Maceral composition and aromatic compounds were determined on column samples to study the peat-forming environments of Permian coal seam 2 and Carbonifer-ous coal seam 9-2 from the Xingtai coalfield,China.The macerals were dominated by iner-tinite in seam 2 and by vitrinite in seam 9-2.Three maceral groups were selected as indi-cators of peat-forming environments.Two triangle diagrams were drawn based on the in-dicators to explicate the peat-forming environments of permian seam 2 and Carboniferous seam 9-2.The results indicate that the peat of carboniferous seam 9-2 formed dominantly in wet swamps,whereas the peat of Permian seam 2 formed dominantly in dry swamps and open moor environments.