Introduction

Coal is an organic sedimentary rock consisting of the altered remains of plants (Zim &
Shaffer, 1957), coal usually occurs in layered, sedimentary deposits (Bonewitz, 2012). It is a
heterogeneous substance with wide variation in composition that mostly composed of the carbon (C),
but it also has a hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N), as well as some inorganic
constituents (minerals) and water (Gordon et al., 1983; and Matuszewski et al., 2012). A coal
classification system which based on fixed carbon and gross calorific value and volatile matter
content in the proximate analysis along with the heating value to divides types of coals by ranks as the
Lignite, Subbituminous, Bituminous and Anthracite (ASTM International Standards D388-15, 2015).
Coal is one of the world's most important sources of energy, fuelling almost 40% of electricity
worldwide (Schnapp & Smith, 2012). In many countries. This number is much increase, as Poland
relies on coal for over 94% of its electricity, South Africa for 92%, China for 77%, Australia for 76%,
Vietnam for 32.6% (Chinh & Gheewala, 2008), and Thailand for 20% (EGAT, 2015). Moreover, coal
has been used in severally in commercial or industrial consumers including of cement production,
metals smelting, food industry and other industries. The coal energy source has been the fastest
growing in recent years, is faster than oil, gas, nuclear, hydro and renewable (Schnapp & Smith,
2012).
To determine the potential economic intent of coal and reduce a cost of drilling, geophysics
have long been exploited for coal explorations. Since the 1970s, the application of geophysics was
applied to coal mining industries of the United Kingdom and West Germany (Coon et al., 1978).
During this time, any coal exploration companies, bureau of mines, and other investigators were also
developing geophysics explorations technique for coal mining applications and in coal related studies
(Henson & Sexton, 1991). The most commonly used for coal explorations are seismic reflection
technique (Daly, 1979; Ziolkowski & Lerwill, 1979; Ruskey, 1981; Dobecki & Bartel, 1982; and
Palmer, 1987) to evaluating detailed of coal seams, define the structure of coal basin and seam
thickness (Henson & Sexton, 1991), locating fault and displacement in the coal mine (Gochioco &
Cotten, 1989), and interpreting any internal discontinuities in the coal seam for mine planning and
hazard evaluation (Gochioco, 1990, Gochioco, 1991; Miller et al., 1992; Gochioco, 1992); and
electrical resistivity methods (Reynolds, 2011) to delineate coal seams and establishing water
thickness (Singh et al., 2004; and Rao et al., 2015), and detection of bedrock, fault, and locating
abandoned coal mine to assess subsidence risk (Aristodemou & Betts, 2000; Yoon et al., 2003; Naudet
et al., 2004; Zhu, et al., 2009; Torgashov et al., 2010; Bohlen & Revil, 2010; and Hsu et al., 2010).
Geophysical explorations, on the other hand, provides a continuous subsurface profile and detail of
coal seams. Then, conducts a combined geophysical data and drilling information to interpreted coal
seam and subsurface structure, and subsequently tested by some drilling to confirm the interpretation,
so that appropriate plans can be made to mine the coal efficiently and safely (Gochioco&Cotten,
1989).
The application of seismic reflection and electrical resistivity tomography methods in this
paper aim to demonstrate of characterization in a subsurface at the coal seam area where obviously
exposed along the highway 2216 by road cut outcrop that located between Ban Huai Sanam Sai and
Ban Pa-Ruak, Khok Mon Sub-district, Nam Nao District, Phetchabun Province, Northern Thailand.
The main objectives of application include coal seam mapping, delineate the structure of coal seam,
seam thickness, depth, fracture and fault, continuity of coal seam and to determine the structure of
bedrock along with surrounding materials in the subsurface. Moreover, in this research were collected

the samples from project area to measure the physical properties which related to seismic reflection
and electrical resistivity tomography includes ultrasonic wave velocity and electrical resistivity
(Telford et al., 1990; Lucius, Langer, & Ellefsen, 2007; and Loke, 2016) in the laboratory that aim to
support in data interpretations.
Geophysical exploration methods are popular and extensive for using to coal exploration, due
to it is simpler in data acquisition, processing, interpretation, inexpensive, giving a broad data, and
spend less time in operation when to compare with drilling exploration. The application of seismic
reflection and electrical resistivity tomography methods cannot replace drilling exploration. However,
used in conjunction with a well-planned drilling program, it can significantly increase the
comprehension of subsurface geology in less time (Tselentis & Paraskevopoulos, 2002), and used the
result of geophysical exploration combine with drill-hole information is a cost-effective method of
coal mapping for exploration and exploitation (Daly, 1979).