The major coal provinces in Alaska are Northern Alaska, the Nenana area, the Cook Inlet-Matanuska Valley, the Alaska Peninsula, and in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering River. Potentially significant identified coal resources are present in other coalfields on the Seward Peninsula, Yukon-Koyukuk, and Upper Yukon provinces. Numerous smaller coal basins and minor coal occurrences are distributed from southeast Alaska to the interior parts of the state. With a few exceptions, most Alaska coal is low in sulfur, in many cases containing less than 0.5%. Alaska coals also exhibit low metallic trace elements, good ash-fusion characteristics, and low nitrogen content making them favorable for meeting environmental constraints on combustion in power plants.
Alaska’s coal is dominantly bituminous of Cretaceous age, or sub-bituminous of Cretaceous and Tertiary age. Except for Mississippian coal of the westernmost Northern Alaska Province, Alaska coal resources formed in widespread deltaic and continental depositional systems during Cretaceous and Tertiary time. The younger Tertiary age coals formed within sedimentary basins are related to fault systems with complex gravity and strikeslip motions that controlled basin formation and influenced deposition by differential settling.
For more information on Alaska's coal resources see this article on "Quantifying Coal: How much is there?"
| Identified Alaska Coal Resources by Province | ||
|---|---|---|
| Province/Coal Field | Millions of short tons | Coal Rank |
| Northern Alaska Province | ||
| High-volatile bituminous & subbituminous; extensive lignite and minor anthracite | ||
| 150,000 | (Identified resources) | |
| ~3,600,000 | (Hypothetical resources) | |
| Cook Inlet-Matanuska Province | ||
| Beluga and Yentna fields | 10,000 | Sub-bituminous |
| Kenai field (onshore only) | 320 | Sub-bituminous |
| Matanuska field | 150 | High-volatile bituminous to anthracite |
| Broad Pass field | 50 | Lignite |
| Susitna field | 110 | Sub-bituminous |
| Nenana Province | ||
| Nenana basin proper | 7,000 | Sub-bituminous |
| Little Tonzona field | 1,500 | Sub-bituminous |
| Jarvis Creek field | 75 | Sub-bituminous |
| Alaska Peninsula Province | ||
| Chignik and Herendeen Bay fields | ||
| Unga I. | 430 | High-volatile bituminous |
| Gulf of Alaska Province | ||
| Bering River field | 160 | Low-volatile bituminous to anthracite |
| Yukon-Koyukuk Province | ||
| Tramway Bar field | 15 | High-volatile bituminous |
| Upper Yukon Province | ||
| Eagle field | 10 | Sub-bituminous and lignite |
| Seward Peninsula Province | ||
| Chicago Creek field | 4.7 | Lignite |