NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY STUDIES OF ROCKS FROM UPPER SILESIA HARD COAL BASIN

The natural radioactivity of 400 coal and sedimentary rock samples, co llected from cores from wells drilled in the Upper Silesia Coal Basin, has been measured in order to determine uranium, thorium and potassiu m concentrations with the use of a scintillation gamma-ray spectrometr ic system. The determined concentrations were used to identify the lit hology of rocks and to evaluate the hard coal parameters: ash content, calorific value and carbon content. The same method used as a well lo gging technique has been proven to be applicable for the separation of coal seams, and for the differentiation and identification of rock li thologies, as well as for the preliminary evaluation of coal parameter s.