_____-__-_-_-_ Introduction __ ________________________________ Theoretical considerations ____-_ __ _-Relative velocities of water-transported particles with differing densities ________ Shear stress as a density-segregation parameter ____ ___ ________ ____ __ Bed forms produced by flow in an alluvial channel ___ _ _ ___ __ Relation of grain entrainment to turbulence __ Summary ________________ ________ _ Experimental runs and results of sediment analysis-Hydraulic measurements _____________________ Sediment analysis __ _ _______ __ Sediment characteristics ________ __ Size analyses total bed material _________ Size analyses suspended sediment ____ Size analyses core samples ___________ Experimental results ____________________ Summary of bed form and opaque-heavymineral segregating characteristics _________ Dune bed forms (run 1) _________________ Dune bed forms (run 2) _________________ Transition bed forms (run 3) _____________

The Forest City basin in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, contains substantial coal resources in numerous beds too deep and thin to be mined by conventional methods. However, these coal beds have the potential to produce commercial quantities of coalbed methane. The four State geological surveys of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, and the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a preliminary assessment of existing geologic data to determine the thickness and areal extent of deep coals in parts of the Forest City basin. In addition, coal quality, thermal maturity (rank), and coalbed methane composition analyses were performed on some of the coal beds where good-quality coal samples could be obtained. Methane desorption and composition analyses performed on 11 coal beds from Kansas and Missouri confirm that coalbed methane is indeed present in coal beds of the Forest City basin. Although the volume of that coalbed methane is still unknown, the amount of methane in those areas tested during the current study is sufficient to warrant additional investigations. Reports of excessive methane occurrence in abandoned underground coal mines in Missouri may suggest that greater quantities of coalbed methane may be present at other localities in the basin. A coalbed methane industry within the Forest City basin would be an energy resource of great economic value to the four States. Cost-benefit analyses for Missouri alone indicate that, in a best-case scenario, an industry the size of that currently operating in the Black Warrior basin of Alabama (an industry that has produced 23.4 billion cubic feet of gas from 910 wells and 590 new jobs) would generate $74 million annually in economic benefits to the State of Missouri from business and industry, increased personal income, and local and State government revenue. Even the most conservative scenario would generate over $4 million annually to Missouri's economy and $2.5 million in benefits to business and industry. The revenue generated in each of the four States would be primarily in underdeveloped rural regions. The results of the current investigation would provide citizens and local governments in these areas with the information necessary to make sensible determinations relative to the benefits of exploring and developing coalbed gas. are currently being produced from coal beds in the San Juan basin of Colorado and New Mexico and in the Black Warrior basin of Alabama (fig. 1). The Forest City basin contains a substantial amount of coal resources in numerous beds too deep and thin to be mined by conventional methods. Coalbed methane producers operating in other parts of the United States have overlooked the Forest City basin in their previous exploration efforts because of the lack of geological data on the extent, thickness, quality, and rank of the coal beds in the basin. If coalbed methane is found to be present in commercial quantities in the basin, these deep coal beds would represent a vast, untapped energy source. This report contains the results of a preliminary...

Palynological correlation is made between Atokan and lower Desmoinesian strata in the Illinois basin and the Forest City basin in eastern Kansas. Spore data from previous studies of coals in the Illinois basin and other coal basins are compared with data from spore assemblages in coal and carbonaceous shale bands in a core drilled in Leavenworth County, Kansas. Correlations are based on first and/or last occurrences of 31 species common to the Illinois basin and eastern Kansas and on significant increases or decreases in abundance of several of those taxa. The oldest coal, which is 26 ft (8 m) above the top of the Mississippian, is early Atokan (early Westphalian B) in age and is approximately equivalent to the Bell coal bed in the Illinois basin. The Riverton coal bed at the top of the studied interval in Kansas is early Desmoinesian (early Westphalian D) and correlates with about the Lewisport coal bed in the Illinois basin. Three coal beds near the base of the Pennsylvanian in three cores drilled in Cherokee County, Kansas, which were also studied, range in age from late Atokan to early Desmoinesian. As in other coal basins, Lycospora, borne by lycopod trees, greatly dominates the lower and middle Atokan spore assemblages in coals and shale, but spores from ferns, especially tree ferns, significantly increase in abundance in the upper Atokan and lower Desmoinesian. The pattern of change of dominance among Lycospora pellucida, L. granulata, and L. micropapillata in middle Atokan (Westphalian B-C transition) that has been demonstrated earlier in the Illinois basin and eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, also occurs in eastern Kansas. At least 10 species of spores, which appeared in the middle Atokan in other parts of the equatorial coal belt, also appeared at this time in eastern Kansas. Most of these species have their affinities with the ferns, which were adapted to drier habitats than lycopods. Thus, the climate may have become a little drier in the equatorial coal belt during middle Atokan.

Elemental and chemical analyses and physical tests were conducted on 36 samples of Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian coals from southeastern Kansas. Concentrations of 35 minor and trace elements in these coals were statistically compared with concentrations in coals of similar rank and age from other areas in the western region of the Interior Coal Province, showing that Kansas coals have significantly higher concentrations of copper, arsenic, and lead. The zinc content in Kansas coal samples ranges from 160 to 51,000 ppm (whole-coal basis), the maximum value being the highest zinc value reported for U.S. coals. Cadmium content also has an extreme range, from less than 1.0 to 160 ppm (whole-coal basis), the maximum value being one of the highest cadmium values reported in U.S. coals. The apparent ranks of these coal samples range from high-volatile B to high-volatile A bituminous coal. Most samples of Middle Pennsylvanian coals from the major coal-mining area in Bourbon, Crawford, and Cherokee counties are high-volatile A bituminous coal. Arithmetic mean values for proximate analyses of coals (as-received basis; n = 25) show these coals to be 15.5% ash, 35.3% volatile matter, 45.9% fixed carbon, and 3.3% moisture and to have a heat of combustion of 11,910 Btu/lb. Arithmetic mean values for ultimate analyses of the coals show these coals to be 4.9% hydrogen, 65.3% carbon, 1.2% nitrogen, 5.5% sulfur, and 7.7% oxygen. The geometric mean values of these Kansas coals are 3.03% pyritic sulfur, 1.25% organic sulfur, and 0.2% sulfate sulfur.

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