Trace Elements in West Virginia Coals

Cesium (Cs) Summary Statistics

The histogram of cesium abundances in all West Virginia coal beds shows a distribution highly skewed toward low values with a mean of 1.15 ppm (± 1.36 ppm) on a whole coal basis. The maximum Cs content was 15.2 ppm in a bench of the Winifrede coal. Cesium correlated somewhat with ash yield, and the ash related elements chromium (Cr), vanadium (V), scandium (Sc), thorium (Th), gallium (Ga) and lithium (Li). Cesium correlated very highly with rubidium (Rb), and Cs is known to occur in nature in close association with Rb because of their similar atomic radii, for example in the mineral pollucite (CsAlSi₂O₆) which has never been documented in coal.

**Spearman Correlation Coefficients (r) with Cesium**
Ash Yield	Rb	Cr	V	Sc	Th	Ga	Li
+0.7623	+0.9135	+0.7495	+0.7156	+0.6758	+0.6443	+0.6425	+0.6357
n = 781	n = 403	n = 781	n = 780	n = 781	n = 776	n = 780	n = 781

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Page last revised: March 2, 2002

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