Abstract
The Czech Republic is not fully self-sufficient in fuel supplies so oil and gas must be imported. However, the demand for lignite and bituminous coal can be satisfied by exploitation of our own deposits.
Although coal production decreased by half after 1989 and considerable amount of our electricity is produced in nuclear power plants, approximately 55% of electric power is still generated in thermal plants fuelled mainly by lignite. The present book, Tertiary basins and lignite deposits of the Czech Republic, summarizes the characteristics of all the coal bearing and unproductive Tertiary lignite basins in the CR, and adds extra information obtained from new research carried out between 2006 and 2008.
The majority of Czech geologists and specialists involved in research on the Tertiary have contributed either directly or indirectly to this new treatise originally published in Czech (J. Pešek et al. 2010: Terciérní pánve a ložiska hnědého uhlí České republiky), which aroused great interest within the Czech geological community as well as among scientists abroad.