Using tombstone records from Centralia, PA, to evaluate the effects of mining activities on male survivorship

Leigh Ann Scholtz, Laura Guertin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Centralia, Pennsylvania, was chosen as the study location because of the coal-mining activities and potential health impacts resulting from coalmine fires. Centralian tombstone records were obtained from published documents, providing the years of birth and death along with gender. Graphical representations of life span and survivorship trends were constructed. The graphs demonstrated an expected pattern for survivorship where male life spans were longer than that of females prior to age sixty. However, there is an anomaly for men who exceeded female survivorship to age forty. This is evidence of coal mining activities having a possible effect on the male survivorship in Centralia.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3-15
Number of pages13
JournalPennsylvania Geographer
Volume48
Issue number1
StatePublished - Mar 1 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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