Chapter 4 – Coal and Coal Bearing Environments

Chapter 4
Coal and Coal Bearing Environments
4.1
Introduction
A key feature of many non-marine basins in tropical or cool-temperate
settings since the Devonian are peat-forming environments that
ultimately lead to the formation of coal measures. In Gondwana, these
were dominant in the Permian and Late Triassic. The eastern
Australian basins (Bowen-Sydney-Gunnedah, Galilee, Cooper Basins)
contain one of the largest cool-temperate coal-bearing systems in the
Palaeozoic world. It has long been recognised that much of the
hydrocarbon found in onshore Eastern Australia is sourced from the
extensive coal measures in these basins. In the Sydney and Bowen
basins coal seams are also exploited directly, both as world-class
deposits of coking and steaming coal and for coal bed methane.
Petroleum exploration in these basins widely utilises coal seams for
correlation purposes due to their characteristic seismic response.
These coals lie in contrast to the dominantly tropical or subtropical
coals characterised by the Carboniferous coals of North America and
Europe, and the Tertiary coals of SE Asia (Land and Jones, 1987;
Carbonele and Moyers, 1987). Before interpreting a coal-prone
succession it is important to first establish this major depositional
setting and to ensure that you are referring to the relevant literature (ie
use the Gondwanan literature for Permo-Triassic coals in Australia-
Irian Jaya, India, South Africa, South America and Antarctica).

Coal forms during burial from organic precursors (mainly peat, but
rarely also algal mats). The process of coalification is complex and
involves physical compaction, dewatering, and physico-chemical
changes of the organic material, such as gelification and progressive
alteration of cellulose material. Coal may form from organic material,
which was buried in situ, at the site of plant growth (autochthonous
coals), or result from transported plant material, such as rafted peat
mats (allochthonous coals). Coals in Eastern Australian basins are
typically formed from peat precursors and are autochthonous.
Microscopic examination of coal under reflected light shows constituent
components (macerals), some of which can be identified as specific
parts of plant precursors, such as lipid-rich cuticles.

4.2
Conditions of Peat Growth
Peat comprises predominantly humic organic material (>= 75%) with
very little inorganic matter present. Peat-forming environments are
characterised by both a high preservation potential of organic matter
and a general absence or scarcity of clastic detrital input (Fig. 4.3, 4.7).

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Where sediment invades the peat environment, as when a crevasse

splay is deposited over the peat (Fig. 4.5), some splits occur resulting
fron the compaction of the peat.

Peat forms in wetland environments:

· marshes dominated by grasses and sedges, undergoing
temporary inundation
· swamps dominated by woody arboreal vegetation
· bogs dominated by mosses and ferns in areas of raised water
table.

The term mire is often used generically to refer to waterlogged

peat-forming environments.

Study of modern-day peat-forming environments provides important

insights into the conditions that lead to prolific plant growth and a high
preservation potential of organic matter. Decay of plant material is
normally a rapid process and occurs either immediately before or after
burial. It is caused by a combination of bacterial and fungal activity, as
well as oxidation by contact with air or oxygenated porewaters. In peat-
forming environments degradation of humic matter is prevented (or at
least slowed down dramatically) by the presence of very acidic
porewaters, which prove inhospitable to most fungi and microbes
(Renton & Cecil, 1979; Renton et al., 1980; Teichmuller, 1982). The
mostly stagnant water present within the pore space of peat is quickly
depleted of oxygen, further preventing deterioration of organic tissues.
The preserving qualities of peat mire porewaters is illustrated by bog
corpses — exquisitely preserved human remains, dating from the
bronze age, which have been prevented from decay by being totally
submerged in bog waters.

The total water balance of a peat-forming environment has to be at

least in equilibrium to maintain a raised water table in the peat at all
times. Water flux into the peat through precipitation or capillary action
has to be at least equal to the outflow. Consequently areas of high
precipitation and/or low evaporation rates are favourable sites for peat
accumulation. The most extensive areas of cool-temperate peat
formation today occur in Siberia and Canada, in climatic settings
characterised by low precipitation rates (~500mma-1 ), and low
evaporation rates.

Variation in the local or regional water table has immediate effects on

peat forming environments. An example of this can be found in the
modern day Rhine delta in the Netherlands. Here intensive agriculture
and deliberate drainage of peat mire areas for land reclamation has
resulted in a significant drop in the groundwater table and an
associated subsidence of the land surface caused by the resulting
oxidation of peat. The Netherlands Institute of Applied Geoscience
(TNO) has investigated land subsidence using buried markers and

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sophisticated leveling techniques on a test farm operated for the last 25

years (de Lange et al 2000). The soil profile at the site is
representative of some 75% of the peat-covered areas of the
Netherlands and comprises peat and soft clay resting on Pleistocene
sand. With settlement indicators buried at several levels, the
contributions of compaction and oxidation could be separated. Both
processes exhibit a linear behaviour. A high phreatic level of 0.35
metres below the surface results in a subsidence of 6.7mm/y. A low
phreatic level of 0.7 metres below the surface results in a subsidence
of 15.8 mm/y. The increased subsidence is mainly due to the oxidation
loss, which is more than doubled in the latter case (10.9mm/y). The
subsidence of peat meadows is almost entirely attributed to oxidation.
Since the beginning of agriculture in the 12th century about 2 metres
thickness of peat has disappeared in this way.

4.3
Peat Growth Rate
The ability of peat mires to prevent either burial by clastic sediment or
drowning by a rise in the local water table, depends on the growth rate
of the plant communities, which constitute the living outer layer of the
peat. In this respect peat mires behave like coral reefs in carbonate
depositional environments.

Growth rates of modern peats have been measured by isotopic dating

and correlation of marker beds within peats. Reported growth rates
vary, but typical ranges are 0.1-0.7mma-1 in a raised bog in the
Netherlands, (Kilian et al, 2000.) to 1.1-2.1mma-1 in a raised bog in
Nova Scotia (Chague-Goff & Fyfe, 1996). Peat mires can adapt to
environmental changes by variation in the plant communities, if the
time frame of change is sufficiently long to allow this.

Peat accumulates with a maximum thickness when the rate of peat

production equals the accommodation rate (Fig. 4.2).

4.4
Peat Forming Environments
Low lying mires/swamps
Areas of low-lying topography may develop peat mires that fill slight
depressions and typically exhibit very high water tables with common
local development of small lakes. The flora of low-lying swamps has
been shown to comprise a high species diversity (Teichmuller &
Teichmuller, 1982). Slow, but ongoing decomposition of organic
material in the slightly acidic (pH 4.8-6.5) surface waters of these
environments result in an abundance in plant nutrients.

Because low-lying mires form in topographically low-lying or low-relief

areas they are more prone than raised mires to the influx of clastic

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sediments such as splays and channels. A good example of this are

the delta plain coals that cap each deltaic progradational cycle. As with
most coals, these will be distinctive on wireline logs because of the low
density and slow sonic transit times (usually shown as a sharp kick to
the left on the scale). However depending on the amount of clastic
input (‘ash’ as it is referred to in the coal liiterature) they can range from
low gamma for clean coals to moderate or high gamma for dirty coals.

Raised mires/swamps
Raised mires have convex-up surfaces, which are elevated above the
surrounding terrain and are independent of the underlying topography
(Figs. 4.6, 4.8). Raised peats develop under favourable climatic
conditions, which include, low evaporation, abundant precipitation and
low seasonality (Lottes & Ziegler, 1994). The peats become self-
sustaining under these conditions, since they are topographically above
the influence of nutrient-rich ground-and surface waters. Raised peats
are active eco-systems and can respond to climatic variations by shifts
in the relative abundances of plant species making up the living outer
layer of the peat (Chague-Goff & Fyfe, 2000). In addition the positive
relief of the raised mire largely prevents the entry of clastic deposits
such as fluvial channels or overbank facies, which would interfere with
peat growth. Due to vertical variations of composition and changes in
vegetation patterns between the margin and the edges of a raised mire,
properties such as pH and brightness show characteristic profiles. The
pH has been documented to decrease upward from 4.8 at the base to
3.6 at the surface within a 7.5 metre core retrieved from a raised bog in
Nova Scotia (Chague-Goff & Fyfe, 2000).

The zonation of plant communities and chemical environments within a

raised bog result in correlatable profiles within contemporaneous bogs
and their resulting coal seams. Vertical changes in trace element
composition, isotopic variations, ash content and maceral abundances
have been used successfully to correlate coal seams (Kilian et al,
2000; Hamilton & Tadros, 1994; McCabe, 1984; Glasspool, 2000).
Similarly the effects of fires on peat forming wetlands during episodes
of drought can be recorded in the stratigraphic record as bright bands
showing an increase in the maceral inertinite.

Because of the generally clean nature of raised mires, they will typically
have low gamma, as well as low density and slow sonic transit times.

Detrital peats/beach ridges

In tropical regions (eg. the Mahakam Delta of Kalimantan) abundant

detrital organic debris is transported down the rivers and then through
gentle longshore drift processes the organics are deposited on the low
energy beaches and can accumulate significant peat ridges (Gastaldo,
Allen and Huc, 1993). On the present day Mahakam Delta these can
be seen accumulating adjacent and downdrift to the tidally influenced

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distributary channels, and form ‘spongy’ ridges along the and

immediately behind the shoreline, settling during the high tides. On the
mouth bars, small deposits can accumulate typified by Nippa Nippa
palm leaves broken down to various sizes, indeterminate leave litter,
and commonly floating chunks of amber resin.

Detrital coals can also form in lacustrine settings where they represent
drifted detrital material that accumulates at one end of the lake where
gentle breezes preferentially distribute the material. Finely divided
organic detritus can also accumulate at the base of lake successions,
and it is useful to obtain palynological and coal maceral determinations
to determine the origins of such coals.

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4.5
Compaction of Peat
Peat undergoes a range of physico-chemical changes during burial,
resulting ultimately in the formation of lignite and later black coal. The
various macerals in a particular coal will form and change at different
rates, a fact that is utilised in the measurement of the vitrinite reflectance
as a hydrocarbon source rock maturity indicator.

Peat undergoes a significant volume loss during compaction, which can

lead to distorted geometries in adjacent sand or shale bodies. A wide
range of ratios are proposed in the literature for the coalification of peat
into black coal ranging from 1.4:1 to 30:1or 50% to 98% volume loss
(Ryer & Langer, 1980). Most of these are estimates from observation of
the compaction of modern day peats or from the reconstruction of
depositional geometries of sandstone bodies encased within coals.

Experimental coalification of peat samples was conducted by Shearer &

Moore (1996), Orem et al. (1996), and Cohen & Bailey (1997). Shearer
& Moore and Orem et al. were using samples from tropical raised mires
in the Rajang delta, Sarawak, Malaysia. Cohen & Bailey analysed
samples from the Everglades mangrove swamp (Florida) and raised
bogs in the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia, USA). The results of these
studies are comparable and show compaction ratios of the peats studied
between 5.7:1 and 8:1 (72% and 88%, respectively). Wood samples
also used in the experiments showed much lower compaction ratios of
1.5:1 to 2.5:1 (33% to 60%).

Shearer & Moore (1996) provide details of the nature of the compaction.
They identified that most of the volume loss (45% of original porosity)
was due to loss of inter-particle porosity within the peat, 17% due to
compaction of peat particles, and the remaining 10% due to organic
mass loss in outgassing and fluid expulsion.

The observation that most of the volume loss during peat compaction is
a result of physically pressing the humic particles closer together
conforms with observations of dinosaur footprints in the roofs of
underground coal mines in Utah. Individual footprints show a shallow
depth of penetration and a preservation of foot morphology that is not
possible unless the peat the animals walked upon was very firm.

Nadon (1998) is critical of the high compaction rates assigned to the

peat-to-coal transformation. He points out that decompaction modeling
using such values for coal seams in contact with penecontemporaneous
channel sandstones leads to impossible depositional geometries for the
sandstones, which have a final thickness that is 90% of their original
thickness. Similarly, decompaction modeling of the fragments of organic
material within channel lags using the assumed large peat compaction
value results in the destruction of the associated sedimentary structures
such as trough cross-beds.

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The application of de-compaction factors to coal in order to re-construct

depositional geometries is consequently fraught with a series of
problems:

· Compaction ratios for various components of the peat vary widely. A

detailed knowledge of the components of peat (e.g. the proportion of
woody material) is necessary to determine meaningful values.

· Loss of matrix porosity (inter-particle porosity) from the peat accounts for
more than 60% of the total volume loss. This is likely to occur early during
burial, a significant proportion probably almost spontaneously upon loading
with clastic sediment, such as a splay (or dinosaurs).

· Auto-compaction occurs in peat mires, so the lower parts of a thick raised

peat mire are more compacted than the near-surface layers. Application of
a single de-compaction factor to a coal seam will therefore greatly
exaggerate the depositional thickness of the peat precursor.

The complications of peat compaction on sandstone geometry are illustrated

in Figure 4.1. From our own observations in the West Siberian peat mires, the
immediate compaction due to sediment loading is probably >95% in the
sphagnum moss dominated peats, however woody peats are likely to compact
considerably less (<30 or 50%). However these estimates are for the
immediate expulsion of interstitial water, and the comapction estimates given
earlier would apply after this initial loading compaction.

4.7
Coals in a Sequence Stratigraphic Framework
The dependence of peat formation on waterlogged conditions indicates
a link between the rate of peat production and the accommodation rate.
Peats can only be preserved where the increase in accommodation
approximately equals the accumulation rate of peat, provided clastic
sediments are excluded from the environment by bypass (avulsion,
stable channels, raised mires). When the increase in accommodation
exceeds the rate of peat growth, the peats drown or are covered with
clastic sediments. Where peat growth rate exceeds the
accommodation rate, peats dry out and are susceptible to oxidation,
and fires (Bohacs & Suter, 1997).

The growth rate of peat depends on a variety of local factors, such as

the plant community of the peat, precipitation and evaporation rates,
seasonality of the climate, nutrient supply, and others. However, for a
given phytogeographic setting there will be a relatively narrow range of
common peat growth rates and a corresponding but broader range of
changes in accommodation rate, which facilitate growth and
preservation of peat.

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The minimum rate of peat formation was found to be about one half of
the maximum rate (Diessel & Boyd, 1994). Bohacs & Suter (1997)
related the ratio of accommodation rate and peat production rate to the
thickness and lateral extent of the peat mires, based on the theoretical
considerations outlined above. If the accommodation rate is slightly
lower than the peat accumulation rate, but above the minimum
threshold, relatively thin, laterally extensive peat mires are predicted,
resulting from lateral spreading of peat environments. Where
accommodation rate and peat growth are near equilibrium, thick, but
isolated peats are predicted and ‘.the mire can accumulate peat to its
full capacity and does not need to extend laterally’. When
accommodation rate outstrips the peat growth, mires become either
flooded by lakes, or invaded by clastic sediments. No peats will
accumulate or be preserved where the accommodation rate is much
lower than the peat growth rate. The associations of coal occurrences
and geometry within an accommodation cycle based on these
generalisations are illustrated in Figures 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 4.12.

This model of peat accumulation in a sequence stratigraphic framework

summarises many significant features of peat growth and coal
formation (Table 4.1). Potential problems arise because peat
production rate, sediment accumulation rate, and accommodation are
treated effectively as independent variables in the underlying
assumptions. In reality, there are feedback mechanisms between
these rates, particularly in fully continental settings. For example
sediment supply, base level and peat production rate can be closely
linked to climatic variations, and therefore are likely to show some
dependence on each other.

4.8
Genesis of Laterally Extensive Coal Seams
Regionally extensive seams (100’s to 1000’s of km extent) of clean coal
are common in coal-bearing basins and characterise many stratigraphic
intervals in the Palaeozoic pan-Gondwanan basins of Australia,
Antarctica, South Africa, South America and India. These seams
actually represent continuous areas of peat accumulation, as illustrated
by regionally correlatable trace elements, brightness and palynomorph
profiles from such seams (Glasspool 2000). The origin of such
widespread accumulation of peat to the apparent exclusion of clastic
sedimentation is unclear. The change from clastic fluvial depositional
environments to basinwide accumulation of coal with no apparent coeval
clastic depositional systems is a change as dramatic as a change to
evaporite or carbonate sedimentation (McCabe, 1984). It requires a
change in climatic parameters favourable to the establishment and
sustaining of peat mires. Additionally, the previously active supply and
dispersal of clastic sediment in the basin has to be either diverted out of
the area, or by some other means totally bypass the area of peat mires.

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McCabe (1984) favours widespread development of raised mires as

responsible for the formation of regionally extensive clean coal seams.
Their positive topographic relief forms an active barrier to the ingress of
any clastic depositional systems, which may be active at the time.
Hamilton & Tadros (1994) view the development of peat mires
fundamentally as representing accumulation of plant material under
favourable conditions in what would otherwise be areas of non-
deposition (interfluves) (Fig. 4.4).

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 Chapter
Fig. 4.1 - Possible 4 – Coalscenarios
compaction and Coal for
Bearing Environments
two sandstone beds P and Q within a peat
succession.

Athick peat bed A accumulates & is subjected to its first incipient sedimentation at P & Q

Peat bed A yields by compaction to successive sedimentation at P & Q

Peat bed A reaches its limit of compaction locally in response to sedimentation at P & Q

Peat growth is resumed and peat bed B emplaced

Incipient sedimentation starts at R,S & T in zones compactive response. This has resulted in the channels
ii i

Sedimentation at R, S &T proceed to the limit of compaction locally leveling peat bed A and bending peat bed
B and the sediments deposited within the beds P & Q

Peat growth resumes and peat bed C is emplaced

Coal measure or other sedimentation proceeds steadily, increasing load and general compaction

Ultimate compaction of peat and interseam sediments leads to coalification, and development of seam
splits around compacted structures
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Fig. 4.2 – A) Relation of the ratio of accommodation rate/peat production rate

(“normalized” accommodation) with peat thickness. Peat accumulates with
maximum thickness when the two rates are approximately equal. B) Relation of
ratio of accommodation rate/peat production to coal geometry. The most
widespread coals accumulate at low to moderate values of this ratio.

Fig. 4.3 – Relation of accommodation (subsidence) and coal

thickness, Brunner seam, New Zealand. Coal peaks in thickness and
quality at intermediate values (after Titheridge, 1993).

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Fig 4.4 – Cross section A-A’ illustrates the distribution of the principal depositional
elements of the upper Black Jack stratigraphic section.

Fig. 4.5 – A) Generalized section through ribbon split in the Top Hard Coal,
Carboniferous, England. Coal has been ‘decompacted’ to show approximate thickness
of original peat. Lines within coal represent bedding planes (from Elliott, 1965).
B) Generalized sections through ribbon split (left) and washout (right) of the
Folsomville/Dykersburg complex in Indiana and Illinois (from Eggert, 1982).

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Fig. 4.6 – Evolutionary sequence of swamp types showing the development of a

raised swamp with distinct peat zonations (based on Romanov, 1968).

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Fig. 4.7 – Schematic

illustration of examples,
at several scales, of
processes capable of
shutting off sediment
supply and providing
opportunity for peat
accumulation. (A)
Disruption of sediment
supply at a basin wide
scale. Tectonic
movement has tilted the
thrust belt causing
stream capture and
shedding of sediment to
the northeast into an
interthrust belt basin.
(B) Sediment bypass at
subregional scale where
the axial channel
complex occupied the
eastern portion of the
basin and peat
accumulated
uninterrupted in the
west.
(C) Localized peat
accumulation in a cut-off
meander loop of a
moderately sinuous
mixed load fluvial
system.

Fig. 4.8 – Theoretical model of fluvial architecture in an area of raised swamps. The elevated
swamp restricts overbank flooding and prevents avulsion, leading to the development of stacked
channel sandstones.

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Fig. 4.9 – (A) Coal seams are conceptually equivalent to the hiatal surfaces of Frazier
(1974). Localized or subregional coals can potentially cap the small-scale facies sequences
and depositional events, while regionally extensive coals can bound the depositional
episodes.
(B) Depositional episode of Frazier (1974) in marginal basin setting.
(Figures not to scale).
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Fig. 4.10 – Relation of rate of change of base level to coal thickness and geometry
for a given peat production rate.

Table 4.1 – Sequence Stratigraphic Distribution of Paralic Coaly Rocks

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Fig. 4.11 – Lithofacies and sequence stratigraphic interpretation cross section of

the Teche, Saint Bernard, and LaFourche delta-plain complexes (after Kosters and
Suter, 1993). Significant peat deposition is associated with aggradational
parasequence stacking in the late transgressive to early highstand systems tracts.

Fig. 4.12 – For a given peat production rate, the occurrence of paralic coals may
vary significantly due to the local rate of change of accommodation. Lower
accommodation rates favor initiation of mires earlier in the lowstand systems tract
and later termination in the highstand systems tract. Higher accommodation rates
would delay initiation of mires and, at very high rates, may prevent widespread peat
accumulation, even in the transgressive systems tract.
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