The materials studied were four bituminous coals as well as the corresponding coal samples oxidized in air at 543 K for different periods of time. The method proposed by Friesen and Mikula, the procedure of Neimark and the methodology of Zhang and Li were successfully employed to analyze mercury porosimetry data from a fractal perspective. Fractal dimensions as well as fractal profiles are sensitive to oxidation treatment, being useful to follow the changes undergone by the coal samples. The evolution of the fractal dimension of coals with oxidation is determined by a balance between two main mechanisms of pore development: the oxidation of the pore surface itself that tends to lower the fractal dimension and the access of mercury to previously non-accessible regions that tends to increase this dimension. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.