Abstract
IN conformity with the general theme of ‘swords into ploughshares’, the presidential address to Section C (Geology) by Dr. Murray Macgregor deals with the place of geology in the development of the coalfields. The transference of the coal mines of Britain from private to public ownership has created an entirely new set of conditions, bringing with them their own complexities and hazards and demanding vigilant and unsparing service from all concerned. The unified industry will certainly require the best scientific and technical assistance that the country can give. Scientific research applied to the numerous problems that arise in connexion with the exploitation and utilization of the coal resources of Great Britain must be more directive and more closely integrated than in the past. There are the problems connected with occurrence, distribution, structure and correlation; with vertical and lateral variations in the number and thickness of seams, in the lithology, and in the fossil content; with the size and direction of faults, the amplitude and pitch of folds, the occurrence of suites of contemporaneous igneous rocks and of intrusions, etc. There are the chemical and physico-chemical problems connected with the composition and classification of the coals, and the problems related to their preparation for the market and their economic use.
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Geology in the Development of the Coalfields. Nature 160, 284–285 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160284b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160284b0