Coal resources of Canada

Coal-Bearing Depositional Systems

“…Disjointed remnants of once continuous coal-bearing molasse deposits occur throughout the Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains, where they are either riding high on the hanging walls of major thrusts, e.g. the Fernie Basin above the Lewis Thrust (Smith 1989), or have been overridden by them, as shown in Fig. 9.20 by the Rundle Thrust over the Kootenay Group, and in Fig.…”

“…9.12C). Medium to low volatile bituminous coals occur within the molasse remnants now riding high on the thrust sheets of the Front Ranges, particularly in the East Kootenay and Peace River regions, which contain a little over two-thirds of Canada's measured and indicated coking coals (Smith 1989). Further east they give way to the high-volatile to sub-bituminous coals of the Foothills and Plains until the lignites of southern Saskatchewan are reached.…”

“…Further east they give way to the high-volatile to sub-bituminous coals of the Foothills and Plains until the lignites of southern Saskatchewan are reached. This broad correlation between geological age, depth of burial, residence time and coal rank (Norris 1971;Hacquebard and Donaldson 1974), which indicates pre-tectonic coalification (Kalkreuth and McMechan 1984;Kalkreuth and Langenberg 1986;Smith 1989), applies mainly to the less deformed portions of the Foothills and the Interior Plains. In the Front Ranges, were tectonic deformation is more severe, the simple age/rank relationship has been modified locally by late thrusting.…”

“…The Canadian portion of the cordillera has been divided into the following geological and physiographic units (after Monger et al , 1982 The five belts are illustrated in Fig. 9.12A with the addition of a sixth, referred to as the foredeep zone, which is largely identical to the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin of Smith (1989). Its western and central portions contain the molasse sediments which were washed down from the uplands to the west, and most of the coal resources of western Canada.…”

“…Although there is no indication of subduction in the Eastern Cordilleran Fold Belt during Early Palaeozoic time, island arc volcanics and oceanic crust of that age are known from them Insular Belt. Bally et al 1966;Monger et al , 1982Dickinson 1988;Kleinspehn 1988;Smith 1989) Plate un-coupling near the continental margin appears to have occurred at the beginning of the Jurassic Period, when the North American plate began to move (relatively) westward and override oceanic lithosphere of the Protopacific plate (Monger et al 1982). From mid-Jurassic to mid-Tertiary time various terranes were accreted, some consisting of offshore oceanic island arcs, others constituting crustal slabs which have been shifted northward by transcurrent movements over very long distances (Irving et al 1980).…”