During the 20th century, Ohio has contributed significantly to the energy and industrial requirements of the United States through its coal production. Over this same time span, the Ohio Geological Survey contributed significantly to the coal industry by gathering and publishing a large body of information on Ohio coals, including measured stratigraphic sections, core descriptions, physical and chemical properties, structure, isopach and geologic bedrock maps, and coal resource and reserve estimates. Today, Ohio remains one of the leading producers of coal, although, since the early 1970's, production has been declining. In 1999 Ohio produced 22.5 million tons of coal from 22 counties, and for many years has consistently ranked as one of the top coal-producing states.
In accordance with the National Coal Resources Data System (NCRDS) goals, the Survey, since 1989, has encoded into the NCRDS over 16,000 measured-section and drill-hole stratigraphic descriptions. In addition, coal croplines and strip- and underground-mine areas have been digitized for selected quadrangles.
The Ohio Geological Survey has on file approximately 21,000 measured-section and 4,000 drill-hole descriptions from the coal-bearing region of Ohio. In addition, geologic maps, abandoned-underground-coal-mine maps, and maps showing strip-mined areas are available for many regions in eastern Ohio. The goal of the NCRDS cooperative agreement with the USGS is to, each year, encode a portion of this information into a computer format so that it can be stored in the NCRDS. Here it can be made available via computer to the public, government officials, scientists, and industry. In recent years, the encoded data have become increasingly important because of their use in USGS-sponsored Coal Availability studies and the National Coal Assessment Program (NCAP).