Coalification Patterns of Pennsylvanian Coal Basins of the Eastern United States

Abstract

Coalification patterns of Pennsylvanian coal basins in the eastern United States reflect (1) depth of burial during later Pennsylvanian and Permian times, when the main coalification took place; and (2) regional thermal disturbances from Permian to recent times.In most of the eastern United States, rank was determined during the main phase of coalification in Pennsylvanian and Permian times and thus reflects former greatest depths of burial. The general decrease in rank toward the Canadian Shield corresponds well to the general northward thinning of the mantle of sediments over the basement. In the coalification map of a reference seam, basins (for example, Illinois Basin) show up as northward extensions of high-rank areas, and positive structures (for example, Cincinnati Arch, Ozark Uplift) appear as southward protrusions of low-rank areas. The sedimentary column over the reference seam, or its stratigraphic equivalents, was thicker within the basins than over the positive structures.If data on rank are plotted on maps for coal seams lying at or near the surface regardless of their stratigraphic age, the close relation to the large structural units is much less pronounced, and the geologic interpretation of such coalification maps is more difficult.Superimposed upon this broad-scale and rather simple coalification pattern that reflects burial depth are several areas of anomalously high rank that are interpreted as being the result of unusually high heat flow sometime after the main coalification had terminated, probably in connection with deep-seated plutonic activity. These H. H. D a m b e r g e r comprise the Rhode Island Meta-anthracite region, the Pennsylvania Anthracite region extending westward into the area of low-and medium-volatile bituminous coals of Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia, the eastern portion of the Arkoma Basin in Arkansas, and possibly also the southern portion of the Illinois Basin and the area of high-rank bituminous coals in southern West Virginia. In the last two regions, the high rank may be explainable solely by greater former depths of burial. The coalification patterns of all these areas are considered anomalous compared to the patterns of adjacent areas and of other coal basins. Supporting evidence for this interpretation of the coalification pattern is furnished by the presence in the same areas of other manifestations of large-scale regional heating and deep-seated plutonic activity.

Assessing the Paleoenvironmental Significance of Middle-Late Pennsylvanian Conodont Apatite 18o Values in the Illinois Basin

“…Fluid inclusion temperatures from diagenetic sphalerites in Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) strata of the Illinois Basin indicate burial temperatures ranging from 71 to 113 uC at the time of crystallization, consistent with coalification temperature estimates in associated strata (Damberger 1971(Damberger , 1974(Damberger , 1991, smectite to illite transformations (Gharrabi and Velde 1995;Grathoff et al 2001, Rowan et al 2002, and oxygen isotopic analysis of diagenetic quartz cements (Pollington et al 2011). Moreover, the partial resetting of fission tracks in zircons indicate, at most, a thermal event of short duration (Elliot and Aronson 1993).…”

Chemical reaction path modeling of ore deposition in mississippi valley-type Pb-Zn deposits of the Ozark region, U.S. Midcontinent

“…This evidence includes (1) fluid inclusion-filling temperatures in widespread dolomite and trace occurrences of sphalerite that are indistinguishable from those of adjacent ore districts (Leach, 1979;Covehey and Goebel, 1983;Rowan and Leach, 1989;Shelton et al, 1992); (2) a regional distribution of fluid inclusion temperatures from sphalerite that shows an apparent cooling trend northward from the Arkoma basin (Leach and Rowan, 1986;Bethke et al, 1988); (3) K/C1 ratios in fluid inclusions from ore and gangue minerals that systematically increase northward (Viets and Leach, 1990); (4) paragenetic relationships of sulfides and hydrothermal dolomite within the districts that can be correlated throughout the region (Palmer and Hayes, 1989); (5) cathodoluminescent microstratigraphy in hydrothermal dolomite that can be traced throughout the region and among districts (Gregg, 1985;Voss and Hagni, 1985;Rowan, 1986); (6) anomalously high thermal maturity of organic matter in the region (Damberger, 1974 …”

Thermal history of Michigan Basin and Southern Canadian Shield from apatite fission track analysis

“…This evidence includes organic maturity data from the Illinois and Michigan basins [Damberger, 1971[Damberger, , 1974Cercone, 1984 There is no a priori reason to invoke a single mechanism to account for these various observational data. This evidence includes organic maturity data from the Illinois and Michigan basins [Damberger, 1971[Damberger, , 1974Cercone, 1984 There is no a priori reason to invoke a single mechanism to account for these various observational data.…”