H. Fryling was a Dutch geologist or mining engineer whose 1921 report on the coal occurrences of northern Sumatra — cited in the standard form “FRYLING, 1921” — is one of the sources for Zwierzycki’s 1922 inventory of Sumatran coal localities, and accordingly for Van Bemmelen’s *Geology of Indonesia* (1949) in its treatment of the Atjeh and Langkat coal occurrences. Fryling’s report is specifically cited for the Langkat coal localities of Besitang River (No. 5), Lepan (No. 6) and Sarangan (No. 7), where it is listed alongside the earlier 1918/1919 report of Hengeveld.
The 1921 coal report
Fryling’s 1921 report, as cited by Zwierzycki and reproduced by Van Bemmelen, supplies supplementary observations on the Langkat-residency coal occurrences that lie immediately to the south of the Atjeh coal zone. For the localities at Besitang River, Lepan and Sarangan — where the seams are 0.5–3 ft thick and “quality good” — Fryling’s report is listed as a co-source alongside Hengeveld’s 1918/1919 report and Zwierzycki’s own 1922 synthesis. Van Bemmelen also cites Fryling for additional coal data in the East-coast-of-Sumatra localities (No. 10, the Kualu River occurrence, “FRYLING, 1928” — possibly a separate later report).
Place in the Atjeh coal record
Fryling’s report occupies, in the documentary sequence of Atjeh and northern-Sumatran coal exploration, the position immediately before Zwierzycki’s 1922 consolidated inventory. The sequence runs: Rinaud (1885) → Philippi (1918) → Hengeveld (1918/1919) → Fryling (1921) → Zwierzycki (1922) → Van Loheezen (1929). Fryling’s contribution is the immediately-pre-Zwierzycki field-observation that Zwierzycki drew on for his consolidated account.
See Also
- Acheh
- Besitang River
- Coal in Atjeh
- J. H. Hengeveld
- J. Zwierzycki
- Langkat
- Lepan
- Philippi
- Rinaud
- Sarangan
- Van Bemmelen’s The Geology of Indonesia (1949)
- Van Loheezen
- 1921
Source
The Geology of Indonesia, by R. W. van Bemmelen, Vol. II: Economic Geology (The Hague: Government Printing Office; Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), p. 49 (Table 13, coal localities of Sumatra). Fryling’s own reports cited as “FRYLING, 1921” and “FRYLING, 1928”, in conjunction with “ZWIERZYCKI, 1922”.