Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of Minerals, I would like to invite you to contribute to the Special Issue related to the geochemistry, mineralogy, and petrology of coal-bearing rocks. These rocks, comprising a wide range of sediments with variable content of organic matter, are part of large geological sequences of different coalification. However, coal mining leads to the extraction of large volumes of coal-bearing rocks as well. The only small percentage of these rocks is usually reused as raw material for such purposes as road and building construction. The remaining part of these rocks is deposited in landfills. This practice, which is used all over the world, causes numerous environmental consequences since the reactive organic matter in coal-bearing rocks is susceptible to oxidation, biodegradation, and self-heating. These processes produce organic and inorganic pollutants emitted to the air or leached to waters and soil. Sulphide oxidation forms acidic conditions favouring mobilization of toxic metals from coal-bearing rocks. They together with chlorides, nitrates, and sulphates are leached and present a significant hazard to surface and groundwaters. Long-term storage of coal-bearing rocks affects the landscape of coal-mining regions and endangers inhabitants living in their vicinity.
This Special Issue invites contributions dealing with mineralogical, geochemical, and petrological aspects of these rocks themselves, their formation within a deposit, thermal evolution and secondary processes such as weathering, transformations after storage in landfills, newly formed phases, the impact of coal waste dumping on the environment and human health, the rehabilitation of coal waste landfills, and the recovery of coal waste material.
Guest Editors
Profesor Monika J. Fabiańska
Dr Justyna Ciesielczuk
Dr Magdalena Misz-Kennan
Keywords:
- mineralogy and geochemistry of coal-bearing rocks
- coal-bearing rocks formation, thermal evolution, and secondary processes
- coal-bearing rocks transformation within landfills
- new phases formation
- rehabilitation of coal waste landfills and material recovery
- impact of coal waste dumping on the environment and human health
Detailed information available at:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/minerals/special_issues/GMCBR
GMCBR-Flyer.pdf