The Durham Coalfield is a coalfield in north-east

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is continuous with the Northumberland Coalfield to its north. It extends from

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

in the south to the boundary with the county of

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

along the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...

in the north, beyond which is the Northumberland Coalfield. The two contiguous coalfield areas were often referred to as the Durham and Northumberland Coalfield(s) or as the Great Northern Coalfield.

Geology

: ''See also Geology of County Durham'' The following coal seams are recorded from the Durham coalfield. They are listed here in stratigraphic order with the youngest at the top and the oldest/deepest at the bottom: Upper Coal Measures :* Hylton Castle Middle Coal Measures :* Dean :* Hebburn Fell :* Usworth :* Ryhope Five-Quarter :* Ryhope Little :* High Main :* Metal :* Five-Quarter :* Main :* Maudlin :* Durham Low Main :* Brass Thill :* Hutton Lower Coal Measures :* Harvey :* Tilley :* Busty :* Three-Quarter :* Brockwell :* Victoria :* Marshall Green :* Ganister Clay

Future developments

With the development of modern technology to produce energy and capture carbon dioxide by carbon capture and storage (CCS) there is renewed interest in the exploitation of the Durham Coalfield reserves by underground coal gasification. This is strategically important to local energy-intensive industries, such as the commodity chemical and steel members of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC).

References

Coal mining regions in England Geography of County Durham Mining in County Durham {{Mine-stub