Review article Review and update of the applications of organic petrology: Part 2, geological and multidisciplinary applications Isabel Suárez-Ruiz a, ⁎, Deolinda Flores b , João Graciano Mendonça Filho c , Paul C. Hackley d a Instituto Nacional del Carbón (INCAR-CSIC), Francisco Pintado Fe 26, 33011, Oviedo, Spain b Departamento de Geociências, Ambiente e Ordenamento do Território, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto and Centro de Geologia da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal c Instituto de Geociências, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Athos da Silveira 274, Campus Ilha do Fundão, CEP 21.949-900, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil d U.S. Geological Survey, MS 956 National Center, Reston VA, 20192, United States abstract article info Article history: Received 13 October 2011 Received in revised form 9 March 2012 Accepted 9 March 2012 Available online 19 March 2012 Keywords: Organic petrology Organic matter Coal Coalification Thermal maturity Ore deposits Ore genesis Bitumen Coal fires Archeology Forensics Environmental pollution The present paper is focused on organic petrology applied to unconventional and multidisciplinary investiga- tions and is the second part of a two part review that describes the geological applications and uses of this branch of earth sciences. Therefore, this paper reviews the use of organic petrology in investigations of: (i) ore genesis when organic matter occurs associated with mineralization; (ii) the behavior of organic mat- ter in coal fires (self-heating and self-combustion); (iii) environmental and anthropogenic impacts associat- ed with the management and industrial utilization of coal; (iv) archeology and the nature and geographical provenance of objects of organic nature such as jet, amber, other artifacts and coal from archeological sites; and (v) forensic science connected with criminal behavior or disasters. This second part of the review out- lines the most recent research and applications of organic petrology in those fields. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 2. Applications of organic petrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 2.1. Ore genesis and organic matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 2.1.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 2.1.2. Organic petrography in the study of ore deposits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 2.2. Multidisciplinary investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 2.2.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 2.2.2. Coal fires and self-heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 2.2.3. Environmental and anthropogenic impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 2.2.4. Archeology and related applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 2.2.5. Forensic applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 3. Summary and conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 International Journal of Coal Geology 98 (2012) 73–94 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: isruiz@incar.csic.es (I. Suárez-Ruiz). 0166-5162/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.03.005 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect International Journal of Coal Geology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijcoalgeo