
Coal Fields in Pennsylvania
There are a few mining operations (historic) in northern Centre County (where the University Park Campus is located) but coal occupies much of the western portion of the state (bituminous rank) with a smaller but well-defined anthracite region in the north-east.

US Coal Fields
Coal is well dispersed throughout the continental United States. We have about 25% of the World's reserve of coal, and all the various coal ranks. The yellow is lignite, pale green is subbituminous coal, the other colors are various bituminous ranks, except the orange in NE Pennsylvania which is anthracite.

Here is a global view of the deposits. The major coal regions (and users) are China, the U.S., India, Europe, and Australia (major exporter).

The take-away message from this now dated graphic below is that Asia (specifically China) is the highest user for most of the Worlds Coal (still true in 2021). The growth was related to the transformation to an economic powerhouse and increased electricfication.
We also have lots of coal, far more than the energy in oil (shown in red) and natural gas (shown in brown) in the U.S., Asia (China and India), Europe, etc.

There is also a robust international trade in coal (see the coal transport page later in this lesson).