The objective of this short summary is to provide an overview on the work of Hungarian geoscientists, who published their results mainly in Hungarian language. The aim of their studies was to understand coal formation and to make reconstruction on the different peat-forming environments. In addition to coal petrographical methods other investigation tools, such as palynology, sedimentology, and organic geochemistry were applied to understand the fort-nation, accumulation and diagenesis of land derived organic matter in different geological realms and environments. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.