Variations in the elemental composition of individual macerals in seams from the Permian German Creek and Moranbah Coal Measures in the Bowen Basin of Queensland have been studied over a wide range of coal ranks, using light-element electron microprobe techniques, to establish the coalification tracks of key macerals in a single coal-bearing interval from subbituminous through bituminous coal to anthracite. Vitrimite reflectance (Rv(max)) in the seams studied increases from 0.39% in the western part of the basin to over 3.5% in the east, apparently due to increases in burial depth. The study extends significantly the rank range covered by previous work on elemental analysis of individual macerals in the Gunnedah Basin, and provides a more useful basis than whole-coal analysis to evaluate the performance of coals in different utilisation processes. The microprobe results show that the carbon content of the telocollinite increases dramatically from 66% to 90% as the vitrinite reflectance of the coals (Rv(max)) increases from 0.39% to around 1.75%, but increases only slightly, from 90% to 91%, as Rv(max) increases from 1.75% to 3.52%. Oxygen decreases from around 26% to approximately 5% as Rv(max) increases from 0.39% to around 1.75%, and then decreases only very slightly into the anthracite range. The nitrogen content of the telocollinite in these coals also appears to decrease slightly with rank advance, and appears moreover to display a relatively abrupt drop at around 2% RVmax. This may be associated with the development of ammonium illite in the mineral matter. Organic sulphur in the telocollinite. on the other hand, seems to remain essentially constant with rank advance, at least in this particular succession. In contrast to vitrinite, fusinite and inertodetrinite have significantly higher but somewhat more constant carbon contents, varying only from around 81% to 93% C over the rank range studied. Oxygen in these macerals decreases from around 12% to a little over 2% with the same degree of rank advance. Sulphur and possibly nitrogen also appear to be significantly lower in fusinite and inertodetrinite than in the vitrinite of the same coal samples. Sernifusinite is somewhat more variable in composition, with characteristics intermediate between those of the fusinite inertodetrinite and those of the vitrinite in the same coal over the rank range studied. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All fights reserved.