This dataset is a polygon coverage of the resource areas of the Lower Kittanning coal zone. This dataset is the digital compilation of geologic and resource maps provided mostly by State geologic surveys and depicts the projected area of occurrence of the Lower Kittanning coal bed. The Lower Kittanning coal bed is in Ohio, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, and western Maryland and is an important economic coal bed in the northern part of the Appalachian Basin. It is of additional importance because it is one of the coal beds that has potential for coalbed methane development within the Allegheny Group throughout most of the Appalachian foreland basin in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland. This file has been generalized from detailed geologic coverages found elsewhere in Professional Paper 1625-C.