Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana Volumen conmemorativo del centenario Revisión de algunas tipologías de depósitos Minerales de México   Vol. 58, núm. 1, 2006, p. 141-160 http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2006v58n1a5

Geología, estructura y composición de los principales yacimientos de carbón mineral en México

 Rodolfo Corona-Esquivel^1,2*, Jordi Tritlla³, María Elena Benavides-Muñoz⁴, Noé Piedad-Sánchez⁵, Ismael Ferrusquía-Villafranca¹

¹Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 México, D.F.
²Escuela Superior de Ingeniería y Arquitectura, Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Av. Ticomán No. 600, 07340, México, D.F.
³Programa de Geofluidos, Centro de Geociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Campus Juriquilla, A.P. 15, 76230 Santiago de Querétaro, Qro., México
⁴Vid 120, Colonia Nueva Santa María, 02800, México D.F., México
⁵Escuela Superior de Ingeniería “Lic. Adolfo López Mateos”, Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila, Blvd. Adolfo López Mateos s/n, 26800, Nueva Rosita, Coahuila, México

* This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

Coal deposits in Mexico were firtsly recognized back in 1850; the first commercial production started around 1884 in Coahuila State. The coal was used primarily for copper smelting at the mines of Pánuco, Coahuila. Later, it was used as ferrocarril fuel and, at the end of the 19^th century, for the metallurgical and steel plants.

In order of importance the main coal deposits are located within the States of Coahuila, Oaxaca and Sonora. Small, subeconomical or poorly explored coal occurrences are known to occur in the States of Colima, Chihuahua, Chiapas, Durango, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Michoacán, Puebla, San Luís Potosí, Tabasco and Veracruz.

The main coal deposits in Mexico are located north of the Coahuila State, affecting a small portion of the Nuevo Leon State. The coal seams are found exclusively in the sedimentary sequence of the Sabinas Basin, that can be subsequently dividied into two different sub-regions. The first sub-region spans between of Nueva Rosita and Sabinas up to Monclova, covering an area of approximately 10,000 km². The second sub-region, known as the “Fuentes-Río Escondido Zone”, is located in the Nava-Piedras Negras area, parallel to the Rio Bravo del Norte, within an area of 2,000 km².

The sedimentary sequence that contains the coal seams in the Sabinas Basin range from the Late Jurassic to the Quaternary, structured as a series of broad anticlines and synclines. Coal reserves are stimated at 1,200 million tons including both sub-bituminous coal, to be transfomed in coke, and high volatility “C” sub-bituminous coal, used in electrical power plants.

The Mixtepec coal region, including El Consuelo-Tezoatlán, is located in the northwestern portion of the Oaxaca state, partially including the neighboring states of Puebla and Guerrero. The coal seams appear at lower part of the Rosario, Zorillo and Simon Formations of Jurassic age. They are made up by a succession of sandstones, shales and silt representing a deltaic sedimentary environment. The thickness of the coal horizons is variable, between few centimeters up to 3 m. This zone has been evaluated to contain around 30 million tons of coal.

The coal in the Sonora State is located approximately 90 km south of Hermosillo. The Barranca Formation (Triassic) is the coal and graphite-bearing unit, and it is made up by the succession of red conglomerates, sandstones and siltstones interbeded with shales and coal seams and graphite. The calculated coal reserves are around 85 million proven tons.

Keywords: Coal, deposits, characteristics, Mexico.