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Title A simple and effective method for portraying and quantifying the macropetrography of lignites: A new tool for coal seam facies analysis
Creator/Author Sykes, R. (Inst. of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt (New Zealand)) ; Pratt, K.C. (Inst. of Sedimentary and Petroleum Geology, Calgary, Alberta (Canada))
Publication Date1994 Jul 01
OSTI IdentifierOSTI ID: 7151473
Other Number(s)CODEN: XZ288H
Resource TypeJournal Article
Resource RelationJournal of Sedimentary Research - Section A ; Vol/Issue: 64:3
Subject011000 -- Coal, Lignite, & Peat-- Reserves, Geology, & Exploration ;580000 -- Geosciences; COAL DEPOSITS-- LITHOLOGY;COAL DEPOSITS-- PETROGRAPHY;MACERALS-- PETROGRAPHY;SASKATCHEWAN-- COAL DEPOSITS; COAL SEAMS
Related SubjectCANADA;COAL DEPOSITS;DEVELOPED COUNTRIES;GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS;GEOLOGY;MINERAL RESOURCES;NORTH AMERICA;PETROLOGY;RESOURCES
Description/Abstract All coal seams contain internal successions of lithologically distinct layers, although the layering in many seams may not be obvious in exposed faces or cores.^The layers represent seam facies, and their detailed analysis can provide useful insight into the autogenic and allogenic controls on peat and coal formation.^Nevertheless, the facies concept has not been extensively applied to coal seams, and hence the development of coal seam facies models has been slow.^A major reason for this has been the lack of established methods for portraying the macropetrographic composition and texture of coal.^Accordingly, for the identification and analysis of lithofacies, graphical methods of logging coal seam profiles should portray the vitrain/xylite and fusain components, and enable quantification of their size and content.^No existing methods satisfy these requirements because they use symbols to portray coal types (see Bustin et al.^1985, p. 49--61, for selected examples), so the authors have devised a new method for use with lignites, which has proved effective in identifying and characterizing seam lithofacies.^The method has been applied to lignite seams in the Ravenscrag Formation (Paleocene) of southern Saskatchewan, Canada.^A newly exposed face of one seam and fresh cores of 18 other seams showed only indistinct layering, but dry sawing of the lignites revealed much greater proportions of xylite and fusain and the layering became obvious.^The clarity of detail revealed in the sawn faces enabled the xylite, fusain, and coal/clastic contacts to be readily traced, providing true-scale graphic representations of the macropetrography.^The representations of individual samples are referred to as lith-graphs whereas those of seam profiles are termed lith-logs.
Country of PublicationUnited States
LanguageEnglish
FormatPages: 699-701
System Entry Date2001 May 13

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