has been improving since the beginning of the 1970s. The government has set the goal of meeting half the country's energy demands from alternative energy by 2050. Germany is the fourth largest producer of nuclear power in the world, but in 2000 the government and the German nuclear power industry agreed to phase out all nuclear power plants by 2021. However, renewable energy is playing a more modest role in energy consumption.

Electricity

The main source of electricity still remains coal. The recent plan to build 26 new coal plants is controversial in light of Germany's commitment to curbing emissions. Lignite is extracted in the extreme western and eastern pars of the country, mainly in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Sachsen and Brandenburg. Considerable amounts are burned in coal plants near to the mining areas, to produce electricity. Transporting lignite over far distances is not economically feasible, therefore the plants are located practically next to the extraction sites. Bituminous coal is mined in Nordrhein-Westfalen and Saarland. Most power plants burning bituminous coal operate on imported material, therefore the plants are located not only near to the mining sites, but throughout the country. Germany is the world’s largest operators of non-hydro renewables capacity in the world, including the world’s largest operator of wind generation.

Consumption

Germany is one of the largest consumers of energy in the world. In 2009, it consumed energy from the following sources:

Oil ..........................................34.6%

Bituminous coal.................. 11.1%

Lignite ...................................11.4%

Natural gas ..........................21.7

Nuclear power........ ............11.0%

Hydro- and wind power.... 1.5%

Others ..................................9.0%

Renewable energy is far more present in the domestically produced energy, since Germany imports about two thirds of its energy.

Germany is the fifth largest consumer of oil in the world. Russia, Norway, and the United Kingdom are the largest exporters of oil to Germany, in that order.

Germany is the third largest consumer of natural gas in the world. Because of its location at the center of Europe, Germany is the fourth largest consumer of coal in the world. Germany has the largest market of electricity in Europe.

Wikipedia

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Destroyed 2004.

In preparation for the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme of the 1930s, this hut was built for the SEC in the summer of 1932-3 to accommodate the snow research program manager, the resident engineer for the scheme{ Lawrence: 25,32 states 1933-4 and 1932-3 as const. date?}. The cottage was sited next to a hydro-meteorological station, set on stilts above the snow in the same year{ Carlyon}. This was not a refuge hut but a permanent residence for all of the year. The hut was designed by WE Gower (later SEC Chief Architect) and built by Joe Holston and C Jassund{ Carlyon, other sources say builder was Bill Spargo and designer, GT Dyson}. The materials for the hut were carted on a sled or pack horse by High Plains cattleman, Wally Ryder, and his brother-in-law, George Hobbs, along what is now the Alpine Walking Track from Mt Hotham{ ibid.; Holth & Holth: 110; VOM: 25; Carlyon says only Hobbs}. They had successfully tendered for the job in 1932{ VOM}. The frame was of Oregon, the weatherboards stained, the roof clad with bituminous felt layers placed over timber T&G decking, the interior lined with `Caniete' or a similar composite board, and the timber casement windows were double-glazed{ ibid.}. A photograph by Weston taken in December 1932 shows the hut in construction with the stud frame visible, the chimney built and the felt going in over the roof with purlins placed on top appearing ready to receive corrugated iron{ copy held at hut; compare with above roof cladding description}. A large shed with a thatch and canvas roof was built about 20m from the hut, housing wood, stores and an earth-drying stove (reputedly done during the Trimble occupation, c1942-6){ ibid.}. The work was sanctioned in 1932 after pioneering SEC weatherman, Joe Holston, had been operating from Wallace's Hut and later, the Pretty Valley Hut, from c1928{ Napier: 36}. Federal money and Bureau of Meteorology assistance was won and these two early huts were a base for construction of this building. Snow pole lines were established from Pretty Valley to Mt Cope and from Wallace's down Fall's Creek to allow weather station construction. The work carried out there included operation of a meteorological station at the cottage, measuring the snow depth and density along two pole lines, and operating stream gauging stations in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. The engineers included TO Olsen (1933-4), a Swiss engineer Adrian Rufenacht (1934-6), a Norwegian Martin Romuld (1936-42) and Stan Trimble until the program ceased in 1946{ ibid.; Napier: 37}. Olsen was reputedly a `brilliant engineer', the co-builder of this hut and the instigator of the research programme{ see Napier: 37}. He was credited as being the one of the masterminds behind the Snowy Mountains hydro-electricity scheme{ Holth & Holth: 110-}. Romuld, on the other hand, was a champion skier, constructing a ski-jump and a grass tennis court near the hut during his residency{ ibid.; Carlyon states that the court is still apparent by the collapsed wire mesh and posts}. The tennis court was reputedly the venue for a tournament which attracted some 39 entrants, drawn from the SEC camps in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. SEC worker, Warrand Begg, described life at the weather station under Olsen in the 1930s, himself resident at Cope Hut: `A very comfortable, if somewhat compact house has been built in which lived the engineer, Mr Olsen, Mrs Olsen and their son, Lasse{ Napier: 38}…I had to ski to work each morning (1 mile). The scope of the work carried out at the station is very wide; in addition to standard meteorological work… it also covers a detailed study of the behaviour of the water (including snow) both on and in the ground and to take samples of the soil every foot. These samples were taken to the station where the moisture content was determined..'{ ibid.}. Begg would go with Olsen or alone to inspect the weather stations on the pole line, going down to Roper's Hut or Pretty Valley{ ibid.}. The pioneering alpine ecological research done by Maisie Fawcett was undertaken from this (staying with the Trimbles) and the Rover Scout hut in the early 1940s{ Gillbank: 224}. Special radio broadcasts (both in English and coded) from 3UZ to the battery powered wireless at the cottage were a feature of each night 6.45-7.00 pm{ Carlyon}. During Trimble's occupation, in 1946, the hut was covered by a snow drift and the family trapped. Only the chimney tops of the hut were visible but the arrival of Rover Scouts meant the family's rescue although it took some 5 days to dig them out, with cracked rafters and a leaning hut as one result{ Holth, COTHC: 116}. The drift was thought to be caused by the lack of trees on the hill near the hut, allowing drifts to build up{ Carlyon}. The store which had been erected at the Cottage, reputedly during Trimble's time, was to become a storeroom for the Rover Scouts{ ibid.}. Access to stores for the building's occupiers was made a little easier when the Fitzgeralds cut a pack track for the SEC from Shannonvale{ Carlyon}. In the Trimble era, the porch was removed and in its place a bunk room was built, with a long entry passage: this was connected via a covered way to the shed{ Carlyon}. Regarded as luxurious by the local cattlemen, the hut had an attic level and had hot and cold running water{ ibid.}. Nevertheless it was pictured in `The Alps at the Crossroads' as a typical gabled weatherboarded hut form (now clad with metal sheet), albeit with an attic window, and a skillion entry annexe in the place of the typical verandah. The corrugated iron cladding of the skillion vestibule has however remained. Two metal chimneys were visible; the one at the south end since replaced by the kitchen alcove{ Johnson: 118}. The south kitchen window shown has also been replaced. The hut was sold in 1948 to the Victorian Ski Club and renamed Wilkinson Lodge, Wilkinson Robert Wood Wilkinson, best known as 'Wilkie, was indisputably the 'Father figure' of Victorian skiing. He first visited the snow at Mount Buffalo in 1909, at the age of thirty-five years, and was fifty when he joined the Ski Club of Victoria as one of its earliest members, in 1924. He had an immense influence on the Club in its formative years and played a prominent part in some of the earliest trips of exploration "Robert Wood Wilkinson was born at Talbot (Victoria) in 1874, and was at the age of sixteen apprenticed to his father, who was at that time a chemist at Maryborough. Mr Wilkinson led the first party across the Bogong High Plains in the winter of 1926, pioneering Mt Nelse on the same trip. In 1927, with Jack Docherty, he was the first to climb Mt Fainter on ski. Again, in 1929, Mr Wilkinson, with a party from the Club, were the first to climb Mt McKay on ski. As a photographer, he was known far and wide. Cope Hut, on the Bogong High Plains, as well as the lines of snow poles were the outcome of his untiring efforts. As long as people ski in Victoria the name of Robert Wilkinson should be remembered, because of his devotion to the sport, and his untiring efforts to assist the Ski Club of Victoria in its growth and activities." Robert Wood Wilkinson died on May 22, 1939. The hut was resold some 12 years later to the Melbourne Bushwalkers club{ Lawrence: 25 says 1948; Lloyd: 294 says 1949 but shows cheque dated 1948}. Johnson, in `The Alps at the Crossroads' gives the purchase date as 1959, noting that club member Darrel Sullivan (and later Doug Pocock) organised and `..carried out extensive renovations' to the hut{ Johnson: 118}. Sullivan and Art Terry led club work parties who maintained the Long Hill-Crinoline and Gillio's Tracks{ ibid.}. In 1983, the National Parks Service described the building as an old SEC hut which had been purchased and, afterwards, maintained and occupied solely by the Melbourne Bushwalking Club (locked). It was in good condition but offered no public refuge: they recommended that some space in the hut be provided for refuge after negotiations with the club{ NPS (1983): 47}. ....'

America's huge coal reserves are principally used to generate electricity at coal-burning power plants. The example seen here is the Dave Johnston Power Plant in Wyoming. Sub-bituminous coal from a horizon called the Wyodak Coal is used to make power at this site. The Wyodak Coal is part of the Fort Union Formation (Upper Paleocene) and is distributed throughout Wyoming's Powder River Basin

Locality: Dave Johnston Power Plant, northern side of Interstate 25, ~5 miles east-southeast of the town of Glenrock, southern Powder River Basin, western Converse County, eastern Wyoming, USA

Fossil charcoal in weathered coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (~6.4 cm across at its widest)

This rock is from the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).

The sample is derived from the Bedford Coal, a horizon that occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone (or Upper Mercer Flint). Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.

At this locality, the Bedford Coal consists of cannel coal and bituminous coal. This specimen is weathered bituminous coal with many pieces of compressed fossil charcoal (= striated structures). The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder. Sometimes, the fossil charcoal is partially pyritized.

Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)

Inside a Stanton Shelter.

A segment shelter manufactured by the Stanton Ironworks, Ilkeston, Derbyshire. The shop manufactured concrete air raid shelters, of which 100,000 tons were manufactured, principally for the air ministry. Reinforced concrete proved an ideal material for air raid shelters, being strong and resistant to shock with no deterioration with the passing of time. This type of segment shelter was of simple design and of low cost - any length of shelter could be built up from the pre-cast steel reinforced concrete segments. The segments were 20 inches wide; a pair of them formed an arch 7 feet high and transverse struts were provided to ensure rigidity. These fitted into longitudinal bearers which were grooved to receive the foot of each segment. Each pair of segments was bolted together at the apex of the arch and each segment was also bolted to its neighbour, the joints being sealed with a bituminous compound. The convenient handling of these segments enabled them to be transported on to sites where close access by motor lorry was not possible. Partly buried in the ground, with a suitably screened entrance, this bolted shelter afforded safe protection against blast and splinters.

One of the most famous glaciers anywhere, and a rare advancing one.

- From Ushuaia I flew 360 km.s north to Rio Gallegos in Southern Patagonia. The winter weather was gray and overcast, and I found the city unattractive with little to recommend it, whether or not that's unfair. ('The Rough Guide' describes it as "grim and windy", and the narrator in the video in the 3rd link below refers to it as a "run-down town".) I don't recall if I stayed overnight and caught a bus the next day to El Calafate, @ 320 km.s / 3 1/2 hr.s NW, or if I took one in the evening, but I have a photo I took in Rio Gallegos at sunset with a narrow gap /b/ the clouds and the horizon.

- On a walk @ town, or part of it, I came across an unusual yard of old locomotives, the type from the turn of the last century that you see in museums. I'd found "the old facility of the railway complex of the company Yantación Carboniferous Fiscales. The Río Gallegos station of the Ramal Ferro Industrial de Río Turbio operated on these lands." es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_Ferroviario_Roberto_Galian

Someone in town told me that the locomotives were imported from Japan in the '60s, but they looked to be almost Victorian. (I'll scan a photo.) Today there's a Museo Ferroviario (2004) by that old train yard. According to InterPatagonia.com "these were the last steam locomotives built en masse in the world, and there are no other of their kind anywhere else." www.interpatagonia.com/riogallegos/galian-railway-museum.... "Steam is the most economical method of operation [in Southern Patagonia] due to abundant supplies of [bituminous] coal from the Rio Turbio mines to the west." www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNWjrx3eDO0

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6KCutcyvEg

- Rio Gallegos, a young town established in Dec. 1885 and named for Blasco Gallegos, one of Magellan’s pilots, credited with discovering the river, had a population of less than 75,000 in 1990. The town's mayor then was Néstor Kirchner, born there in 1950, and who would be elected president of Argentina in 2003, to be succeeded by his wife Cristina in 2007. (She served as president until 2015.) Néstor was then 'the first gentleman' for 3 yr.s until his death from a heart attack in 2010. He's the source of 'Kirschnerism', a political methodology or approach which is relatively left-wing and populist, concerned with the defense of human rights, and 'industrial developmentalist' in economic policy. His mausoleum in Rio Gallegos is 13 x 15 m.s in area, and 11 m.s tall. youtu.be/WYbjnOq9JwU?si=BwUPNAFVqxu_Ji_H

- There are several museos there now, incl. the provincial museo of Padre Jesús Molina' which was there in 1990 and which I probably missed (with its dinosaur dioramas, anthropology and paleontology exhibits). The Museo de Guerra Malvinas Argentinas (1995) sounds interesting as it makes the case for Argentina's claim to the Falklands (with which I don't concur, of course), and displays locally-made miniature replicas of the British & Argentine ships, planes and helicopters that featured in the war. (In Dec. '99, I befriended a really nice guy in Manchester who'd fought and was burned and disfigured in that war. I wish I'd kept in touch.)

- Rio Gallegos is the site of the 5th highest tides anywhere, and the highest anywhere south of the equator (!), something I didn't know when I was there.

- I took a bus @ 320 clicks NW to El Calafate, a small tourist town with a population of @ 5,000 in 1990 (it's grown 5 fold since then!), handy to the wonderful Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. Again, I was there out of season. I don't recall much about the town other than that I didn't care for it. Similar to Bariloche, tourism's the focus for the locals and prices there were mercenary. (The town's named after a Patagonian bush which produces a dark blue berry that's said to be tasty. According to a local tradition, one who eats this berry will return someday. I had heard this when I was there, but didn't try it. That said, I think I might've taken to the town in the summer.) The incredible (!) Fitz Roy mountains were inaccessible, the hiking trails that lead to them were impassable, and the only thing I did in Calafate that I recall was to hire a cab together with a young guy visiting from Tucumán (a province in NW Argentina) to drive us the 64 clicks to this famous viewpoint overlooking the massive Perito Moreno glacier. When it began to snow some an hour and a 1/2 or so after we'd arrived our driver got spooked, put chains around his tires and said we'd have to head right back, a shame as we'd planned to do some more exploring.

- One can hike ON this glacier in season, and there are boat trips to another larger and longer glacier (but which isn't more visually impressive than this).

- One miss was a collection of 4000 - 7000 yr. old cave and cliff paintings at Punta Walichu, 7 km.s east of town. (Get a good guidebook!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrDiQRp4JEE

- The next day I took a bus 490 km.s / 6 hr.s south to the Chilean border and on to Punta Arenas on the coast of the straits of Magellan, and said goodbye to Argentina.

Bituminous coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (bedding plane view)

Bituminous coal is one of the "soft coals" - it is a higher rank coal than lignite or sub-bituminous and lower rank than anthracite. It is relatively soft, weathers and breaks into blocks, is moderately sooty to the touch, and is finely laminated. This sample is from the Upper Freeport Coal at Linton, Ohio.

The shiny discoid structures at top and upper right are conchostracans - valves of "clam shrimp". They are preserved in fissile cannel coal that's adhering to the bituminous coal. The letter "C" indicates a bedding plane contact between cannel coal (below) and bituminous coal (above), both of which make up the Upper Freeport Coal interval in the Linton area.

Stratigraphy: upper part of the Upper Freeport Coal (= Number 7 Coal), Allegheny Group, Middle Pennsylvanian

Locality: Diamond Coal Mine, Linton, far-eastern Jefferson County, far-eastern Ohio, USA

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Typical view at Rainbow Mountain Preserve in Madison, Alabama. The park is quite rocky in areas, comprised of a formation called the Hartselle Sandstone, the formation being made up of sandstone, limestone, and shale laid down in the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian periods of the Paleozoic Era (570-225 million years ago). These sediments accumulated in depositional settings ranging from shallow shelf to back-barrier lagoons and tidal flats, all areas relating to shallow seas. Trace fossils and to a lesser extent body fossils can be abundant in the formation, particularly worms, bivalves, bryozoans, asteroids (starfish), and ophiuroids (brittle stars). Brachiopods are in my experience the most common fossil, though crinoid fragments can be common.

The formation has been quarried in several locations for sandstone for use in building, landscaping and civil engineering and ground into sand for casting. In some areas, such as near Littleville in Colbert County the sandstone is impregnated with bituminous alphaltum, leading some to explore the possibility that the bed harbors oil reserves, perhaps extending below the Warrior coal fields of Northwest Alabama.

www.bhamwiki.com/w/Hartselle_sandstone

www.envs.emory.edu/faculty/MARTIN/ichnology/IN-Hartselle-...

www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1152

Asphalt road construction in Thailand, blurred images