Organic petrology in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries: The Newcastle contribution

There were further radical changes in the composition of the research group after the completion of the national Earth Science Review in 1989. The Institute of Fossil Fuels and Environmental Geochemistry (FFEGI) was formed with a further substantial increase of both staff and postgraduate students. Organic petrology as a component was much reduced, although reflected light studies continued on coals from the offshore coalfields of northeast England, and transmitted light studies, almost exclusively related to the study of organic facies, returned. The output of organic petrologists virtually ceased. Most effective research groups, however, shift their emphases with time. FFEGI occupied a substantial and successful international research niche within the environmental field, as well as being still heavily committed to petroleum geochemistry until 2003 when FFEGI was integrated within the new School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences.