a critical re examination of the petrology of the no 5 block coal in eastern kentucky with special attention to the origin of inertinite macerals in the splint lithotypes abstract the pennsylvanian no 5 block coal bed in eastern kentucky is one of several coals considered to be among the splint coals of the central appalachians the coals are generally noted for their inertinite rich dull lithotypes petrographic aspects of the lithologies reveal both fire derived and degradation derived inertinites in the assemblages fire is not an exclusive contributor to the origin to inertinite macerals there are many other biological factors such as the actions and interactions of fungi bacteria and insects which must be considered in the alteration of plant materials to form inertinite macerals fungi physically and chemically alter plant tissues to form macerals with a distinct morphology and chemistry different than those formed from fire and other abiological processes insects as secondary sources of wood degradation within a mire are responsible for physical such as boreholes from wood consuming insects and chemical alteration of plants degradation observed in macrinite may be boreholes from wood consuming insects such as mites some inertinite macerals in particular macrinite may be the result of inert fecal pellet conglomerates preserved in the mire overall macerals of the same name can form from multiple and complex biological and abiological processes

coal modeling using markov chain and monte carlo simulation analysis of microlithotype and lithotype succession abstract markov chain analysis was applied to the description of the megascopic lithologic transitions in pennsylvanian age eastern kentucky coals coal lithology modeling can be problematic as individual lithotypes can represent near instantaneous events vitrain prolonged degradation durain or fire induced loss of previously deposited lithologies fusain each of the latter lithotypes potentially representing vastly different amounts of time could be of the same thickness therefore equal thickness does not necessarily imply equal time probability transform matrices that employ uniform lithotype thicknesses were used allowing transitions between like lithotypes embedded markov chains thereby only considering transitions between different lithotypes and continuous time markov chains were employed in the assessment of a section of the no 5 block coal pennsylvanian breathitt group martin county kentucky embedded markov chains could successfully simulate the lithologic transitions a monte carlo random process was programmed to simulate thickness variations of lithotypes between the transitions the proposed hybrid model of monte carlo markov chain was able to predict the random pattern that underlies lithotypes transitions and thickness the hybrid monte carlo markov chain technique proved to be effective in the case study in simulating both the lithologic thickness variations and transitions

petrological recognition of bituminous inertinite enriched coals of the lower silesian coal basin central sudetes sw poland abstract upper carboniferous bituminous coals of the lower silesian coal basin occur in three main coal bearing regions the walbrzych region in the n the nowa ruda region in the se and the slupiec region in the sse in contrast to the walbrzych region coals representing acler formation from the nowa ruda and slupiec regions display elevated up to 39 0 mmf inertinite abundances these coals were analyzed petrographically to determine what factors may have caused such inertinite enriched coal formation and how these factors may have influenced the surrounding palaeoenvironment the results of microscopic analyses show high amounts of vitrinite relatively high content of inertinite low quantities of liptinite and low to high abundances of minerals values of random vitrinite reflectance are fairly constant average 1 07 and 1 19 in the slupiec and nowa ruda regions respectively and designate these coals as a medium volatile bituminous the reflectance of inertinite varies significantly from 1 58 to 4 90 this parameter has been used as a basis for further wildfire studies the values of inertinite reflectance and studies of its distribution and morphology imply occurrence of diversified types of wildfires ground surface and crown fires though surface fires distinctly prevailed estimated temperatures ranging from 405 c to 615 c the evidences for ground and crown fires are scarce and suggest just occasional episodes of such wildfires or may indicate transport of charred material from another source area domination of microscopic charcoal may suggest transport by wind but other transportation pathways e g by water cannot be excluded negative correlation of inertinite macerals and inorganic matter in some parts of studied profiles may reflect impact of wildfire on local erosional depositional system where increased share of mineral matter may suggest post fire clastic dominated input due to enhanced soil erosion

observations and experiments on the origin and formation of inertinite group macerals the inertinite group macerals include fusinite semifusinite inertodetrinite macrinite micrinite and funginite and secretinite which together replace sclerotinite the macrolithotype fusain comprises fusinite and semifusinite and is now widely accepted as charcoal formed by wildfire activity however alternative origins for fusinite and semifusinite are still claimed this paper considers the use of the terms pyrofusinite degradofusinite rank fusinite and primary fusinite misleading while the definitions of the terms funginite and secretinite are also considered problematic observations made on modern wildfire derived and volcanogenic charcoal assemblages using reflectance and scanning electron microscopy together with experimental charcoalification studies demonstrate that most if not all inertinite macerals have acquired their optical and physical characteristics through the action of elevated temperatures the criteria for the identification of charcoals produced by wildfire and volcanic activity are outlined and the role of the petrographic nomenclature system is discussed

the deforming bed debris rich basal ice continuum and its implications for the formation of glacial landforms flutes and sediments melt out till abstract there are two potentially important shear zones at the base of the glacier the deforming layer and or the debris rich basal ice layer these two layers have a significant effect on glacier motion and glacial erosional depositional and sedimentary processes however it is shown that most of the processes operating within these two layers are very similar this includes compression at the ice margin longitudinal extension and simple shear upglacier similar styles of shear zone and associated fabric development and similar incorporation transport and depositional processes in the past many criterion have been developed to identify distinct deposition from the deforming layer and the debris rich basal ice layer however if the processes within these layers are similar then it makes the distinct identification of these two separate layers in the geological record very difficult however it is also shown that the main differences between the two layers include rates of sediment movement processes and preservation potential the later is very important as it appears that the two layers are interconnected and that material is melted out from the debris rich basal ice to form a significant component of the deforming layer in this way the final depositional imprint is from the deforming layer and there is little likelihood of the debris rich basal ice layer being preserved undeformed this is demonstrated from modern glacial environments pleistocene flute studies and studies of pleistocene melt out tills from the u k u s a and germany

paleoecology of the fire clay coal bed in a portion of the eastern kentucky coal field vertically continuous increment samples of the fire clay coal bed mid middle pennsylvanian late westphalian b collected from a portion of the central appalachian basin were studied palynologically petrographically and geochemically in order to partially reconstruct the paleoecology and processes associated with peat formation in the ancient fire clay paleomire results indicate that four compositional groups can be identified they are 1 a lycospora vitrinite dominant group characterized by high percentages of lycospora and vitrinite macerals and generally low but variable ash yields and sulfur contents 2 a mixed palynoflora high vitrinite group that petrographically is similar to group 1 except that it contains a more diverse palynoflora 3 a mixed palynoflora moderate low vitrinite group characterized by various admixtures of lycopsid fern and calamite miospores increased percentages of liptinite and inertinite macerals and low ash yields and sulfur contents and 4 a mixed palynoflora high ash yield group characterized by high percentages of small lycopsid fern and occasionally calamite and cordaite miospores high liptinite and inertinite contents high ash yields and moderate to high sulfur contents the fire clay coal bed contains a distinctive flint clay parting of probable volcanic origin that naturally divides the bed into two benches these two benches upper and lower are highly disparte in occurrence appearance and composition in the study area the lower bench generally is thin 0 5 m laterally discontinuous and mainly composed of dull mainly durain coal lithotypes ash yields typically are high sulfur contents generally are moderate to high compositional group 4 the mixed palynoflora high ash yield group defines all of the increments examined from the lower bench in contrast the upper bench is thick 0 75 m laterally continous and mainly comprised of bright mainly clarain coal lithotypes overall ash yields and sulfur contents for this bench are generally low although vertical variation is apparent all of the compositional groups occur in the upper bench in some columns notably those that are thick and uninterrupted by clastic partings groups 1 and 4 often occupy basal coal layers and groups 2 and 3 occur in higher layers other columns especially those taken in areas of thin 0 5 m fire clay coal are dominated by groups 1 and 4

charcoal recognition taphonomy and uses in palaeoenvironmental analysis abstract charcoal predominantly the product of wildfires is abundant in many sedimentary rocks deposited in a wide range of environments from terrestrial to marine it also occurs in some volcanic rocks this paper outlines aspects of charcoal formation both natural and experimental and briefly considers the taphonomic processes leading to a final assemblage this is done using examples from recent fires and through experimentation the ways in which charcoal assemblages are recognized in the field and extraction in the laboratory are also considered methods of charcoal identification are presented the range of charcoalified plant organs that can be found is discussed and a wide range of study methods outlined including light microscopy dark field light microscopy reflectance microscopy scanning electron microscopy and synchrotron radiation x ray tomographic microscopy emphasis in this paper is on the study of macro and meso charcoal above180 m finally there is a consideration of the broad use of charcoal from plant evolution studies fire history studies vegetation studies anatomical studies climate and atmospheric studies and the wider importance of charcoal for the earth and biological sciences charcoal is information rich but yet is an under utilized resource

notes on the origin of inertinite macerals in coals observations on the importance of fungi in the origin of macrinite macrinite is a generally rare inertinite maceral often incorporating remnants and fragments of other macerals including vitrinite liptinite and other inertinite the associated inertinites include multiple forms of funginite funginite is also commonly found in association with vitrinite of slightly elevated reflectance and with degraded varieties of vitrinite together with the highly degraded macrinite the latter two associations are here inferred to be part of a continuum of fungal and microbial degradation of peat in any case the origin of some macrinite is potentially distinct from that of inertinite generated by fire

macrinite forms in pennsylvanian coals abstract fungi are not as evident in pennsylvanian coals as in younger mesozoic or cenozoic coals however macerals formed through the interaction of fungi with woody and herbaceous precursors do occur one example of this is in some forms of the maceral macrinite this study analyzes macrinite forms from geographically distinct pennsylvanian coals the macrinite observed in this study is characterized by the presence of inclusions of other detrital macerals indicative of ingestion and excretion similar to that documented in macrinite of younger coals this suggests that while not all ecologic niches in the pennsylvanian were filled in the same manner as in younger settings similar processes implying similar types of interactions between fungi bacteria and fauna were producing similar products

paleoecological interpretation of a middle pennsylvanian coal bed in the central appalachian basin u s a abstract at least 180 small spore species assignable to 62 miospore genera have been identified from the middle pennsylvanian hernshaw coal bed in southern west virginia and its stratigraphic equivalent the fire clay coal bed in eastern kentucky the established natural affinities of a majority of these miospore taxa indicate that the hernshaw fire clay peat swamp supported a diverse flora consisting of arborescent and herbaceous lycopods ferns tree like and small varities calamities and cordaites four floral groupings are recognized in the hernshaw fire clay coal bed the inferred paleoecology and vertical stratification of each of these four floral groupings is similar in structure to the phasic floral communities found in modern domed peat systems suggesting that the ancient hernshaw fire clay peat swamp was a domed deposit compositional characteristics petrographic make up ash yield and sulfur content associated with the four groupings are consistent with and support this interpretation where uninterrupted by inorganic partings the hernshaw fire clay coal bed commonly contains basal coal layers dominated by lycospora bearing arborescent lycopods with successive increments showing a progression to a more fern and herbaceous lycopod dominant flora in younger layers these observations are corroborated by petrographic analyses which show the bed to be compositionally stratified increments dominated by lycospora have high vitrinite contents in contrast to increments containing increased percentages of fern and herbaceous lycopod affiliated taxa that are enriched in inertinite macerals the volcanic ash fall preserved as the flint clay parting in the hernshaw fire clay coal bed had a considerable effect on the development of the ancient hernshaw fire clay peat swamp besides interrupting peat formation the presence of an inorganic substrate represent a major change in edaphic conditions within the swamp this disruption is demonstrated by a change in palynflora and by the establishment and proliferation of some plant groups notably cordaites and calamites that may have been better adapted to growth on mineral soils these palynologic and petrographic relationships thought to be indicative of a domed peat swamp origin are not confined to the hernshaw fire clay coal bed but appear to be characteristic of many coal beds in the appalachian basin and also of coal beds in other basins

deformation of glacial materials a j maltman b hubbard and m j hambrey special publication no 176 geological society publishing house bath 2000 344 pp isbn 1 06329 072 x

the organic geochemistry of coal from plant materials to coal coalification is a process that transforms plant remains under the influence of time temperature and possibly pressure to a black generally lustrous solid organic fossil fuel having a very complex chemistry although much has been learned in the past two centuries on coal chemistry we still have little knowledge of the way plant materials undergo these transformations the problem has been the existence of adequate characterization tools the advent of some new tools for structural elucidation of macromolecules has led to some revised thinking on coalification originally thought to be a process involving the full degradation of plant remains and subsequent reconstitution of these remains the general consensus today is that the process involves a selective preservation of certain resistant plant components followed by some minor reorganization of the biopolymers that survive the major components of plants do degrade and the resistant ones often constitute only a small fraction of the original mass of the plant materials this paper examines the most recent literature concerning coalification and focuses on the chemistry associated with coalification of certain recognizable plant remains that have been at the center of research activity for the past two decades thus we examine the recent knowledge of the chemistry of resistant biopolymers in extant and fossil wood cuticles resins spores and algae knowledge that has been assembled to establish the reaction pathways towards coal macromolecules

the age palaeoclimate palaeovegetation coal seam architecture mire types paleodepositional environments and thermal maturity of syn collision paralic coal from mukah sarawak malaysia abstract the mukah coal accumulated in the balingian formation where the time stratigraphic position is poorly defined by fauna though a probable late miocene age has always been assigned to this formation samples collected in the present study that yielded an abundance of casuarina pollen associated with occurrences of dacrydium stenochlaena palustris florschuetzia levipoli and also stenochlaena areolaris spores compare closely to zone pr9 of the palynological zonation of the malay basin and can be tied to depositional sequences of malay basin seismic sequences i2000 i3000 indicating an early miocene age for the studied coal the early miocene age shows that the mukah coal was formed during the collision between luconia block dangerous grounds with the borneo that lasted from late eocene to late early miocene the rapid increase of deposition base level caused by the collision is clearly reflected by the architecture of the mukah coal seams that were generally thin and also by the reverse order of the paleo peat bodies the studied coal samples contained large amounts of detrohuminite without the enrichment of liptinite group macerals usually explained by the dominance of herbaceous plants in the paleomires however the pollen assemblages recovered in the present study provide no support for a herbaceous swamp instead the peats were likely formed mainly from forest vegetation based on the recovery of dominant arboreal pollen assemblages in the present study palynomorph assemblages recovered in the present study with abundance of casuarina pollen associated with common occurrences of dacrydium strongly suggest kerangas vegetation and kerapah type peat swamps indicating a very wet climate the occurrence of rattan and pandanus pollens shows that the kerapah type peat swamps were locally bordered by rattan and pandanus swamps this shows that the prevailing use of coal petrography to discern the type of vegetation that was present in the peat forming mires may lead to wrong conclusions therefore a multi disciplinary approach must be applied for a more accurate and reliable spatial interpretation of the type of vegetation that was present in the peat forming mires consistent with the low sulphur content evidence from the palynomorph assemblages recovered from the coal seams shows that the coal forming peat was deposited in freshwater mires with little or no marine influence despite the fact that the accumulation of the mukah coal forming peat took place within a coastal plain setting moreover the fauna present in the host rock formation also suggested a brackish water environment of deposition

extending the database of permian palaeo wildfire on gondwana charcoal remains from the rio do rasto formation parana basin middle permian rio grande do sul state brazil abstract macroscopic charcoal has been recovered from a bonebed from the barro alto outcrop middle permian guadalupian rio do rasto formation in the southernmost part of the parana basin brazil during this time a global biotic crisis was taking place and changes in the palaeofloristic composition can be observed records of palaeowildfires from the guadalupian period are scarce on a global scale in the parana basin low plant diversity compared to the entirety of gondwana persists and just a few plant bearing localities have so far been described from the northern part of the basin in the studied locality macroscopic charcoal could be detected in an outcropping bonebed and the occurrence of palaeo wildfires was confirmed besides representing the first palaeobotanical data for the guadalupian of the southern part of the parana basin the charcoal remains analyzed here are also a significant record of the local environmental conditions during the increase in aridity observed during the guadalupian and lopingian in gondwana this contributes to the understanding of regional changes that took place during this interval

an investigation of wulantuga coal cretaceous inner mongolia macerals paleopathology of faunal and fungal invasions into wood and the recognizable clues for their activity coal macerals are the product of a complex series of decompositional and preservational pathways from living woody and herbaceous tissues to the variety of forms seen in coal the cretaceous wulantuga coal inner mongolia china offers an opportunity to observe a number of maceral forms resulting from these disparate pathways assemblages of coprolites within fusinite strongly suggest an origin related to arthropod ingestion and consequent in situ emplacement of the macrinitic coprolites within the damaged wood structure followed by combustion of the whole to achieve the observed reflectance

petrology and palynology of the no 5 block coal bed northeastern kentucky abstract the upper middle pennsylvanian middle westphalian d equivalent no 5 block coal bed eastern kentucky coal field of the central appalachian basin is a low sulfur compliance coal resource dominantly comprised of dull inertinite rich lithotypes ash yields tend to be highly variable in the no 5 block as does bed thickness and frequency of bed splitting this study describes the petrographic palynologic and geochemical characteristics of the no 5 block coal bed and reports on some temporal and spatial trends among these parameters in eastern northeastern kentucky petrographically the no 5 block coal is predominated by dull often high ash lithotypes with inertinite contents commonly exceeding 30 mmf the coal thins to the north northwest where it tends to be higher in vitrinite and sulfur content representatives of large and small lycopsids and ferns both tree like and small varieties dominate the no 5 block coal bed palynoflora calamite spores and cordaite pollen also occur but are less abundant small lycopsid densosporites spp and related crassicingulate genera and tree fern e g punctatisporites minutus laevigatosporites globosus spore taxa are most abundant in dull lithotypes bright lithotypes contain higher percentages of arboreous lycopsid spores lycospora spp regionally the no 5 block coal contains abundant torispora securis a tree fern spore specially adapted for desiccation prevention this along with overall high percentages of inertinite macerals suggest that peat accumulation may have taken place in a seasonally dry paleoclimate the no 5 block coal bed thickens rather dramatically in a nw se direction as does the frequency of coal bed splitting this phenomenon appears to be related to increased accomodation space in the southeastern portion of the study area perhaps via penecontemporaneous growth faulting maceral and palynomorph variations within the bed correspond with these changes thin coal along the northwestern margin tends to be vetrinite rich and contains abundant lycospora perhaps reflecting relatively stable peat forming conditions thicker coal to the southeast contains more inertinite high ash coal layers and inorganic partings spore floras contain more small lycopsid and tree fern components and are temporally variable perhaps indicating a more unstable peat forming environment

the burning of gondwana permian fires on the southern continent a palaeobotanical approach abstract fossil charcoal has widely been accepted as a direct indicator for the occurrence of palaeo wildfires in upper palaeozoic sediments of euramerica and cathaysia records of these remains are relatively common and regionally and stratigraphically more or less homogeneously distributed in terrestrial sequences on the other hand just a few records have been published for the permian of gondwana and only recently has it been demonstrated that macroscopic charcoals are also common here most permian macroscopic charcoal from gondwana is gymnospermous and has been reported from coal bearing strata macroscopic charcoal occurrences are spread out in different sequences and also in distinct stratigraphic intervals in the permian e g parana basin sakmarian artinskian of brazil karoo basin artinskian of south africa damodar basin lopingian of india and dead sea area changhsingian of jordan they range from peri glacial post glacial to warm temperate climatic systems throughout the permian macro and micro charcoal occurrences are compared to inertinite incidences to support the pyrogenic origin for these coal macerals and to provide an up to date overview on the known evidences of permian wildfires on gondwana in space and time

assessing the paradigm shift deformable glacier beds abstract during the mid 1980s glaciologists recognised that many glaciers and ice masses overlie soft sediments rather than hard bedrock these sediments are typically weaker than glacier ice and may therefore deform this realisation was heralded as a paradigm shift in glaciology since this realisation a wide body of theoretical and field based research has been undertaken to assess the mechanical and hydrological significance of such substrates we review the techniques and results of this work and attempt to assess this paradigm shift in glaciology and in particular its importance for quaternary scientists we suggest areas of research that remain unanswered and identify those in which glacial geology in particular may be able to inform glaciologists

solute partitioning in freezing soils one dimensional constant end plate temperature step freezing tests were conducted on a saturated clayey silt at various pore water salinities to establish the relationship between solute rejection and freezing conditions the rate of cooling a parameter that is a function of both frost penetration rate and temperature gradient in the frozen soil near the frost front is the main factor controlling solute partitioning between the solid ice and liquid phases it was also established that there is a threshold rate of cooling of 3 c day above which no solutes are rejected from the ice matrix for rates of cooling smaller than 0 1 c day which incidentally corresponds to most of the field freezing conditions more than 90 of the solutes are rejected from the pore ice key words freezing clayey silt saline solute exclusion rate of cooling

funginite resinite associations in coal abstract petrographic examination of a series of indian tertiary age coal seams some with 38 resinite mineral free basis showed that several had associations of funginite in resinite there are three primary mechanisms for incorporation of fungus into resinite 1 as an accidental inclusion for example as a fungal infection on an insect encapsulated in resin 2 infestation of fungus into tree whether into a wound or other point of entry with encapsulation by resin as a defense mechanism by the tree alternatively fungal hyphae could also be growing from another portion of the tree that is already infected and 3 resinicolous fungus using the resin as a food source in the coal samples examined while incidental fungal inclusion on invading insects cannot be eliminated we have seen no direct evidence for insects both encapsulation of invading fungus by resin and resinicolous relationships are among the associations observed

macrinite and funginite forms in cretaceous menefee formation anthracite cerrillos coalfield new mexico abstract inertinite macerals in the anthracite rank campanian menefee formation coal from the cerrillos coalfield santa fe county new mexico show a range of forms consistent with forms found in lower rank mesozoic and younger coals in particular funginite is recognized in these anthracites as is macrinite and fusinite formed following microbial degradation the macrinite in the menefee coal has forms that are consistent with fungal and or bacterial degradation of wood followed by the ingestion of the latter material by insects or other animals the regurgitation or excretion of the partially digested material and the coprophagous recycling of the latter product

petrographic geochemical and mycological aspects of miocene coals from the novaky and handlova mining districts slovakia abstract fungi have once again become a topic of interest to coal scientists in their roles as agents of maceral formation recent works have demonstrated that fungi occur in association with woody remains resins and cuticles in coalified materials of a variety of ages in addition to coal balls and compression impression fossils where they are already well known these forms however have only been viewed as cross sections along a polished plane assigning the fungi to family much less determining which fungi they represent is very difficult in this orientation fungal identifications are necessary to the continuance of this research into the origin of coal macerals because of the need to know if macrinite begins to form prior to incorporation into the peat which could be demonstrated by its association with symbiotic and parasitic rather than saprophytic fungi this study examines the fungal remains recovered from eight coal samples from miocene age coals in the novaky and handlova mining districts of slovakia with the aim of making this distinction these samples were collected in slovakia as part of the us geological survey s world coal quality inventory program and provided to the authors the samples were processed using the o keefe technique for subbituminous coals and mounted for observation in transmitted light forms were identified using published works and consultation with a modern mycologist forms recovered through palynologic processing were compared to and correlated with forms seen in cross section under reflected light

microscopic evidence of subglacial deformation abstract subglacial deformation is by now a well established process however recognition of this process in pleistocene tills is not always clear studies of thin sections of pleistocene tills show that there are a variety of microscopic features caused by deformation this paper gives a review of microscopic evidence for subglacial deformation and starts with a case where deformation could be established macroscopically then traces the microscopic features through planar and rotational movements which are described and separated accordingly attention is also given to features caused by crushing of grains and sediment dewatering these studies indicate that almost all basal tills show evidence of subglacial deformation rather than sedimentary derivation this implies that if we want to understand subglacial processes such tills should be described in tectonic rather than sedimentary terminology

petrological geochemical and mineralogical compositions of the low ge coals from the shengli coalfield china a comparative study with ge rich coals and a formation model for coal hosted ge ore deposit abstract to better understand the formation mechanism of coal hosted ge ore deposits this paper reports on the petrological mineralogical and geochemical compositions of the low ge coals in the shengli coalfield inner mongolia china using optical microscopy field emission scanning electron microscopy x ray fluorescence x ray diffraction and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry the samples in the present study closely neighbor the previously reported wulantuga coal hosted ge ore deposit both no 6 coal in comparison with the wulantuga ge rich coals the low ge coals of the shengli field display higher moisture 27 59 on average and lower pyritic sulfur contents 0 53 both the low ge and ge rich coals are generally high in inertinite and have varying but relatively low huminite contents preservation of fecal pellets as macrinite is notable in both the low ge and ge rich coals and the position of the fecal pellets appears to be within tunnels or chambers within the wood quartz kaolinite pyrite and gypsum are the major crystalline phases identified in most of the ge rich and low ge coals but the low ge coals contain significantly less pyrite and are more abundant in non mineral ca and mg ca oxalate of authigenic origin is observed generally occurring as cell fillings in the low ge coals otherwise mineral free organic matter in the low ge coals would be expected to have an inherent ash yield of around 6 derived from the inorganic elements mainly non mineral ca and mg that occur either in the organic matter or as dissolved ions in the pore water and form the sulfate species in low temperature oxygen plasma ash residues the highly elevated trace elements including be ge as sb w hg and tl that occur in the ge rich coals of the wulantuga deposit are significantly depleted in the low ge coals lateral migration of ge w and as hg sb tl rich solutions through the original peat swamp for the wulantuga ge ore deposit has led to significant enrichment of ge on the margin of the coal basin but decreasing ge concentrations toward to the inner part of the basin such a migration direction is different to those in the previously reported for the hydrothermal solutions in the lincang yunnan of china and spetzugli russian far east ge ore deposits where the solutions migrated vertically from granite to peat along faults and led to a dome shaped ge distribution in the relevant coal seam