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Oil, Gas & Mining vocabulary · Mine Types & Mining Operations

Seam

Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples

/siːm/nounCommon term

In oil, gas & mining, seam means: A layer of coal or another mineral lying between layers of other rock. It may be a few centimetres or many metres thick.

In Turkish: damar, kömür damarı, tabaka

How it is used

Mainly used for coal: coal seam, seam thickness, seam gas. Miners describe a seam by its thickness, dip and depth, and whether it is gassy. Seams are named or numbered, for example 'the lower seam'.

Example sentences

  1. The main coal seam is 3.2 metres thick at this depth.

  2. This seam is very gassy, so methane drainage is needed before mining.

Common collocations

  • coal seam
  • seam thickness
  • thin seam
  • seam gas
  • work a seam
  • longwall miningAn underground coal mining method in which a shearer cuts coal along a long face under moving hydraulic roof supports; behind the supports, the roof is allowed to collapse.
  • methaneA colourless, odourless gas (CH4) that is the main part of natural gas. In coal mines it is released from the coal and can explode when mixed with air.
  • underground mineA mine where ore or coal is reached through shafts, declines or tunnels and extracted below the surface, used when the deposit is too deep for an open pit.
  • overburdenThe soil and waste rock lying on top of an ore body or coal seam, which must be removed before the valuable material can be mined.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Mine Types & Mining Operations

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