Geografie 1964, 69, 46-59
The Brown Coal Basin of Sokolov
The West Bohemian Brown-coal Mining District is devied in two basins: the basin of Sokolov (280 sq. km), and the basin of Cheb (80 sq. km). In the basin of Sokolov, a special economic region of Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) can be distinguished, with an area of some 90 square kilometres. The brown-coal basin of Sokolov occupies the third place among the Czechoslovak coalfields, by its production. Its importance is growing every day; this can be seen in the growth of the number of inhabitants of the region, and in the concentration of the inhabitants in the contemporary large towns and in the newly built satellite-towns. The proper town of Sokolov doubled its population during the last twelve years (19,226 inhabitants in 1962). The coal of lower quality is mostly used locally in the region as a fuel for the thermal power stations and gas works. The largest power station is in Tisová, a huge power plant is being finished in Vřesová. In the future, the exportation of coal from the basin will decline, and the greatest part of the coal will be used in the local industry for the production of electric power, gas and briquettes. For the continuous economic development of the basin, several basic problems are to be resolved in the relation to the complex minig of coal.
