专业英语-Coal Petrology is a basic

科目名称：专业英语（英译汉）
（适用于矿产普查与勘探、地球探测与信息技术、地质工程、地球信息学、地球化学专业）
Coal Petrology is a basic as well as applied science. It reaches into different fields of geosciences. The book “Coal Petro1ogy of China” contains eleven chapters. From the dialectical point of view, the authors have expounded the laws of coal accumulation, the
evolution of various coals, characteristics of coal lithotypes (煤岩类型) and laws of
variation of coal in various coal-forming periods so as to give guidance to the scientific and comprehensive utilization of coals in our country.
China is abundant in coal resources with wide distributions of all kinds of coals, different in rank and quality. Due to the diversity in geotectonic framework and palaeogeography, coal accumulation exhibits stage-by-stage changes with respect to time and space and the lithological features and quality of coal show profound changes accordingly.
China is the first country in the world to discover and utilize coals. Coal carving articles have been unearthed from ruins of the Neolithic age (more than 6 000 years ago) and graves of the Western Zhou dynasty (11th century, 771BC). Coal mining was begun during the Western Han dynasty (206BC-A.D.24). The use of Coal for iron smelting was started during the last stage of this dynasty and towards the last stage of the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). Coal was mined in large scale for its extensive uses. The use of coal was various and it changes with the development of production in Chinese history. At first, it was used to make handicraft articles, writing materials and cosmetics, and afterwards it was used as a household fuel for making medicines in metallurgical industry and as building materials in construction. Coal has been given a number of Chinese names, among which the “Mei Tan” first appeared in the Song dynasty and came into common use during the l6th Century in the Ming dynasty.
Since the introduction of the knowledge of natural science from the western countries into China, the coal petrology in China took on a new look and went through three stages of development. In l922, the Geological Survey of China was established to carry out coal exploration and Chinese geologists started to use petrologic method in studying coals. This is the first stage. Since the 1950’s, al ong with the rapid development of coal industry, the coal petrology was improved remarkably in theory and technique. Coal petrologists from various universities, colleges and institutes worked out atlas of coal distribution in
China which summarized preliminary microlithotypes (显微煤岩类型) in various coal-forming periods and classified macerals (显微组分) as well as coal characteristics of some coalfieds in the northern and northeastern China. The noticeable success was achieved in the study of special coals, including Devonian cutinitic liptobiolite (角质残值煤),
Hunyuan boghead coal (浑源藻煤), Loping coal (乐平煤), and stone-like coal. This is the
second stage．From l978, extensive international exchanges have made it possible for coal petrologists in China to make use of new testing techniques and new scientific theories in research, exploration and production. Some coal petrological standards were formulated, testing methods were standardized, and various operations were automatized. As a result, practical experiences were accumulated and the level of research was enhanced. This is the third stage.
The present book has comprehensively described the history and prospects of coal petrology, systematically summarized the past achievements in coal. The book has pointed out that the coal accumulation through different coal-forming periods have undergone regular changes in four stages with the changes in depositional environment and the evo1ution of palaeobotany. The book contains detailed descriptions on the classification of macerals and micro1ithotypes, the macroscopic characters of coals and
the characteristics of special coals such as liptobio1ite (残植煤) and sapropelite (腐泥煤).
The evolution of coal from peat through lignite, bituminous coal to anthracite, and the six types of coal metamorphism involved in this evolution have been introduced. The geochemical researches on the distribution of accompanying elements in coals, and the organic geochemical researches on various coals have been documented. The oil shale in China has been given in the book as well. The comprehensive studies on these coals, including those on coal classification, high-sulfur coals, and coal-generated hydrocarbons, etc., and at last chapter, the characteristics of coat petrology in main Chinese coalfields are introduced into the book, including 11 Paleozoic coalfields, 4 Mesozoic coalfieds and 5 Cenozoic coalfields．
We would like to express our best thanks to all the people who have given us trust and support in so many different ways, without which the issue of the Coal Petrology of China could not be successfully completed. Special thanks are given to the Committee of Coal Science Fund for financial assistance, to various institutes, universities and colleges for their helpful suggestions and invaluable information, and to many foreign coal petrologists and coal geologists for scientific literatures. In addition to those listed as authors of this book, major contributions to the study were made by a number of coal petrologitsts and coal geologists in different places．We wish to acknowledge the distinguished colleagues for their assistance and to express our sincere gratitude for their efforts.
Coal is most commonly preserved in non-marine siliciclastic successions or paralic, interbedded siliciclastic-carbonate successions. It is relatively unusual for coal to be preserved within marine carbonate successions. The Late Permian Heshan Formation in central Guangxi, southern China is composed of epicontinental marine coal-bearing carbonate successions in which mineable coal seams are directly intercalated with the marine carbonate rocks. The Heshan coal is the informal name for these coals, and they are characterised by very high organic sulphur contents and high ash yields. Previous studies have focused on facies and microfacies relationships and coal-forming models
and have demonstrated that the Heshan coals were deposited in marine carbonate platform settings. Geochemical data of this type of coal have seldom been provided. Because of their high sulphur content and therefore potential impact on the atmosphere when burnt, the coal mines producing the Heshan coals are being closed down. However, the Heshan coal will continue to be the major feed coal in some local power plants before the coal mines are fully closed.。