THE SOCIETY FOR ORGANIC PETROLOGY NEWSLETTER March 1999 ISSN-0743-3816 Scenes from TSOP-Halifax, 1998 The 15thAnnual Meeting of TSOP, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, July 26-30, 1998 Call For Papers! TSOP 1999 Snowbird, Salt Lake City, UT TSOP Newsletter Vol. 16 No.1 March 1999 The TSOP Newsletter Don't forget to check out TSOP's WEBSITE! John C. Crelling / William W. Huggett Co-editors www.tsop.org The TSOP Newsletter welcomes contributions You'll find the TSOP discussion forum, from members and non-members alike. Items may be submitted on computer disk, as an e-mail links to other related sites, schedules, file or as printed text via fax or regular mail. We dates, meeting updates, and tons of do ask that any disk or e-mail file be written in other useful information! WordPerfect 6.1, 7, or 8. John C. Crelling / William W. Huggett Department of Geology TSOP Archives Southern Illinois University Carbondale Illinois 62901-4324 USA Now open for business!! Phone: (618)453-3351 Fax: (618)453-7393 E-mail: [email protected] The official TSOP archival collection is [email protected] now available for your use. The collection contains all of the For purposes of registration of the TSOP Newsletter a permanent society's newsletters, publications, mailing is: The Society of Organic Petrology; c/o American Geological Institute, 4220 King Street, Alexandra, VA 22302-1502 programs, field guides, short course notes, Research Committee reports, minutes of Council meetings, and Society Membership member directories. Photocopies of desired materials will be The TSOP Newsletter (ISSN-0743-3816) is provided at a cost immediately upon published quarterly by The Society For Organic Petrology and is distributed to all Society approval of your request form. Sorry, Members as a benefit of membership. but no copies of publications which are Membership in the Society is international and is currently for sale by TSOP can be open to all individuals having an interest in the provided. Please make all inquires to: field of organic petrology. For more information on membership, Society activities, or to acquire membership packs, please call or write: Kenneth W. Kuehn TSOP Archivist Cortland F. Eble Kentucky Geological Survey Geology, Western Kentucky University 228 Mining & Minerals Building 1 Big Red Way University of Kentucky |Bowling Green, KY 42101 Lexington, KY 40506-0107 USA Phone: (502) 745-3082 Phone: (606) 257-5500 Fax:(606)257-1147 Fax:(502)745-6410 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] 2 TSOP Newsletter Vol. 16 No. 1 March 1999 The 1998-99 TSOP Council TSOP Mugs for sale! President Charles Barker Help support TSOP activities and get an elegant, sporty and downright nifty genuine Louisville Stoneware mug for your coffee, tea or hot Vice President Timothy A. Moore chocolate. At only $10 these mugs are a terrific buy, and they make wonderful gifts too. Be sure President Elect Cole R. Robison to buy several, mugs get lonely too. To order please contact: Secretary/Treasurer Peter Warwick Jim Hower Editors John C. Crelling CAER William W. Huggett 3572 Iron Works Pike Lexington KY 40511 Councilor (1997-99) Maria Mastalerz Phone: (606) 257-0261 Fax: (606) 257-0302 Councilor(1998-00) Carolyn Thompson- Rizer Unsolicited endorsement #47 from a satisfied TSOP mug owner: "Ever since my mug arrived on August 16, 1996, Going to a Meeting? I have become a more productive person. With my mug by my side I am now able to write more Why not spread the TSOP message? effective proposals. My blood pressure and cholesterol have also gone down." A limited number of recent back issues of the TSOP Newsletter are available for members to take to conferences they are going to attend. Membership packs and application forms are also available for Acknowledgment distribution to interested parties. TSOP is an all- volunteer organization that relies on an active growing The editors wish to acknowledge the membership base in order to remain healthy. Only support of John Mead, Director of the through the efforts of all of its members can TSOP Coal Research Center at SIUC, and his continue to meet its membership goals. If you are interested in promoting TSOP and need some staff for assistance in editing and handouts please contact the following individuals: printing this newsletter. For Newsletters John C. Crelling or William Huggett Phone:(618)453-3351 Fax: (6180 453-7393 [email protected] or [email protected] ^Attention^ For Information Packs: Cortland F. Eble Deadline for June issue is Phone: (606) 257-5500 Fax: (606) 257-1147 MAY 1 ebfe@kgs mm uky. edu 3 TSOP Newsletter Vol. 16 No.1 March 1999 March Contents Cover Story: Halifax 1998 1 Newsletter business, Masthead, web site info, archives info 2 TSOP Council 3 1999 Annual meeting organizers 4 President's letter 5 Announcement and Call For Papers: 16th Annual Meeting of TSOP 6 TSOP Research Committee Student Grant Program 11 ACS Symposium on Microscopic Studies of Coal and Carbon 12 Report: 1998 Conference on Unburned Carbon in Utility Flyash 13 50th ICCP Meeting Notes 15 Reflectance of Liptinites in Anthracites 15 Book Review: Organic Petrology - 3 Reviews 17 TSOP Research Committee Progress Report 21 The Gupta Affair 25 Calendar of Events 27 TSOP 1998 Annual Meeting Sponsors 28 Halifax '98: A reflection 29 TSOP Membership Application 31 Editors' Choice Photomicrograph 32 The Society For Organic Petrology 16th Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City Utah Meeting Organizers Jeff Quick Dave Tabet Utah Geological Survey Utah Geological Survey 1594 West North Temple, Suite 3110 1594 West North Temple, Suite 3110 Salt Lake City Utah 84114-6100 Salt Lake City, Utah 84114 Phone: (801) 537-3372 Phone: (801) 537-3373 Fax:(801)537-3400 Fax: (801) 537-3400 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] David A. Wavrek Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering The University of Utah 160 South Central campus Drive (104 EMRO) Salt Lake City Utah 84112 Phone:(801)322-2915 Fax: (801) 322-2916 e-mail: [email protected] 4 TSOP Newsletter, Vol. 16 No. 1 March 1999 President's Letter Charles E. Barker I believe that TSOP and organic petrology are at a Perhaps it's time to give up some of our autonomy for a crossroad. The critical choices facing organic petrology greater impact in the world of science and possibly save are indicated by recent events like Penn State dropping the future of organic petrology as an academic discipline. it's coal petrography course of study, the GSA Coal We need to continue to address these issues beyond the Geology Division Medlin scholarship had no applicants last boundaries of each organic petrology oriented society if year and that few students attended our meetings. Our we are to continue to be a viable discipline. own membership may significantly decline this year. Without greater interest, the widespread practice of Charles E. Barker organic petrology could disappear within this generation. To address these issues, I would like for you to provide me with your thoughts on possible future directions for our Society. My thoughts are that it may be time for us to consider ways for TSOP to evolve, to avoid the general decline that seems to be taking place in ours and other organic petrology related organizations. The path I personally envisage is increasing cooperation with international organizations. We have already had joint meetings in North America with CSOP, ICCP and AAPG-EMD. In the near term, we are holding a joint meeting in Canada with CSCOP in 2001. Yet, to truly be an international organization, we need to participate in meetings overseas as well as in North America. At this time, because our financial resources as a Society are limited, it does not seem possible to hold an independent TSOP annual meeting overseas . The obvious alternative is to hold technical sessions and field trips in conjunction with other petrography groups. We also need to reduce the the duplication of effort in organic petrology, a Field having such a focused area of Contacting your President endeavor. In North America alone, we have TSOP, CSCOP, GSA Coal Geology Division, AAPG EMD, the Charles E. Barker USGS energy team sessions at the Pittsburgh coal U.S. Geological Survey conference and SME coal conferences. Such division of Box 25046, MS 939 efforts will inevitably cause us all to remain small Denver, CO 80225 USA organizations with limited endowments, impact and cross- fertilization. What if TSOP and these related groups Office phone: (303) 236-5797 combined under one umbrella organic petrology Office FAX: (303) 236-0459 organization as the world's organic geochemists are E-mail: [email protected] proposing to do? Under this umbrella we could have a formal mechanism for promoting joint sessions, such as we do on an informal basis now. Informal mechanisms are adequate, as long as we do not miss an opportunity to advance organic petrography. 5 TSOP Newsletter Vol. 16 No.1 March 1999 Cliff Lodge Snowbird Conference Center Site of the September 26-28 1999 TSOP Annual Meeting 6 TSOP Newsletter Vol. 16 No. 1 March 1999 Call For Papers! TSOP '99 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH The Society for Organic Petrology 16th Annual Meeting, September 26-28,1999 Please join our mountain rendezvous to swap research results, hear what your colleagues have been working on, and meet new friends who think about organic matter in rocks. MEETING LOCATION The 16th annual TSOP meeting will be held at the Cliff Lodge, Snowbird Conference Center, 45 minutes from Salt Lake City, International Airport. Airport shuttle service to and from the convention center is available.