Importance of The Knowledge On The Earth's History: Coal

Importance of the knowledge on the Earth’s history
1. Particular raw materials occur in great quantity in rocks of

certain age, while they are unknown from rocks of other
age.
Coal: Carboniferous, Eocene and Miocene but not from

Cambrian to Devonian and in the Triassic
Gypsum, anhidryte, rock salt (halite): Permian and
Miocene but not in Jurassic-Cretaceous
Iron ore: Pre-Cambrian and Jurassic but not in the
Cenozoic
2. Other particular raw materials are linked with particular
geological structures (hydrocarbons, ores)
Spatial characteristics of these structures can be read from

geological maps and cross-sections.
These structures were formed by deformations (folding and
faulting) of sediments with originally horizontal deposition on the
sea-bottom.
These more or less homogeneous (both in time and
lithologically) rock bodies are figured in the geological maps and
cross-sections as lithostratigraphical units.
Their structures can be deduced by assuming that their
deformation started from the original horizontal deposition.
3. Age and paleoecological conditions of internally more or less
homogeneous lithostratigraphical units can be determined as well
as their temporal and spatial relationship to neighbouring units.
Science dealing with the age relationships of rock bodies forming
the Earth’s crust is called stratigraphy while that of dealing with
their depositional conditions is called paleoecology or faciology.
By integrating and synthesizing stratigraphical and paleoecological

data different relationship of former events having taken place
mostly in the litho-, hydro-, bio- and athmosphere of the Earth can
be reconstructed, such as:
1. their succession (geochronology)

2. spatial relationship of co-eval environments
(paleogeography)
3. (by combining these two) history of the Earth
Knowledge of the Earth’s history strongly effects

- on the quality of geological maps,
- on the exactness of structures figured on it, and
- on the research and exploration of raw materials.
2012
Science dealing with the age relationships of rock bodies forming
the Earth’s crust is called stratigraphy while that of dealing with
their depositional conditions is called paleoecology or faciology.
By integrating and synthesizing stratigraphical and paleoecological

data different relationship of former events having taken place
mostly in the litho-, hydro-, bio- and athmosphere of the Earth can
be reconstructed, such as:
1. their succession (geochronology)

2. spatial relationship of co-eval environments
(paleogeography)
3. (by combining these two) history of the Earth
Knowledge of the Earth’s history strongly effects

- on the quality of geological maps,
- on the exactness of structures figured on it, and
- on the research and exploration of raw materials.
Early Oligocene
The Mediterranean
and vicinity
Mediterranean – Late Burdigalian
Early
Jurassic
Neotethys
Middle Jurassic
Central Europe
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy studies the hammerable relicts of Earth’s history. It is

both the base and part of all investigations on the Earth’s history.
Stratigraphy studies not only bedded sedimentary rocks but also
magmatic and metamorphic rocks through their relationship to
sedimentary rocks.
Rock bodies should be categorized due to their temporal and

spatial heterogeneity. The goals are:
development of global geochronology (temporal orientation)
unified paleoecological nomenclature (spatial orientation)
unified principal basement of geological maps
During categorization rock bodies are:

distinguished (stratigraphical subdivision),
called (stratigraphical nomenclature),
and correlated (stratigraphical correlation)
Stratigraphical categorization and nomenclature
Lithostratigraphy: used for macroscopically distinguishable rock bodies

during geological mapping. The basal unit is formation: Dachstein Limestone
Formation, Kiscell Clay Formation, Hárshegy Sandstone Formation, etc. They can
be followed through limited distance (10-100 [max. 1000] km).
Biostratigraphy: for rock bodies with more or less similar fossil content.
The basal unit is the biozone: Nummulites fabianii Zone, Hildoceras bifrons Zone,
etc. They can be followed through hundreds or even thousands km-s.
Chronostratigraphy: for co-eval rock bodies. The basal unit is the

chronozone. E.g. NP 18 (nannoplankton) Zone, Hildoceras bifrons Chronozone, etc.
Simultaneously each hammerable chrnostratigraphic unit represents a certain time
interval of the Earth’s history. These are the geochronological (time) units.
Chronostratigraphic unit Geochrolological unit Example

erathem era Cenozoic
system period Paleogene
series epoch Paleocene
stage age Thanetian
chronozone chron NP 7
2012
Lithostratigraphy - The bed
The smallest lithostratigraphical unit: a homogeneous sediment

having deposited in constant environmental conditions, bordered
by bedding plane from the neighbouring bed.
Bedding planes can indicate:
short interruption of sedimentation
sudden change of depositional conditions
Basic rule of stratigraphy: Steno’s rule of deposition:

In the time of deposition lower beds are older than the
upper ones.
Exceptions: pebbles, boulders, olistostromes (slided exotic blocks

in usually deep-marine environment – debris flow)
Olistostromes: matrix (deep-marine sediment) + olistoliths (exotic

blocks) – called also wildflysch
Parallel bedding in sandstones - Nevada
Parallel bedding - Canada
Lithostratigraphy - The bed
The smallest lithostratigraphical unit: a homogeneous sediment

having deposited in constant environmental conditions, bordered
by bedding plane from the neighbouring bed.
Bedding planes can indicate:
short interruption of sedimentation
sudden change of depositional conditions
Basic rule of stratigraphy: Steno’s rule of deposition:

In the time of deposition lower beds are older than the
upper ones.
Exceptions: pebbles, boulders, olistostromes (slided exotic blocks

in usually deep-marine environment – debris flow)
Olistostromes: matrix (deep-marine sediment) + olistoliths (exotic

blocks) – called also wildflysch
Jurassic olistostrome in Rudabánya Hills - Hungary
Jurassic olistostrome in Rudabánya Hills - Hungary
Jurassic olistostrome in Rudabánya Hills – Hungary (close-up view)
Lower Devonian limestone olistoliths
Middle Devonian basaltic tuffite
Uppony Hills, Hungary
Close-up view
Complex Upper Triassic olistolith in Jurassic shale – Bükk, Hungary
Shallow-marine Upper Triassic limestone olistoliths in Jurassic radiolarite
Bükk, Hungary
Neocomian limestone olistolith in Senonian red hemipelagic marls
Western Carpathians
Triassic limestone olistolith in radiolaritic matrix – W Serbia
Upper Rupelian olistostrome – Keleresdere, E Turkey
Closer view
Upper Bartonian olistostrome
Tayfur, NW Turkey (Thrace)
Close-up view
Close-up view
Priabonian olistostrome
Sarköy, NW Turkey (Thrace)
Conceptual
model
Bedding types:
Homogeneous (unbedded): coral reefs (bioherms)
Bedded:
Parallel (originally horizontal) bedding: calm, quiet water
Cross-bedding (originally oblique): uni-directional current (e.g. rivers)
Lateral termination of beds:

pinching out
interfingering with another bed (lateral change of material)
erosional (unconformity) or tectonical
Grouping beds into a formation:

based on more or less similar lithological content recognizable in the field
repetition of similar beds
predominantly similar beds with subordinate intercalations of other
rocks (e.g. pebbles)
rhythmic repetition of different rocks (e.g. flysch)
Ikitelli reef, NW Turkey (Thrace)
Reefs in the world
Bleaching
Bedding types:
Bedded:
Cross-bedding (originally oblique): uni-directional current (e.g.
rivers)

pinching out
interfingering with another bed (lateral change of material)

predominantly similar beds with subordinate intercalations of
other rocks (e.g. pebbles)
Parallel bedding in sandstones - Nevada
Parallel bedding - Canada
Bedding and cleavage (schistozity): Devonian – N England
Montana - cleavage
Relationship
of bedding
and cleavage
Nevada – recumbent (lying) fold
Nevada – recumbent (lying) fold: close-up view
Bedding types:
Bedded:
rivers but also winds)

pinching out
interfingering with another bed (lateral change) (Walther’s law)

Cross-bedding in Permian red sandstone, Balaton Highland, Hungary
Lower Triassic conglomerate, Mecsek Hills, S Hungary
Dry Fork Dome – Nevada, USA
Bedding types:
Bedded:
rivers)

pinching out
interfingering with another bed (lateral change of material) (Walther’s law)
erosional (unconformity) or tectonical (see later)

predominantly similar beds with subordinate intercalations of other rocks
(e.g. pebbles)
rhythmic repetition of different rocks (e.g. flysch = sandstone + siltstone)
Walther’s
law
Permian
W Hungary
Bedding types:
Bedded:
rivers)

pinching out

Bedding types:
Bedded:
rivers)

pinching out

Jurassic radiolarite (below) and limestone (above)
Tata Geopark, Hungary
Permian (below) and Lower Triassic (above) sandstone in Mecsek Hills (S Hungary)
Upper Cretaceous flysch
Lanckorona, Poland
Termination of formations:
Due to paleogeographic reasons it passes laterally into another formation

(interfingering)
Concordantly/conformably (without any significant gap) passes up to another
formation
With unconformity:
1. Paraconformly (with significant age difference but with not any trace of
erosion) passes up to another formation (called also penaccordantly)
2. Disconformly (with significant gap and erosional surface but no
difference in dip) passes up to another formation (called also erosinal discordance)
3. With angular unconformity (erosinal gap + difference in dip due to
tectonic movements)
4. Nonconformity = termination of magmatic or metamorphic rocks by the
overlying sedimentary rocks
1. 2. 3. 4.
Bükk Mts.
Permian/Triassic boundary, Balaton Highland, Hungary
Conformable Jurassic sequence
Gerecse Hills, Hungary

(interfingering)
formation
With unconformity:
tectonic movements)
1. 2. 3. 4.

(interfingering)
formation
With unconformity:
tectonic movements)
1. 2. 3. 4.
Rakacaszend (Hungary), Devonian—Carboniferous paraconformity
Villány Hills, Hungary: Jurassic–Cretaceous paraconformity

(interfingering)
formation
With unconformity:
tectonic movements)
1. 2. 3. 4.
Portugal
Mississippian, Tennessee
N Colorado

(interfingering)
formation
With unconformity:
tectonic movements)
1. 2. 3. 4.
Siccar Point, Scotland
South Wales
Portugal – C/T

(interfingering)
formation
With unconformity:
tectonic movements)
1. 2. 3. 4.
Grand Canyon
Australia, Permian
Catalca, NW Turkey
China
N Sea, Jurassic
North Sea 2
Lithostratigraphical correlation (with limited outcropping):
based on the similarity of lithological features and stratigraphical position
field-trips, aerial photos, geometrical methods (cross-sections,

projections)
in boreholes: geophysical methods (well-logging = carottage)

electric conductivity (SP: standard potential)
porosity of rocks
porous rock: much water: good conductivity:
low resistance
non-porous rock: little water: poor conductivity:
high resistance
natural radiation (natural gamma)
seismic profiles (in hydrocarbon exploration)
Good outcrop conditions – Libya, 2002

projections)

porosity of rocks
low resistance
high resistance
Field-trips (Lybia, 2002)
Lybia, 2002
Lybia, 2002

projections)

porosity of rocks
low resistance
high resistance
Well logging
South Viking graben
Biostratigraphy
The base unit is the biozone, a rock body containing similar fossil
content independently from the lithological features. Because of
paleogeographic features there are no global biozones.
Some parts (mostly shells) of some former living beings have been
preserved in some rocks. This process is called fossilization and the
remains of ancient living beings are called fossils. They are investigated
by an independent science called paleontology.
For fossils biological nomenclature and classification are applied

(species, genus, family, class, etc.). For a species the term taxon is
widely used.
Dollo’s rule: evolution is irreversible: once a taxon had became extinct, it

did not re-appear in unchanged form (recent analogue: Elvis Presley
and his imitators). This rule is based on Darwin’s theory on evolution.
Consequently, rocks of different age contain different fossils. Thus, the
age of fossil-containing rocks can be determined based on their fossil-
content.
Good age-determining fossils are:
- short living (0.5-3 million years)

- with wide geographical distribution (1000 km-s)
forms of geographical diffusion:
plankton (floating) organisms
nekton (swimming) organisms
benthos (living on the sea bottom -
organisms along the continental margins)
- frequent due to their with good fossilization ability
- enough small to find them in drill cores
Biozonation:
with index fossils: sudden appearance and extinction

with a characteristic co-occurring assemblage of fossils
with the joint, overlapping occurrence of two taxa
with the evolutionary degree of a given member of a
phylogenetic lineage (phylozones)
Why biozones are not global?

in different ecological conditions different organisms live
there are often (paleo)geographical barriers between similar
environments:
seas between continents
ocean between shallow seas
climatic barriers
Based on them paleogeographical provinces can be encountered

Alveolina-stratigraphy based on segmentation of
evolutionary lineages (Hottinger, 1960)
Stratigraphy based on the evolution of the Nummulites
perforatus-group according to Schaub (1981)
Evolutionary lineages of genus Asterocyclina
Morphometric segmentation
of evolutionary lineages and
Miogypsina-stratigraphy
based on it (Drooger, 1963)
Lineages are arbitrarily segmented

into taxa defined by their boundaries
by using a relevant, quantitative,
evolutionary parameter
Populations (not specimens!)
belonging to the given lineage are
arranged into particular (sub)species
by the arithm. mean ± standard error
of the relevant parameter
The nature of
zones obtained by
segmentation of
evolutionary
lineages
Sites of
reticulate
Nummulites
with their
supposed age
(chamber length in the 3. whorl)
Evolution of the reticulate

Nummulites fabianii -lineage
(proloculus
diameter)
Evolution and morphometric
segmentation of reticulate Nummulites
=200-300 µm,
irregular mesh
Cmean>300 µm
=200-300 µm, N. fichteli
N. bormidiensis
heavy reticulation (upper Pria- (upper Rupelian)
N. fabianii bon-lower
(Priabon- Rupelian)
lower Rupel)
N. ptukhiani =140-200 µm
(lower Bartonian) N. hormoensis
=100-140 µm (upper Barton)
<100 µm N. garganicus
N. bullatus(lower Barton)
(lowermost
Bartonian
Nummulites fabianii–lineage
Evolution of
Heterostegina
in the
Mossano
section
P: proloculus diameter
X: Operculinid reduction
S: Heterosteginid escalation
Eocene Heterostegina
and Spiroclypeus
Sites and associated fossils

Late Bartonian to
Priabonian evolution of
Heterostegina
on the P-X bivariate
plot
[population means at the
68% confidence level]
P: diameter of proloculus
X: number of
operculinid chambers
Definition of Eocene heterosteginid taxa and their stratigraphic position
H. armenica armenica H. a. tigrisensis H. r. italica
Xmean > 8 H. r. mossanensis
<8
H. r. reticulata
H. r. helvetica
SBZ 18B < 1.7
Late Bartonian 2A
SBZ 18A = 1.7–2.8 SBZ
Late Bartonian 1 H. r. multifida 19B–20
SBZ 19A
„Middle”
H. r. hungarica = 2.7–4.4 Basal
Priabonian
SBZ 18C Priabonian
H. reticulata = 4.4–7.2
Late Bartonian 3C H. gracilis
tronensis
SBZ 18C
Late Bartonian 3B
= 7.2–11
SBZ 18C
= 11–17 Late Bartonian 3A
Xmean > 17 SBZ 18B

Late Bartonian 2B 1 mm
SBZ 18B SBZ 20
Late Bartonian 2A Late Priabonian
Correlation of biozones
neighbouring (paleo)environments are overlapping

continental and marine sediments can be correlated based on
their palynomorphs (spores and pollens)
By using these data the global chronostratigraphic/geochronological

subdivision of the Phanerozoic was established at the middle and end of
the 19. century, which is still used recently (Devonian, Jurassic,
Cretaceous, Eocene, etc.).
The type of particular elements of this chronostratigraphic/geochronologic

framework is the stratotype, a sequence of rocks in a given geographical
location. Recently the basement of each particular stage is marked by
„golden spike”. The given stage extends from its basement to the
basement of the subsequent stage (from one golden spike to the next
one). The given age equals with the time necessary for the deposition of
rocks in the given stage.
Middle Jurassic
Central Europe
Correlation of biozones
neighbouring (paleo)environments are overlapping

continental and marine sediments can be correlated based on
their palynomorphs (spores and pollens)
By using these data the global chronostratigraphic/geochronological

subdivision of the Phanerozoic was established at the middle and end of
the 19. century, which is still used recently (Devonian, Jurassic,
Cretaceous, Eocene, etc.).
The type of particular elements of this chronostratigraphic/geochronologic

framework is the stratotype, a sequence of rocks in a given geographical
location. Recently the basement of each particular stage is marked by
„golden spike”. The given stage extends from its basement to the
basement of the subsequent stage (from one golden spike to the next
one). The given age equals with the time necessary for the deposition of
rocks in the given stage.
Golden spike at the base of Turonian (late Cretaceous)
in Pueblo (Colorado, USA)

Importance of The Knowledge On The Earth's History: Coal

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Importance of The Knowledge On The Earth's History: Coal

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Importance of the knowledge on the Earth’s history

1. Particular raw materials occur in great quantity in rocks of

Coal: Carboniferous, Eocene and Miocene but not from

Spatial characteristics of these structures can be read from

By integrating and synthesizing stratigraphical and paleoecological

1. their succession (geochronology)

Knowledge of the Earth’s history strongly effects

By integrating and synthesizing stratigraphical and paleoecological

1. their succession (geochronology)

Knowledge of the Earth’s history strongly effects

Stratigraphy studies the hammerable relicts of Earth’s history. It is

Rock bodies should be categorized due to their temporal and

During categorization rock bodies are:

Lithostratigraphy: used for macroscopically distinguishable rock bodies

Chronostratigraphy: for co-eval rock bodies. The basal unit is the

Chronostratigraphic unit Geochrolological unit Example

The smallest lithostratigraphical unit: a homogeneous sediment

Basic rule of stratigraphy: Steno’s rule of deposition:

Exceptions: pebbles, boulders, olistostromes (slided exotic blocks

Olistostromes: matrix (deep-marine sediment) + olistoliths (exotic

The smallest lithostratigraphical unit: a homogeneous sediment

Basic rule of stratigraphy: Steno’s rule of deposition:

Exceptions: pebbles, boulders, olistostromes (slided exotic blocks

Olistostromes: matrix (deep-marine sediment) + olistoliths (exotic

Lateral termination of beds:

Grouping beds into a formation:

Lateral termination of beds:

Grouping beds into a formation:

Lateral termination of beds:

Grouping beds into a formation:

Lateral termination of beds:

Grouping beds into a formation:

Lateral termination of beds:

Grouping beds into a formation:

Lateral termination of beds:

Grouping beds into a formation:

Due to paleogeographic reasons it passes laterally into another formation

Due to paleogeographic reasons it passes laterally into another formation

Due to paleogeographic reasons it passes laterally into another formation

Due to paleogeographic reasons it passes laterally into another formation

Due to paleogeographic reasons it passes laterally into another formation

Due to paleogeographic reasons it passes laterally into another formation

based on the similarity of lithological features and stratigraphical position

field-trips, aerial photos, geometrical methods (cross-sections,

in boreholes: geophysical methods (well-logging = carottage)

based on the similarity of lithological features and stratigraphical position

field-trips, aerial photos, geometrical methods (cross-sections,

in boreholes: geophysical methods (well-logging = carottage)

based on the similarity of lithological features and stratigraphical position

field-trips, aerial photos, geometrical methods (cross-sections,

in boreholes: geophysical methods (well-logging = carottage)

For fossils biological nomenclature and classification are applied

Dollo’s rule: evolution is irreversible: once a taxon had became extinct, it

- short living (0.5-3 million years)

with index fossils: sudden appearance and extinction

Why biozones are not global?

Based on them paleogeographical provinces can be encountered

Lineages are arbitrarily segmented

Evolution of the reticulate

Sites and associated fossils

Xmean > 17 SBZ 18B

neighbouring (paleo)environments are overlapping