evaluation of various satellite sensors for waterline extraction in a coral reef environment majuro atoll marshall islands abstract the ability of five satellite sensor bands ikonos band 4 terra aster bands 3 and 4 and landsat etm bands 4 and 5 was examined to extract the waterline at coral reef coasts majuro atoll marshall islands using different wavelength regions near infrared nir and shortwave infrared swir and different spatial resolutions 4 15 and 30 m after performing georeferencing and normalization of the images density slicing was used to extract the waterline comparisons of extracted waterline positions with ground level data for eight transects and global positioning system gps tracks of the island shorelines showed that nir bands were superior to swir bands because of the characteristics of the coral reef coasts including a lack of foam and suspended sediments which can affect the nir wavelength region if present and the presence of remnant water on reef flats during low tide which can affect the swir wavelength region a linear relationship was found between the estimation errors of waterline positions and the spatial resolutions of the nir sensors analysis on estimation errors and image costs showed that terra aster band 3 was the most cost effective sensor for extracting waterlines with reasonable accuracy the results serve as general guidelines for using satellite derived data to estimate intertidal topography and detect and monitor shorelines in coral reef environments

a multidisciplinary study of the golbasi harmanli coal seam se turkey abstract this study focuses on the pleistocene golbasi harmanli coal deposit located in the east anatolian fault zone eafz se turkey the principal aim of the study is to determine factors that controlled peat accumulation by means of palaeontological data routine coal analyses proximate ultimate mineralogical composition based on xrd and sem edx and coal petrography the basin infillings consist of alluvial fluvial and lacustrine sediments palaeolake levels along with sedimentation were presumably controlled by the eafz during late pliocene to holocene times the investigated coal bearing zone is composed of a thick coal seam up to 39 m with thin clastic intercalations of fossiliferous claystones palaeontological data from these clastic bands imply that the coal accumulated during middle pleistocene times an uncommon period for the formation of thick coals in turkey we suggest that the movements of the eafz caused rapid subsidence and along with favourable climatic conditions allowed large peat accumulation in a relatively short period of time the results of proximate and ultimate analyses from 29 coal samples obtained from two cores show high ash yields av 32 relatively low sulphur content av 1 8 low net calorific value av 11 6 mj kg and low total carbon content av 35 5 on an air dry basis the mean random reflectances of eu ulminite b indicate a low rank coal maceral compositions and maceral indices indicate that the peat accumulated under limno telmatic mesotrophic conditions with peat forming vegetation being composed of mainly herbaceous plants ostracoda and mollusca fauna from intercalating clastic layers within the coal seam provide important information about the geographic distribution of fossil taxa environmental evaluation of the intercalations and the age of the studied coal seam the ostracoda species gomphocythere geareyi was identified within the coal seam for the first time humphcypris subterranea is the first fossil record of this ostracoda genus in turkey these along with the presence of the gastropoda subspecies bithynia phialensis syriaca imply a transport into the palaeomire via migratory birds from the eastern mediterranean areas discovery of humphcypris subterranea bithynia phialensis syriaca and the african originated genus gomphocythere in the golbasi harmanli coal deposit marks their northernmost worldwide occurrence

coal maceral ratios as indicators of environment of deposition do they work for ombrogenous mires an example from the miocene of new zealand abstract maceral indices were applied to sub bituminous coals of the maryville coal measures as a means of interpreting environment of deposition very low amounts of inertinite and ubiquitous bituminite lead to difficulties in interpretation of the maceral ratios comparison with modern analogues suggests the theoretical basis for discrimination of mire type by maceral ratios is not well founded on the following grounds absence of well structured wood tissues does not imply the absence of arborescent vegetation inertinite formation may be unrelated to vegetation gelification is used in a geochemical sense and does not indicate groundwater table level as supposed for biochemical gelification detrital macerals often result from in situ fragmentation and not transportation

petrological and organic geochemical investigation of recent peats with known environments of deposition abstract a series of recent peat samples from tropical sub tropical and temperate locations were investigated using coal petrographical and organic geochemical techniques maceral and biomarker compositions were examined to see if they correlated or diverged from the known environment of deposition of the peats the proportion of humotelinite was related to the water depth and the frequency of dry periods the ph and trophic level have a modifying influence on the preservation of tissues furthermore the proportions of sclerotinite in the peats seem to reflected the oxygen status in the mire which was also mirrored in the abundance of humic and fulvic acids a facies diagram was calculated for the peat samples to see how maceral indices would fare in interpreting their known environments of deposition the results proved to be generally unsuccessful as the herbaceous and woody peats did not always give the predicted high humodetrinite and humotelinite compositions respectively the aliphatic hydrocarbon fraction from the extracts of the peat samples show that mainly odd numbered n alkanes are present diterpenoids triterpenoids and hopanoids were found in most samples and were mainly unsaturated in nature the relative proportion of hopanoids in pears appears to be related to bacterial activity in acidic environments de a triterpenoids were also detected in the peat stage of diagenesis in an angiosperm dominated peat type mariscus polycyclic aromatic triterpenoids were present in the aromatic fraction of the extract their occurrence and proportion appears to be related to the degree of humification in a taxodium peat mono di and triaromatic diterpenoids were detected the presence of these aromatic biomarkers indicate the rapid formation of these compounds in the peat stage mainly mediated by microbial activity

decoupling δ13c response to palaeoflora cycles and climatic variation in coal a case study from the late permian bowen basin queensland australia abstract the late permian coal measures of the bowen basin australia express both environmental and climatic changes that occurred prior to the permian triassic p t boundary in order to decouple the influence of environmental factors salinity ph base level and temperature from depositional and climatic factors atmospheric co2 in organic 13c a high resolution study was performed on 24 coal seams total 24 6 m in the late permian stratigraphy in the northern bowen basin the late permian stratigraphy of the bowen basin records a transition from deltaic and lacustrine conditions within the tinowan formation and black alley shale formation to fluvial deposition in the kaloola and bandanna formations intermittent volcanism is recorded by tuff layers during periods of peat accumulation variations of coal lithotypes were recorded and formed the basis of sampling for petrography and isotope analysis coal samples were etched to expose cellular anatomy and systematically identified to recognise palaeoflora assemblages when observed within seam 13c of the coal varied cyclically 13c enriched depleted enriched as a response to environmental changes expressed in palaeoflora communities the total range of 13c was 26 6 to 21 9 the overall trend of 13c progresses to increasing 13c enrichment corresponding with dull lithotypes rich in inertinite which indicate fluctuations in base level the 13c enrichment peaks at 22 5 within the kaloola member and shifting rapidly toward a depletion maximum 26 6 of 13c in the upper bandanna formation prior to the p t boundary these changes are expressed in palaeoflora communities where ecosystems shifted from dominant glossopteris flora to climax community flora including palaeosmunda cycadales and ginkgo suited to temperate early mesozoic climates the results of this study represent an insight into the effects of environmental variables on 13c uptake of plants the identification of flora within coal gives an insight into palaeowetland evolution and can be partnered with classic petrographical techniques for integrated analysis in coals both the geochemistry and the anatomical aspects of coal represent an important tool for future palaeowetland research

towards the general circulation of the north atlantic ocean abstract after reviewing the inverse method we apply it to deducing the general circulation of the north atlantic ocean we argue that the method is purely classical in nature being nothing more than a mathematical statement of the principles upon which nearly all previous circulation schemes have been based the smoothed solution is shown to represent the components of the flow field that are determinable independently of the initial reference level we then produce two circulation schemes based upon two different initial reference levels 2000 decibars and the bottom called north atlantic 1a and north atlantic 1b respectively the models share many features in common and are strikingly similar to several previous schemes most notably those of jacobsen and defant in the region west of bermuda no simple level of no motion emerges in the flow fields rather the velocity sections exhibit a complex cellular structure zonally integrated meridional cells of models and of the uniquely determined components are very similar showing a poleward movement of warm saline water compensated at depth by a return flow of cold fresher water the magnitudes of the implied polar sea overflows and the heat fluxes are in good agreement with previous estimates finally it is argued that neither these model circulations nor any other circulation pattern based upon the existing data can be regarded as actually representing the true time average ocean circulation because the data are aliased in time the frequency wavenumber spectrum of the ocean is inadequately known to determine the resulting errors

natural hazards of shoreline bluff erosion a case study of horizon view lake huron abstract assessment of hazard of erosion of shoreline bluffs requires an understanding of the natural processes and human use in these high risk areas as an important component associated with erosion and natural evolution bluff shorelines alongshore sediment transport is an essential process in defining the hazard associated with bluff erosion the objective of this study is the integration of an understanding of alongshore sediment transport into a proposed management framework for cohesive bluff shorelines a study of a ten kilometre area along the southeastern lake huron shoreline at the cottage community of horizon view north of goderich ontario examines the natural and human components which have led to the development of bluff erosion hazards although dominant sediment transport is north to south alongshore the pattern of wave refraction during south and southwest waves suggests frequent northward transport of material from the 30 meter high bluffs at the site examination of beach sediments and bluff conditions support this finding and indicate long term sediment supply and bluff instability planning of future development at this location must appreciate the potential for continued bluff erosion and the study results suggest that when combined with other factors such as wave energy bluff morphology groundwater conditions vegetation cover land uses and impacts of fluctuating lake levels studies of alongshore sediment transport can be a useful tool to assist in management of cohesive coastlines and understanding the natural hazard of bluff erosion in developed coastal areas a management framework for cohesive bluffs attempts to integrate an understanding of natural processes with human uses and land use policies in order to identify assess and select a preferred management option reflecting this understanding

a comparison between the generalized digital environmental model and levitus climatologies two ocean climatologies of temperature and salinity the generalized digital environmental model gdem and the climatological atlas of the world ocean are compared dynamic height fields are computed by season from each climatology for the north atlantic north pacific and indian oceans and are compared on a 1 latitude longitude grid large scale oceanographic features are generally found to be similarly represented in both climatologies gdem appears to render better representations of seasonal variability and regions of high current shear such as the gulf stream because of a different smoothing method and a finer grid spacing maps of dynamic heights from both climatologies are presented and their similarities and differences are discussed the methodology for the construction of gdem is also described in detail

the relationship between coal petrography and depositional environments from selected coal basins in canada abstract this paper reviews current research in canada relating to the sedimentology of coal bearing sequences and the petrographic character of contained seams from selected intermontane and foreland basin settings the intermontane cumberland and stellarton basins of nova scotia contain westphalian coal bearing strata of different character coal seams that formed in fluvial dominated depositional environments of the springhill coalfield cumberland basin commonly brighten upward and laterally display distinct areal zones a piedmont zone formed by interfingering of mire and distal fan sheetflow deposits an inner mire zone largely devoid of partings and a riverine zone with large scale seam splits about multistorey sandstone bodies maceral based groundwater influence and vegetation indices combined with miospore analyses indicate that the peat precursors of the no 3 seam of the inner mire zone accumulated from a groundwater influenced rheotrophic to mesotrophic forest mire swamp fen both the gelification of lignin derived maceral precursors and the domination of mire vegetation by lycopsid trees reflect this groundwater influence coal that formed from the frequently flooded paleomires of the stellarton basin is generally dull microbanded and mineral rich the location of mires within the basin was largely determined by basin subsidence rates when subsidence rates were high mires developed around the margin of a central basin lake coal seams that formed from these mires e g mcleod seam thicken toward basin margins and grade into sapropelic shale near the basin centre petrographic analyses of the mcleod seam suggest development from limnic to wet forest swamp conditions and a return to a limnic environment at the top of the seam thick coal e g foord seam developed near the basin centre during periods of lower subsidence rates and grades into red beds and paleosols toward the basin margin the foord seam of the basin centre is characterized by low mineral matter contents and a high proportion of degraded vitrinite macerals in the central parts of the seam interpreted to reflect prolonged peat accumulation with very limited clastic input the top and the base of the seam in contrast were subjected to significant clastic input as indicated by microbanding associated with significant amounts of detrital minerals and macerals coal seams of the lower cretaceous gates formation in the western canada basin formed in depositional settings ranging from coastal swamps strandplains to the upper delta plain strandplain coal is characterized by great lateral continuity and substantial thickness whereas coal of the upper delta plain is thin and discontinous the strandplain coal is characterized by variable lithotype sequences oscillatory brightening up dulling up maceral based facies parameters indicate a wide range of mire facies for these lithotype successions open moor forest moor herbaceous and or shrubby marshes and slightly raised mires results from megafossil and phyteral analyses suggest that the coastal plain mires were dominated by taxodiaceous conifers whereas ferns angiosperms and herbaceous lycopods are thought to have occupied the more marshy and or marginal stream lake side environments

characteristics of type iii kerogen in coal bearing strata from the pennsylvanian upper carboniferous in the ruhr basin western germany comparison of coals dispersed organic matter kerogen concentrates and coal mineral mixtures abstract quality quantity and maturity of coal and dispersed terrigenous organic matter were studied on six coal bearing intervals in duckmantian strata pennsylvanian upper carboniferous of the ruhr basin western germany between 10 and 40 samples were collected from fresh drill cores of each interval typically consisting of a coal seam as well as clastic roof and floor strata sandstone siltstone claystone coal seams constitute about 8 vol of the succession studied the samples were analysed by organic petrological methods and rock eval pyrolysis maturity expressed in terms of vitrinite reflectance is between 0 75 and 1 0 for the six successions studied the total amount of dispersed organic matter in clastic rocks is about half of that stored in coal seams both containing predominantly vitrinite significant differences between rock eval parameters determined on whole rock samples and kerogen concentrates were observed especially with respect to hydrogen index hi values thus the hi of the coal is about twice as high as that of the dispersed organic matter although the maceral composition is similar the effects of minerals were further examined by rock eval pyrolysis of artificial mixtures of coal lignite powder and different minerals reduced hi values are partly explained by the retention of generated hydrocarbons on mineral surfaces and partly by reactions of generated fluids with pyrite in kerogen concentrates

the genesis of coal from the viewpoint of coal petrology abstract the genesis of the microscopic constituents of coal macerals and of maceral associations microlithotypes representing various coal facies is discussed in the light of recent advances that have been made in the study of coals and modern peats peat microscopy especially promoted the understanding of humification and biological gelification both of which are decisive for the genesis of huminites vitrinites in brown coals and hard coals respectively microbial activity during peatification has been documented by chemists microbiologists and petrologists and recently by electron microscopical observations in coals this activity leads to the incorporation of lipid substances into the humic matter and later influences the chemical physical and technological properties of vitrinites geochemical gelification transforms the huminites of brown coals into the vitrinites of bituminous coals and is probably caused by the onset of bitumen generation in coal in this process the hydrogel brown coal is transformed to the bitumogel bituminous coal coal as a source rock for oil has become an important research subject for coal petrologists and oil exploration the formation of more or less liquid bitumen and its later cracking to gaseous hydrocarbons leads to the coalification jumps of the macerals especially liptinites and vitrinites and to the generation of secondary macerals like exsudatinite bitumen and micrinite dead carbon bituminization in coal has been revealed by the use of fluorescence microscopy which also found the presence of new liptinite macerals bituminite fluorinite and exsudatinite and suggests a higher proportion of algal material in coals than was thought earlier the genesis of various types of inertinite macerals will probably become an increasingly important subject of research especially with regard to rank inertinites that seem to attain their high inertinitic reflectance initially during coalification besides the origin of macerals the origin of various coal facies in terms of maceral associations is considered in relation to the palaeogeographic depositional milieu the peat forming vegetation palaeoclimate water and nutrient supply acidity marine and calcareous influence and fire with examples from euramerican carboniferous coals gondwana coals and tertiary brown coals vegetation water and oxygen supply eh conditions are most important for the generation of coal facies vegetation has been reconstructed with the help of palaeobotany including palynology cuticular analysis and wood anatomy in brown coals and with the study of petrified permineralized peats preserved in coal balls the microscopical investigations of botanically recognizable plant remains isolated from coals or accompanying rocks has been especially informative however the results of palynological and cuticular analyses should be evaluated with caution considering the varying resistance of palynomorphs and cuticles and in the case of palynomorphs their possible extrapaludal origin microscopical studies of modern peats that were derived from different types of vegetation growing in different hydrological environments have been very helpful in interpreting coal facies especially in brown coals the much disputed origin of brown coal lithotypes is considered in detail for hard coals there seems to be agreement that coal layers rich in vitrites and liptinite poor clarite were deposited in wet forest swamps that microlayered liptinite rich clarites are sub aquatic humic muds and that inertinite rich durites represent oxidized peats the origin of liptinite rich durites is controversial either subaquatic muds or oxidized peats the latter perhaps from raised bogs a recent trend in the literature is the assumption that many if not all mineable coal seams have been deposited in raised bogs under ombrogenous oligotrophic conditions although raised bogs with a dense arborescent vegetation are known from borneo it seems not probable that most seams which were deposited in foredeeps or steadily sinking graben zones are of ombrogenous origin although a succession from relatively wet and eutrophic to relatively dry and oligotrophic conditions may be true for occasional seams but as in modern peats striking changes of coal facies are commonly caused by hydrological events e g inundations as a consequences of crevasses or of fires that burned the peat the origin of the inertinite rich gondwana coals is discussed in relation to their specific climatic conditions and a comparison with sub arctic peats is recommended coals influenced by marine and calcareous conditions are characterized by high contents of sulfur and pyrite as well as by hydrogen rich vitrinites with a relatively low reflectance and high fluorescence all due to a strong bacterial activity in peats of low acidity proposals for further research are made in the conclusions

controls on the chemical variability of peat types in a domed peat deposit baram river area sarawak malaysia pyrolysis gc ft ir fid and pyrolysis gc ms studies have been conducted on peat samples from the margin and central portions of a tropical domed peat deposit in the baram river area sarawak malaysia in order to determine the chemical variability of peat types found within the deposit in an effort to unmix the chemical variability of the samples an extended qmodel program was utilized which produced a series of 4 end members these end members composed of various proportions of each of the 49 pyrolysis products monitored in this study are combined in various proportions to reproduce the composition of each of the 32 samples comparison of the chemical data with previous petrographic and megascopic analysis reveals parallel trends between the input from the end members and the makeup and degree of degradation of each of the peat types from this analysis it can be concluded that the 4 end members produced in this analysis represent input from a guaiacyl lignins b lignin biodegradation products c cellulosic derived products and d syringyl lignins the inputs from the 4 end members can be traced to the type of plants and the degree of degradation in addition comparison of the spatial distribution of the 4 end members reveals that the samples in the central portion of the deposit have much more chemical variability than the highly degraded samples on the margin of the deposit

mineralogy petrography and organic geochemistry of miocene coal seams in the kinik coalfield soma basin western turkey insights into depositional environment and palaeovegetation abstract the kinik coalfield is located in the south westernmost part of the soma basin in western turkey and hosts all three miocene coal seams from bottom to top km2 km3 and kp1 this study presents the coal petrographical mineralogical and organic geochemical features of samples collected from two deep cores samples from seam km2 generally display low ash yields and high toc content whereas the km3 and kp1 seams are characterized by relatively high ash yields and low toc values furthermore total s content of the kp1 is very high up to 7 0 on dry basis the maceral composition the coal facies diagrams and the distributions of n alkanes and diterpenoids indicate changes of depositional conditions and vegetation in the palaeomires of the km2 seam during early miocene the precursor peat of km2 seam started accumulating under limnotelmatic conditions followed by pure telmatic ones consequently initial mixed vegetation was replaced by a conifer dominant assemblage in the palaeomires in the upper parts of the km2 seam the coal facies indices and high concentrations of n alkanes along with the relatively low di di tri terpenoid ratios are indicators of the higher contribution of herbaceous species and minor abundance of conifers in the palaeomires of km3 and kp1 seams nevertheless the mineralogical composition of the km3 and kp1 seams indicate increased clastic input and alkalinity in the palaeomires that could reduce preservation of organic matter thus high ash yields and low toc were obtained from these seams in addition sulphate rich water supply along with synchronous pyroclastic air borne input into the palaeomires caused elevated total s content of the kp1 seam

new interpretations of the facies of the rhenish brown coal of west germany abstract new ideas concerning the understanding of the facies of the rhenish brown coal of west germany are discussed these new interpretations are based on a significantly larger number of samples and refined procedures for analysis within the field of paleobotany palynology coal petrology and organic geochemistry than were available to p w thomson and m teichmuller the light and dark bands in the coal are mainly the result of different degrees of plant decomposition the influence of the peat forming plant communities plays a subordinate role in the petrographical composition of these particular strata of the rhenish brown coal

thermocline circulation and ventilation of the east japan sea part i water mass characteristics and transports abstract the east japan sea ejs has unique water mass characteristics in the western pacific marginal seas due to limited exchange with the open north pacific the major inflow of source water mass is north pacific subtropical water npsw carried by the kuroshio branching and tsushima current the locally formed cold fresh waters from the tatar strait and russia coast by winter convection mix with npsw contributing to water mass transformation especially during winter when upper isopycnal surfaces outcrop and thermocline is ventilated the geographic limit of the korea tsushima strait kts with a sill depth of about 120 140 dbar confines the inflow of lower npsw and so the ejs thermocline layer is somewhat truncated with a rather thin layer for about 100 dbar this study uses high resolution conductivity temperature depth ctd and argo data with a third decimal or higher accuracy for temperature and salinity obtained mainly by research institute of oceanography seoul national university through domestic and international collaboration with several korean ocean research institutes and russia and usa partners since early 1990s the basin covered data were divided into summer and winter half year representing seasonal difference since most ctd surveys were conducted purposely in summer and winter analysis is made for the upper layer about 50 70 dbar from the surface to the upper main thermocline and the thermocline layer down to about 150 180 dbar south of the subpolar front spf the lower thermocline is defined slightly below the sill depth of the kts considering the deepening of npsw after passing through the kts the thermocline layer is encompassed by three selected neutral density surfaces n 25 8 26 4 and 27 0 with a distance of about 40 dbar between two neighboring surfaces the core of thermocline is followed by the n 25 8 surface characterized by a salinity maximum and a minimum of potential vorticity winter convection is discussed and compared with three other major convection sites of the world s oceans the gulf of lions labrador sea and greenland sea showing some common and distinctive features especially the extremely low salinity of the ejs water mass properties on neutral density surfaces are analyzed with the water mass turner angle wtu and circulation and transport are deducted from geostrophic calculations from the 15 year mean hydrography a basin wide net annual mean transport of about 2 10 0 29 sv 1 sv 106 m3 s 1 is estimated with summer and winter transports of 2 56 0 36 and 1 63 0 23 sv respectively this transport is slightly less than the annual mean transport of the tsushima current at the kts 2 4 sv from cable and 2 3 sv from other direct current meter and geostrophic methods but matches the 14 error bar of 0 29 sv adjusted by 150 dbar from the reference level of 800 dbar this error bar is close to the error of 0 34 sv determined from water mass conservation residual in a separated study three mechanisms are discovered to explain the seasonal difference in the tsushima current transports the stronger winter ekman pumping outcropping and southward crossing flow during winter the tsushima current branches are imposed under strong wind stress curl in the ulleung basin and yamato basin showing a doubling ekman downwelling transport partly weakening the tsushima current flow in the eastern boundary meanwhile the thermocline isopycnal surfaces outcrop in winter reducing volume transport due to reduced space and thickness the southward currents in the southern ulleung basin and yamato basin are perpendicular to the tsushima current branches west of japan which weakens the eastern boundary current in winter

comparisons of central appalachian carboniferous coal beds by benches and a raised holocene peat deposit abstract three carboniferous age coals from southern west virginia u s a were examined at bench level and compared to a holocene peat deposit the snuggedy swamp south carolina u s a data for all deposits consisted of coal or peat thickness ash content and petrographic composition as well as parting or overlying clastic sediment thickness comparison of coal and parting thickness showed an inverse relationship in all cases bimodal distribution patterns for coal peat thickness versus area indicate that the transition between areas of extensive thick coal peat and extensive thin coal peat was rapid in the coal deposits at bench level both ash and organic inert content increased toward the transition to thin coal the areas of thick coal contained the highest vitrinite reactive contents and lowest ash values volumetrically this is similar to the distribution of low ash well preserved thick peat occurring in the central raised areas of the snuggedy swamp surrounded by areas of high ash decomposed peat subject to flooding although the depositional environments interpreted for each of the three coal beds and the snuggedy peat deposit differ widely the deposits themselves show similar distribution trends in thickness ash content and petrographic composition

coastal geomorphology through the looking glass abstract coastal geomorphology will gain future prominence as environmentally sound coastal zone management strategies requiring scientific information begin to supplant engineered shoreline stabilization schemes for amelioration of coastal hazards we anticipate substantial change and progress over the next two decades but we do not predict revolutionary advances in theoretical understanding of coastal geomorphic systems paradigm shifts will not occur knowledge will advance incrementally we offer predictions for specific coastal systems delineated according to scale for the surf zone we predict advances in wave shoaling theory but not for wave breaking we also predict greater understanding of turbulent processes and substantive improvements in surf zone circulation and radiation stress models very few of these improvements are expected to be incorporated in geomorphic models of coastal processes we do not envision improvements in the theory of sediment transport although some new and exciting empirical observations are probable at the beach and nearshore scale we predict the development of theoretically based two and three dimensional morphodynamical models that account for non linear time dependent feedback processes using empirically calibrated modules most of the geomorphic research effort however will be concentrated at the scale of littoral cells this scale is appropriate for coastal zone management because processes at this scale are manageable using traditional geomorphic techniques at the largest scale little advance will occur in our understanding of how coastlines evolve any empirical knowledge that is gained will accrue indirectly finally we contend that anthropogenic influences directly and indirectly will be powerful forces in steering the future of coastal geomorphology if you should suddenly feel the need for a lesson in humility try forecasting the future kleppner 1991 p 10

a parametric model for the yellow sea thermal variability a thermal parametric model has been developed for analyzing observed regional sea temperature profiles based on a layered structure of temperature fields mixed layer thermocline and deep layers it contains three major components 1 a first guess parametric model 2 high resolution profiles interpolated from observed profiles and 3 fitting of high resolution profiles to the parametric model the output of this parametric model is a set of major characteristics of each profile sea surface temperature mixed layer depth thermocline depth thermocline temperature gradient and deep layer stratification analyzing nearly 15 000 yellow sea historical 1950 1988 temperature profiles conductivity temperature depth station 4825 expendable bathythermograph 3213 bathythermograph 6965 from the naval oceanographic office s master oceanographic observation data set by this parametric model the yellow sea thermal field reveals dual structure one layer vertically uniform during winter and multilayer mixed layer thermocline sublayer during summer strong seasonal variations were also found in mixed layer depth thermocline depth and thermocline strength

lithotype sequences in the early miocene maryville coal measures new zealand abstract coals of the early miocene maryville coal measures show well developed dulling up trends defined by a decrease in the proportion of bright coal that culminate in sapropelic horizons field determination of lithotype is difficult but the use of polished surfaces enables classification by either the brightness or stopes heerlen systems during upwards dulling gross petrographic composition remains essentially constant at 80 90 huminite vitrinite 10 15 liptinite and 1 4 inertinite except in sapropelic types which are liptinite dominated dull bands are characterized petrographically by fragmentary macerals especially detrogelinite whereas bright bands are composed of intact plant fragments dulling up is related to the development of raised ombrogenous mires where growth and subsequent preservation of large intact plant fragments is favoured during early stages of mire development and around the mire margins

shoreline changes and morphology of spits along southern karnataka west coast of india a remote sensing and statistics based approach abstract the changes in shoreline positions and morphology of spits along the karnataka coast western india are investigated for the period from 1910 to 2005 using multi dated satellite images and topomaps the study area has been divided into four littoral cells and each cell into a number of transects at uniform intervals the rate of change in shoreline position has been estimated using the statistical linear regression method and cross validated with regression coefficient r 2 and root mean square error rmse methods past and future shoreline positions have been demarcated and future positions of shoreline are estimated for time periods of 10 and 24 years the study reveals that i about 57 of transects exhibit 10 m rmse values indicating better agreement between the estimated and satellite based shoreline positions and ii transects closer to the cell boundaries exhibit about 50 uncertainties in shoreline change rate estimations based on rmse values the influence of natural processes and anthropogenic factors on shoreline changes has been evaluated the cells transects dominated by natural processes reveal low rmse values whereas the cells transects influenced by anthropogenic activities such as sand mining construction of coastal structures exhibit higher rmse values however the variation in rmse values is not significant if the total number of transects is considered significant changes in morphology of spits have been recorded spits demonstrate variations in areal extent i e length and area if 1910 and 1967 are considered separately as base years the present study demonstrates that combined use of satellite imagery and statistical techniques such as linear regression and rmses can be very useful in quantifying shoreline changes and spit morphology

shipwrecks and man made coastal structures as indicators of historical shoreline position an interdisciplinary study in the sancti petri sand spit bay of cadiz sw spain abstract shoreline evolution studies are mostly performed by comparison of vertical images e g aerial photographs and satellite imagery being limited to the last decades however phenomena such as longer term climatic fluctuations may cause important secular coastal changes which are mostly unknown the use of archaeological remains as shoreline proxies could overcome this limitation by allowing to expand back in time the historical shoreline record the present study endorses the effectiveness of the use of shipwrecks and man made structures as proxy data for analyzing historical shoreline evolution this was confirmed by the evaluation of nearshore evolution historical shorelines from 1787 to 1823 and recent changes from 1956 to 2013 and the reconstruction of the palaeobathymetry along sancti petri sand spit sw spain by means of the analysis of historical documents historical maps modern aerial photographs and a recent bathymetry 2011 along with the archaeological prospection supported by the numerical modelling of the dispersion of archaeological remains the analysis of historical maps has revealed a significant shoreline retreat over the medium term scale in sancti petri sand spit averaging 1 2 m year 1 results from historical maps and archaeological remains show slight differences with respect to the most recent retreat rates 0 9 m year 1 obtained from aerial photographs for the period 1956 2013 spatial variations in coastal retreat along the sandspit are closely linked to local patterns of wave height and wave induced currents significant temporal variation in rates of shoreline change was observed probably related to storminess variability in the study area as indicated by the relation between the rates of coastal change for each analyzed period and the corresponding rate of change of winter nao index

coastal morphodynamics and chenier plain evolution in southwestern louisiana usa a geomorphic model abstract using 28 topographic profiles air photo interpretation and historical shoreline change data coastal processes were evaluated along the chenier plain to explain the occurrence distribution and geomorphic hierarchy of primary landforms and existing hypotheses regarding chenier plain evolution were reconsidered the chenier plain of sw louisiana classified as a low profile microtidal storm dominated coast is located west and downdrift of the mississippi river deltaic plain this late holocene marginal deltaic environment is 200 km long and up to 30 km wide and is composed primarily of mud deposits capped by marsh interspersed with thin sand and shell rich ridges cheniers that have elevations of up to 4 m in this study the term ridge is used as a morphologic term for a narrow linear or curvilinear topographic high that consists of sand and shelly material accumulated by waves and other physical coastal processes thus most ridges in the chenier plain represent relict open gulf shorelines on the basis of past movement trends of individual shorelines ridges may be further classified as transgressive regressive or laterally accreted geomorphic zones that contain two or more regressive transgressive or laterally accreted ridges are termed complexes consequently we further refine the chenier plain definition by otvos and price otvos e g and price w a 1979 problems of chenier genesis and terminology an overview marine geology 31 251 263 and define chenier plain as containing at least two or more chenier complexes based on these definitions a geomorphic hierarchy of landforms was refined relative to dominant process for the louisiana chenier plain the chenier plain is defined as a first order feature 5000 km2 composed of three second order features 30 to 300 km2 chenier complex beach ridge complex and spit complex individual ridges of each complex type were further separated into third order features chenier beach ridge and spit to understand the long term evolution of a coastal depositional system primary process response mechanisms and patterns found along the modern chenier plain coast were first identified especially tidal inlet processes associated with the sabine calcasieu and mermentau rivers tidal prism and quantity of littoral transport mtotal are the most important factors controlling inlet stability greater discharge and or tidal prism increase the ability of river and estuarine systems to interrupt longshore sediment transport maintain and naturally stabilize tidal entrances and promote updrift deposition thus prior to human modification and stabilization efforts the mermentau river entrance would be classified as wave dominated sabine pass as tide dominated and calcasieu pass as tide dominated to occasionally mixed hoyt hoyt j h 1969 chenier versus barrier genetic and stratigraphic distinction am assoc petrol geol bull 53 299 306 presented the first detailed depositional model for chenier genesis and mudflat progradation which he attributed to changes in mississippi river flow direction i e delta switching caused by upstream channel avulsion however hoyt s model oversimplifies chenier plain evolution because it omits ridges created by other means thus the geologic evolution of the chenier plain is more complicated than channel avulsions of the mississippi river and it involved not only chenier ridges i e transgressive but also ridges that are genetically tied to regression beach ridges and lateral accretion recurved spits a six stage geomorphic process response model was developed to describe chenier plain evolution primarily as a function of i the balance between sediment supply and energy dissipation associated with mississippi river channel avulsions ii local sediment reworking and lateral transport iii tidal entrance dynamics and iv possibly higher than present stands of holocene sea level consequently the geneses of three different ridge types transgressive regressive and laterally accreted typically occur contemporaneously along the same shoreline at different locations

interannual to interdecadal variability in the japan sea based on a new gridded upper water temperature dataset a new gridded water temperature dataset of upper 400 m depths 0 50 100 200 300 and 400 m for the japan sea or east sea is produced by using an optimal interpolation technique from 1930 to 1996 based on oceanographic observations collected in the world ocean database 1998 the temperature data are analyzed by a complex empirical orthogonal function ceof with six levels combined using the data for a period from 1957 to 1996 during which most of gridded data are available before calculating the ceofs low pass or highpass filters cutoff period at 7 yr are applied to separate interannual and decadal temperature changes respectively one interannual and two decadal ceof modes are identified the interannual first ceof mode is characterized by the energetic variability around and south of the subpolar front in the western japan sea accompanied by northward and northeastward phase propagations emanating from the tsushima strait the decadal first ceof mode exhibits a broad structure prevailing over the whole japan sea but large amplitudes are trapped by the subpolar front with 608 908 phase lags between the northeastern and southwestern japan sea the decadal second ceof mode has a localized structure with strong correlations in the yamato basin the relation between the atmosphere and ocean is analyzed by a correlation analysis of wintertime sea level pressures slps onto the temporal coefficients of the ceof modes the interannual first ceof mode is accompanied by the slp anomalies over the western north pacific ocean with steep slp gradients over the japan sea suggesting that this mode is forced by local wind anomalies associated with the slp changes over the western north pacific the decadal first ceof mode is likely to be caused by changes of the east asian winter monsoon due to the slp variability of the northern part of the siberian high which is closely associated with the decadal fluctuations of the arctic oscillation and the north atlantic oscillation the second decadal ceof mode is accompanied by high slp correlations over the central north pacific associated with strength changes of aleutian lows suggestive of remote forcing from the central north pacific

depositional palaeoenvironment and economic potential of khadsaliya lignite deposits saurashtra basin western india based on petrographic palynofacies and geochemical characteristics abstract the lignite and associated shale of the khadsaliya clays formation eocene of saurashtra basin india have been studied organic petrographic palynofacies and organic geochemical analyses have been carried out to deduce the depositional palaeoenvironment including the assessment of the hydrocarbon potential of this sequence petrographically the lignites constitute huminite macerals in dominance av 60 the organic facies as derived from maceral composition and biomarker data suggests that the peat biomass was formed from woody forest vegetation consists of angiosperms and pteridophytes microbial activity was also prominent over the peat biomass the peat biomass was deposited in tropical subtropical humid climatic conditions under deltaic control and brackish water influence further there are signatures of intermittent floods in the mire and is evident from the shift from mesotrophic to rheotrophic conditions the organic matter has been categorized into two palynofacies and is derived from degraded terrestrial biomass the extrapolation of tyson s app diagram and pr n c17 vs ph n c18 plot suggest that deposition took place in dysoxic to sub oxic conditions the huminite reflectance values 0 30 0 38 av 0 34 rr suggest that lignites are less mature and have reached up to lignitic stage low rank b of coalification the geochemical proximate ultimate analyses reveal that the lignites are characterized by high moisture content av 18 and relatively low ash yield av 27 the volatile matter yields and carbon contents are moderately high whereas fixed carbon sulphur and oxygen contents are average and hydrogen and nitrogen contents are relatively low rock eval pyrolysis data indicate that the hydrogen index values of the samples vary between 23 and 477 mg hc g toc av 188 mg hc g toc the tmax values of the lignites range between 377 and 433 c av 418 c along with the presence of hopanes suggesting the immature nature of the deposits hi vs tmax s2 vs toc hi vs oi and h c vs o c plots of the studied samples indicate that the organic matters are a mix of type ii iii kerogens the types of kerogen along with high toc contents av 33 wt indicate the ability of lignite bearing sequence of khadsaliya to generate mix of oil gaseous hydrocarbons upon maturation

holocene spit development on a regressive shoreline dornoch firth scotland the series of raised and modern spits and beaches which characterise the dornoch firth coastline are described the beaches and spits in the inner firth are relatively small having developed during the mid holocene with little subsequent modification in the central firth large spit complexes developed on the northern and southern shorelines extending westwards during the mid holocene however during the later holocene spit growth was towards the east on the southern shore and towards the southwest on the northern shore in the outer firth spit and beach development mainly occurred during the later holocene the development of spits at the mouth of the firth changed the wave energy environment in the central section and resulted in the marked changes in spit alignment in this area the features also indicate that during the rise and culmination of the main postglacial transgression coarse clastic sediments derived from cliff erosion dominated in contrast during the later holocene when relative sea level fell sand sized material derived from the nearshore and offshore zone predominated

sedimentological and petrographical characteristics of cretaceous strandplain coals a model for coal accumulation from the north american western interior seaway abstract coal seams formed on many cretaceous wave dominated strandplain sediments in north america are characterized by great lateral continuity tens to hundreds of kilometres substantial thicknesses up to 12 m relatively low ash and sulphur contents the coals formed behind an active shoreline in areas undergoing subsidence due to shale compaction and dewatering the zone of peat accumulation was remote from the shoreline and storm tidal inundations and generally protected from fluvial flooding if the rate of subsidence was too great lakes formed and peat did not accumulate statistical evaluation of petrographic properties by correspondence analysis of the lower cretaceous coals show that the strandplain coals form distinctive petrographic groups that are characterized by relatively low vitrinite contents and high inertinite contents semifusinite and inertodetrinite dominate in the inertinite maceral group liptinite contents are negligible tissue preservation indices and gelification indices indicate for the strandplain coals a forest type paleodepositional environment in which a relatively low water table allowed the accumulation of oxidized and partly oxidized components fusinite and semifusinite significant amounts of detrital components such as inertodetrinite and vitrinite b are diagnostic that some transportation of the organic material took place prior to deposition comparison of coal facies and depositional environments from permian coals of australian show that the lower cretaceous strandplain coals have petrographic similarities to coals that were formed under regressive back barrier conditions in the permian due to differences in nomenclature previously interpreted regressive back barrier environments may be similar to the strandplain environments discussed here

connectivity among straits of the northwest pacific marginal seas 1 the connectivity among straits of the northwest pacific marginal seas is investigated with a primitive equation ocean circulation model simulated for 10 years from 1994 to 2003 over the simulation interval the temporal and spatial means and variations of the model sea surface temperature are comparable to those of the satellite sea surface temperature the model transport through the straits shows good agreement with the available observations and a high seasonality in the taiwan strait the korea strait and the soya strait but relatively low seasonality in the tsugaru strait the kuroshio and taiwan warm current twc are two sources of water flowing through the korea strait the volume transport in the korea strait is dominated by the kuroshio in winter 83 and by the twc in summer 66 relative to the transport through the korea strait the transport percentages of the tsugaru strait connecting to the northwest pacific ocean are 79 in winter and 65 in summer the seasonality of the korea strait transport is positively correlated with the cross strait wind stress the drifter experiments show that it takes about 4 months for most of the drifters deployed in the taiwan strait to enter the korea strait and more than 2 months to travel from the korea strait to the tsugaru and soya straits

integration of hydrological factors and demarcation of groundwater prospect zones insights from remote sensing and gis techniques the study demonstrates the potential of geographical information system and statistical based approaches to identify the hydrological processes and demarcate the groundwater prospect zones of the gangolli basin karnataka state india the basin is situated in humid tropical climate and influenced by three major rivers viz kollur 6th order stream chakra 6th order stream and haladi 7th order stream which cover an area of 1 512 km2 and cumulative length of 84 km various thematic maps drainage geomorphology geology slope soil lineament and lineament density were prepared using survey of india topographic maps indian remote sensing irs p6 images and other published maps hydrogeomorphologic characteristics were correlated with different morphometric parameters to identify the hydrological processes and demarcate the groundwater potential zones of the basin all the hydrological units and morphometric parameters were assigned suitable weightages according to their relative importance to groundwater potentiality to identify the most deficit surplus zones of groundwater based on hydrological characteristics integrated thematic maps reveal that 14 217 km2 of basin area falls under very good 32 486 km2 under good 23 353 km2 under moderate and 30 443 km2 under poor zones for groundwater potential from the sub basin wise prioritisation it has been inferred that sb iii scored highest groundwater potential followed by sb x result of morphometric analyses with the hydrologic parameters indicates that 99 area of sb iii and sb x are under very good to moderate groundwater potential zone this study clearly demonstrates that hydrological parameters in relation with morphometric analyses are useful to demarcate the prospect zones of groundwater

future acidification of marginal seas a comparative study of the japan east sea and the south china sea the response of marginal peripheral seas to ocean acidification on short and long time scales is not well established through modeling we examine the future acidification of two adjacent marginal seas the south china sea scs and the japan east sea j es our results illustrate the importance of unique features in determining their acidification the j es basin will become completely undersaturated with regard to calcite rapidly in the next few decades while the scs basin will experience relatively slower acidification during its acidification the j es will continually act as a sink for atmospheric co2 whereas the scs will temporarily switch from a source to a sink during the peak pco2 interval only to return slowly to being a source again marginal sea acidification will be determined by multiple factors including their connections with the open ocean and their unique physical and biogeochemical dynamics in addition to the level of atmospheric co2

effect of relative lake level changes in mire lake system on the petrographic and floristic compositions of a coal seam in the most basin miocene czech republic abstract exposures in the bilina opencast mine provide a direct evidence that the 3 5 m thick upper bench of the main seam in the most basin passes over a distance of about a kilometre into a hundred metres thick equivalent of clastic deltaic sediments with gilbert type mouth bars and thus clearly corroborates the co existence of lacustrine delta mire system deposition of the delta and the upper bench of the main seam were affected by five short term lacustrine incursions possibly related to tectonic subsidence before final lacustrine transgression took place between the temporary lacustrine incursions delta mouth bars prograded into an extensive mire being separated only by a shallow compaction lake along mouth bars foreland however most clastics introduced from delta were caught by dense vegetation in a narrow proximal zone of mire and did not affect more distal parts of relatively dry woodland mire with water table fluctuating around the surface it is therefore characterised by low ash yield and increased resinite fusinite and inertodetrinite contents palynological data indicate that the peat forming vegetation of the upper bench of the main seam was dominated by taxodiaceae glyptostrobus athrotaxis and calamus palm accompanied by paludal species of the family pinaceae and rich undergrowth of ferns and vaccinium type ericaceae progradation of delta mouth bars to the proximity of the study section is documented by increasing proportion of allochthonous elements produced by plants colonizing the flood plain and delta plain areas nyssa taxodium parrotia ulmus pyramidalis and comptonia pinus oviformis associations in contrast during periods of temporary lacustrine transgressions the mire was replaced by open water environment which favoured deposition of clay rich coals or partings 30 of ash yield of the flooding horizons in spite of fact that delta body retreated to the basin margin and the clastics were introduced from a larger distance rare palynomorphs indicate only sparse vegetation cover of aquatic plants during this time clay content seems to be the best indicator of the water level fluctuations facies indices e g tpi and gi show only poor correlation to hydrological and floristic changes detected in the mire lake system

a test for the analogy of tropical domed peat deposits to dulling up sequences in coal beds preliminary results abstract megascopic and microscopic characteristics of a domed peat deposit in sarawak malaysia were examined to test their analogy to dulling up sequences in low ash coal beds preliminary petrographic results show high concentrations 95 of vitrinite precursor material for all peat types but that fibrous peats in the upper central portion of the deposit contain more preserved plant material than peats toward the base and margins which although more decomposed contain large fragments 5 150 cm of wood these results present contradictory evidence in support of a dulling up model and suggests that modern tropical peat domes are perhaps poor petrographic analogues for dulling up sequences this deposit would produce an all bright coal seam with bright vitrain bands of variable thickness and amount set in bright high vitrinite matrix

influence of geochemical organo petrographical and palynofacies assemblages on hydrocarbon generation a study from upper oligocene coal and shale of the makum coal basin assam india abstract the makum coal basin of northeast india comprises important coal and shale reserves of upper oligocene age a total of twenty samples were collected to evaluate the kerogen type hydrocarbon generation potential and thermal maturity through geochemically organo petrographically and palynofacies analyses the samples are characterized by high toc total organic carbon and large s2 remaining heavier hydrocarbons meet the required standards as good to excellent generation potential the coal and shale are marked by mixed type iii ii kerogen with minor occurrence of type i kerogen moderate to high hydrogen index hi values and are considered to generate thermogenic gas with some condensate oil the reflectance values indicate samples are mostly immature and close to the oil birth line the amount of vt60 grains also suggests that the samples can produce some condensate oil along with thermogenic gas the rock eval pyrolysis rep data stands with the interpretation through petrographic palynofacies and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ftir in determining kerogen type and generation potential the generation potential is also controlled by the degree of organic matters reactivity the estimated reactivity indicates that besides vitrinite and liptinite up to 70 vol of the inertinite macerals have the potential to generate hydrocarbon the occurrence of a substantial amount of reactive macerals i e collotelinite vitrodetrinite collodetrinte corpogelinite alginite resinite and bituminite within the samples makes them more potential to generate hydrocarbons the diagram proposed based on our data of macerals and palynofacies assemblages may also be a convenient tool in detecting kerogen type s and nature of hydrocarbons

review and update of the applications of organic petrology part 1 geological applications abstract organic petrology developed as coal petrology at the beginning of the 20th century dedicated mainly to the study of coals because of their utilization in industry coal petrology was then considered a branch of coal science later with the development of specialized nomenclature classification of coal components and the standardization and improvement of analytical microscopical methods this discipline expanded in interests and name becoming organic petrology organic petrology carries a broader context being as well a tool applied in the study of dispersed organic matter in sedimentary rocks due to its importance in exploration for fossil fuel resources at present organic petrology is a discipline widely recognized for its role in fundamental and applied research with respect to both coal utilization and in geosciences throughout the 20th century several important monographs have been published on the discipline of organic petrology including stach s textbook of coal petrology 1st edition 1935 2nd 1975 3rd 1982 updated as the more general organic petrology by taylor et al 1998 more recently the text applied coal petrology the role of petrology in coal utilization was published by suarez ruiz and crelling 2008 this review is the first in a two part review series that describes and updates the role of organic petrology in geosciences a second part complementing this one and focused on the applications of organic petrology to other scientific fields will follow

isometamorphic variations in the reflectance and fluorescence of vitrinite a key to depositional environment abstract petrographic investigations of serial ply samples from five high to medium volatile bituminous coal seams from australia 4 and canada 1 reveal substantial in seam variations in the reflectance and monochromatic microfluorescence intensities of the maceral subgroup telovitrinite the variations consist of one case of reflectance enhancement and fluorescence suppression and four cases of reflectance suppression and fluorescence enhancement the single case of reflectance enhancement and fluorescence suppression is due to the oxidation of the vitrinite nuclei at the sequence boundary between the bayswater and upper wynn seams in new south wales the four cases of reflectance suppression and fluorescence enhancement result from the syn and epigenetic absorption by the vitrinite nuclei of hydrogen donated by presumably anaerobic bacteria generated lipids two of the coals are marine influenced the liskeard seam from the bowen basin by combined syngenetic and epigenetic effects and the greta seam from the sydney basin mainly by epigenetic contact with sea water for both coals the results are strong vitrinite reflectance suppression and fluorescence enhancement the remaining two coals the bulli seam from the sydney basin and a coal seam from the gates formation in british columbia show moderate epigenetic effects on the optical properties of telovitrinite by fresh water in the bulli seam which was studied in two adjacent localities the reflectance suppression and fluorescence enhancement of telovitrinite are stronger under sandstone roof than under shale roof in some cases the epigenetic effects are superimposed on syngenetic telovitrinite reflectance and fluorescence variations resulting from the cogeneration and mixing of different telovitrinite precursors for example autochthonous roots and hypautochthonous or allochthonous shoots a measure of the degree of dispersal and mixing is the coefficient of variation of telovitrinite reflectance and or fluorescence this coefficient correlates well with detrital minerals and dispersed macerals e g inertodetrinite and to a lesser extent sporinite some comments are made on slitted so called pseudovitrinite which is regarded as a telovitrinite that was subjected to very weak post coalification desiccation and possibly oxidation without losing much of its thermoplastic properties

geological and geochemical characteristics of marine continental transitional shale from the upper permian longtan formation northwestern guizhou china abstract organic rich shale deposited in a marine continental transitional facies was well developed in the upper yangtze area during the late permian it is considered to contain a large amount of shale hydrocarbon resources this paper takes the upper permian longtan shale in the central guizhou uplift as an example to characterize the transitional shale reservoir based on organic geochemistry data x ray diffraction xrd analysis and scanning electron microscopy sem observation the geochemical characteristics of this transitional shale were systematically studied and the shale gas potential was investigated the results indicate that the longtan shale has fair to good hydrocarbon potential with high total organic carbon toc and contains type iii gas prone organic matter its high thermal maturity favors the generation of gas ro 1 10 2 74 xrd analyses show that the mineral components of the transitional shale are dominated by high clay content 58 7 wt the clay minerals are dominated by illite 44 and mixed illite smectite 43 sem observation shows that intra particle pores inter particle pores and microfracture were well developed in the longtan shale which can provide reservoir space for the accumulation of shale gas organic matter pores appear rare due to its organic type in summary the longtan shale has high organic content high maturation and high gas content all of which demonstrate its great potential as a shale gas resource but the high clay content of the longtan shale may be a challenge to shale gas production

spot shallow water bathymetry of a moderately turbid tidal inlet based on field measurements the determination of shallow water depth in high energy tidal inlets is essential to model and to forecast the navigation channel position or the short term topographic evolution of beaches colour satellite imagery provides at low cost complete maps of areas that are difficult to map by traditional hydrographic means due to their size and their rough underwater morphology in order to calibrate spot images to derive bathymetric maps a simple method applied to shallow waters of a moderately turbid tidal inlet has been carried out its development is based on a set of field measurements including the reflectance of the water and of the bottom sediment the vertically averaged diffuse attenuation coefficient and the concentrations of inorganic particles in suspension of chlorophyll a and pheopigments and of dissolved organic carbon doc from these data it appears first that the water reflectance is directly linked to the depth and second that the water reflectance varies slowly with the turbidity in this area for total suspended matter sm concentrations lower than 9 mg l 1 the extinction of light with depth has been characterized in the inlet the relationship obtained is slightly different from that observed in clear waters the bathymetric models established for the clearest waters do not calculate the depth accurately in the contrary reflectance code adapted to case ii water type calibrated with in situ measurements allows us to retrieve depth down to 6 m and for total sm concentrations ranging from 0 2 to 9 mg l 1 this relationship has been applied to five spot images of the mouth of arcachon lagoon the accuracy of the derived map has been assessed by in situ depth measurements the mean difference between measured depths and computed depths is about 20 this accuracy is adequate to assess the inlet morphodynamics quantitatively which is necessary for middle term to short term mathematical modeling of the 3d inlet evolution

pliocene lignites from apofysis mine amynteo basin northwestern greece petrographical characteristics and depositional environment coal petrological investigation along with proximate and elemental analyses were undertaken to determine the petrographic characteristics of the apofysis lignites amynteo basin northwestern greece and their depositional environment eight samples representing different lignite beds of the apofysis deposit were collected from a borehole the apofysis lignites have an eu ulminite b reflectance of rr 0 22 and in terms of lithotype belong to matrix soft brown coals huminite is the most abundant maceral group and consists mostly of humodetrinite inertinite has relatively low percentages whereas liptinite concentrations are low in the lower lignite beds and higher in the upper ones ternary plots and facies indices were employed in order to investigate the palaeoenvironment the depositional environment of the apofysis lignites is not definitely ascribed to a forest swamp or a reed marsh environment the high ash content of the analysed samples is a clear indication of a topogenous setting low tissue preservation index tpi and high gelification index gi values are observed high alkalinity and strongly reducing conditions may be inferred from the presence of syngenetic framboidal pyrite the low tpi values which indicate high bacterial activity and thus high ph conditions and the preservation of gastropod shells and chlorophyllinite high gi indicates a constant influx of calcium rich waters into the coal swamp the apofysis lignite deposit may be interpreted to be autochthonous to hypoautochthonous the peat accumulation was governed by a high groundwater level wet telmatic to limno telmatic facies and a moderate subsidence rate

wave set up on coral reefs 2 set up on reefs with various profiles abstract all available laboratory data for wave set up on two dimensional reef profiles of various shapes have been compared with data from an idealised horizontal reef with a steep reef face gourlay 1996 the data is generally well represented by a relationship between the relative set up parameter gh r t o and the submergence parameter g h r h r h o and the relative set up on reef profiles of natural form is found to be less than that observed on the idealised horizontal reef the important influences of reef rim slope and variable water depths on the reef top have been investigated and some methods for allowing for them are suggested comparison of data for irregular waves with that for regular waves has led to the development of a simple method for estimating the effects of wave groups upon the magnitude of the steady state mean wave set up gh r the results of the analyses are applied to the determination of wave set up and its effects at three specific coral reef sites

the geology botany and chemistry of selected peat forming environments from temperate and tropical latitudes abstract peat has been studied in several geologic settings 1 glaciated terrain in cold temperate maine and minnesota u s a 2 an island in the atlantic ocean off the coast of maine where sea level is rising 3 the warm temperate u s atlantic and gulf coastal plains where sea level has changed often and 4 the tropical coast of sarawak malaysia and the tropical delta of the batang hari river sumatra indonesia most of these deposits are domed ombrotrophic or partly ombrotrophic bogs in which peat accumulation continued above the surface of the surrounding soil however the bogs of the u s atlantic and gulf coastal plains are comparatively not as domed and many have almost level surfaces in some bogs aquatic or semi aquatic plant materials accumulated replaced water in the depressions and formed a surface on which marsh or swamp vegetation could subsequently live die and accumulate in others the plant materials accumulated initially on level silt or sand surfaces supporting marshes or swamps as the peat dome formed plants growing on it changed from luxuriant ones near the base of the dome where nutrients were brought into the bog by surface and ground water to stunted ones at the top of the dome where the raised bogs are fed by nutrient poor precipitation the physical and chemical changes that take place in the sequence of environments from the pond stage of deposit development through the grassy marsh stage through the forested swamp stage and finally through the heath dome stage can be measured in terms of acidity and ash volatile matter carbon hydrogen nitrogen sulfur and oxygen contents as well as in the kind and distribution of trace elements the organic and inorganic contents of the deposits relate to geomorphology and geomorphology relates to their settings as models of coal formation some domed peat deposits may help in solving problems of distribution and character of ancient coal beds but clearly not all peat deposits are precursors of coal most holocene peat deposits are subject to destruction by erosion fire and decomposition through microbial and chemical oxidation before burial the best environments for coal precursors have biomass accumulation a continuously rising water table within the mass and minimum influx of clay and silt until preservation by burial the most suitable settings for future economic coal deposits are domed bogs that accumulate thick widespread peat having low ash and low sulfur contents the ombrotrophic peat deposits of tropical sarawak and sumatra are thick and extensive contain low ash and low sulfur peat and have high heating values they are considered to be the best tropical coal analogs because of their extent and chances of preservation the base of the peat is below adjacent river levels and chemical and structural conditions are favorable for accumulation

japan sea thermohaline structure and circulation part i climatology abstract in this study the u s navy s generalized digital environmental model gdem climatological temperature and salinity data on a 0 5 0 5 grid is used to investigate the seasonal variabilities of the japan east sea jes thermohaline structure and circulations the gdem for the jes was built up on historical 1930 97 136 509 temperature and 52 572 salinity profiles a three dimensional estimate of the absolute geostrophic velocity field was obtained from the gdem temperature and salinity fields using the p vector method the seasonal variabilities of the thermohaline structure and the inverted currents such as the subpolar front the salinity minimum and maximum in the japan sea intermediate water and the tsushima warm current and its bifurcation are identified

lithotype maceral composition and variation as correlated with paleo wetland environments gates formation northeastern british columbia canada abstract lithotype samples collected from mid albian gates formation coal seams in northeastern british columbia were analysed in order to gain a better understanding of coal facies variation compositional boundaries between lithotypes are gradational from bright to dull coals there is a progressive decrease in vitrinite and increase in inertinite liptinite is negligible

petrographic characteristics and carbon isotopic composition of permian coal implications on depositional environment of sattupalli coalfield godavari valley india abstract the present paper entails a study carried out on selected samples of coal and carbonaceous shales of permian age from the sattupalli open cast coal mine of godavari valley andhra pradesh to know their petrographic and chemical characteristics based on these characteristics the depositional environment has also been discussed the study reveals that these coals are sub bituminous in rank and are chemically characterized by low to medium moisture 4 3 to 8 6 wt and volatile matter 24 5 to 32 6 wt while the ash yield varies between 16 4 and 35 3 wt petrographically these coals are rich in inertinite liptinites occur in very small concentration collotelinite collodetrinite and vitrodetrinite are the main vitrinite macerals whereas fusinite inertodetrinite and semi fusinite constitute the major proportion of inertinites mean 13c value measured for coal is 22 58 0 20 and for carbonaceous shale it is 23 64 0 57 while in the organic matter of barakar sandstones the 13c is 25 2 2 1 dry periods are reflected by the abundance of inertinite in some samples while more anoxic conditions are indicated by high concentration of vitrinite in some samples seam ii of sattupalli coalfield initially formed in dry condition and gradually flooding took place due to rise in the water table during the formation of the upper part of the seam again a relatively dry phase prevailed moreover a positive correlation of 13corg with toc and a negative one with tic indicate that 13corg is being modified by 13cdic

petro chemical characterisation and depositional paleoenvironment of lignite deposits of nagaur western rajasthan india the objective of this study was to know about the depositional environment and petrographic characteristics of lignite deposits of the nagaur district rajasthan india and to decipher source rock potential lignite samples have been collected from all the working and exposed lignite seams from matasukh lignite mines of nagaur following the pillar sampling method the petrographic study has been done following the international committee for coal and organic petrology and iso norms the study has shown that nagaur lignites are mostly dominated by the huminite group of macerals followed by liptinite group the huminite group is mainly represented by attrinite textinite and ulminite whereas liptinite is represented mainly by primary liptinites such as resinite sporinite suberinite and cutinite an inertinite group of macerals occurs in the least concentration as compared to the huminite and liptinite group macerals and mainly represented by the semifusinite funginite and inertodetrinite in these lignites carbonate mineral matters are dominating over the pyrite and argillaceous mineral matter the maceral constituents present in the studied samples indicate a high proportion of type iii kerogen and are capable of generating gases only based on the reflectance of eu ulminite b maceral nagaur lignites may be classified as low rank b lignite b the study reveals that lignites originated in the bog forest under ombrotrophic to mesotrophic hydrological conditions gelification index and the tissue preservation index suggest an accumulation of peat in the marshy environment

a short term establishment of forest fen habitat during pliocene lignite formation in the ptolemais basin nw macedonia greece the intermontane basin of ptolemais is part of a major tectonic trench located in nw greece and includes around 65 of greek coal reserves the upper xylite layer uxl is a distinct lignite layer being 3 6 m thick and outcropping in the upper part of the pliocene lignite bearing sequence at the notio field and tomeas eksi mines of ptolemais compared with the xylite rich lithotypes the matrix lithotypes within uxl contain more ash micropetrographic studies suggest that the upper xylite layer is rich in huminite 90 textinite dominates in the xylite rich lithotypes while attrinite dominates in the matrix lithotypes the liptinite content is 10 while inertinite rarely occurs palaeobotanical determination revealed that the xylite rich coal originated from coniferous vegetation specifically from glyptostrobus europaeus the occurrence of g europaeus as a coal forming element is significant because though this kind of vegetation was common in many greek coals of miocene age this is the first time it has been recorded from the pliocene this study suggests that the upper xylite layer is autochthonous according to coal facies diagrammes peat accumulated under pure telmatic conditions in a relatively wet forest fen both herbaceous and arboreal vegetation contributed to peat formation

a geomorphological approach to sustainable planning and management of the coastal zone of kuwait the coastal zone in kuwait has been under a considerable pressure from conflicting land uses since the early 1960s as well as from the destruction and oil pollution caused by the gulf war to avoid further damage and to protect the coastal heritage it is essential to adopt an environmentally sustainable management process this paper shows how the study of coastal geomorphology can provide a sound basis for sustainable planning and management based on coastal landforms sediments and processes the coastline of kuwait was divided into nine geomorphic zones these zones were grouped into two main geomorphic provinces the northern province is marked by extensive muddy intertidal flats and dominated by a depositional and low energy environment the southern geomorphic province is characterised by relatively steep beach profiles rocky sandy tidal flats and a moderate to high energy environment the study has demonstrated that pollution benthic ecology and other environmental conditions of the coast are a function of coastline geomorphology sedimentology and related processes the geomorphological information was used to determine the coastal vulnerability and to assess the environmental impacts of development projects and other human activities several strategies were outlined to integrate the geomorphic approach into the management of the coastal resources

a comparison of temperate and boreal peats from ontario canada possible modern analogues for permian coals abstract peat profiles were sampled from a raised bog and an interior fen located in the boreal james bay lowlands northern ontario and a cold temperate swamp and a cold temperate bog in the great lakes st lawrence lowlands southern ontario an examination of the micromorphology and maceral compositions of the peats indicates that considerable differences exist between environments the boreal bog and fen both consist predominantly of relatively unaltered textinite commonly sphagnum derived with higher liptinite contents in the fen profile attributable to the more diverse vegetation both the cold temperate swamp and bog show high levels of humification at the surface possibly partially attributable to recent climatic warming trends causing a decline in water table elevation in all profiles funginite was persistent ranging from 2 to 10 of the total maceral content indicating that aerobic conditions generally prevailed at the surface at the time of deposition the influence of depositional environment and vegetation type on the resulting peat was born out in plots of tissue preservation index vs gelification index the petrographic study also demonstrated that none of the profiles contained high inertodetrinite semifusinite contents comparable to those within cold climate cratonic permian gondwana coals since the oxidation processes leading to the formation of inertinite are considered to take place at the peat stage if the peats studied were to contain a similar maceral assemblage upon coalification inertinite precursors may be present in the peat the lack of petrographic similarity between the holocene peats and the permian coals may be related to a number of factors the decrease in water table elevation possibly responsible for the inertinization of the permian coals may have occurred following the cessation of peat formation not concurrently with accumulation and is potentially attributable to long term factors such as climatic warming the change in the peat forming vegetation from permian glossopteris and gangamopteris dominated communities to holocene sphagnum and coniferous vegetation alters the characteristics of the initial botanical starting materials and some aspects of the ecology particularly trophic and ph conditions which control the post depositional alteration of the plant materials and the resulting maceral assemblages

coal facies in a cenozoic paralic lignite bed krabi basin southern thailand changing peat forming conditions related to relative sea level controlled watertable variations abstract the cenozoic krabi basin in the southern part of peninsular thailand contains about 112 million tons proven coal reserves at present coal is only produced from the bang mark mine located in the southern part of the basin where the main lignite bed is 7 20 m thick the lignite bed occurs in an overall paralic succession the present paper investigates the depositional conditions of an approximately 8 m thick lignite bed main seam in the bang mark mine using organic petrography including maceral ratios and geochemistry the results are further interpreted in a sequence stratigraphic context the lignite is of low rank and is completely dominated by huminite indicating generally oxygen deficient conditions in the precursor mire very low inertinite contents suggest rare occurrences of wildfires the lower part of the lignite bed represents a topogenous fresh water peat mire with open water areas that in few cases may have experienced influx of saline water the peat mire was subjected to periodic inundations and deposition of siliciclastics tissue preservation was relatively poor the upper part of the lignite bed represents a slightly domed fresh water ombrogenous peat mire with a stable watertable and a balance between peat accumulation and accommodation space creation that favoured preservation of plant tissues in general the mire vegetation changed from less woody in the topogenous mire to more arborescent in the ombrogenous mire where plants with suberinised wood cell walls also were more frequent decompacted the lignite bed corresponds to a minimum 11 m thick peat deposit that records from 22 000 to 55 000 years of peat accumulation watertable rise in the peat mire was controlled overall by relative sea level rise in a sequence stratigraphic context the lignite bed overlies a terrestrialisation surface tes sensu diessel 2007 and the lowermost part records peat formation during a falling watertable and a decreasing accommodation peat accumulation ratio terrestrialisation an accommodation reversal surface ars sensu diessel 2007 indicates a change to paludification style of peat formation characterised by rising watertable and a high accommodation peat accumulation ratio another ars marks a gradual change to a situation with a balanced accommodation peat accumulation ratio the overall watertable rise throughout peat formation but at a gradually slower rate from base to top suggests that the lignite bed could be located in the late transgressive systems tract tst

the geology mineralogy petrography and geochemistry of the miocene dursunbey coal within fluvio lacustrine deposits balikesir western turkey abstract the dursunbey coalfield a typical example of coalfields in the western anatolia hosts a mineable coal seam about 9 0 m coal thickness with altered tuff layers within early miocene fluvio lacustrine sequences the aim of this study is to identify peat accumulation conditions and factors controlling the mineralogy and geochemistry of this seam the standard coal features and petrographical mineralogical and elemental compositions display changes throughout the seam ash yields display decreasing trends towards to the upper parts of seam while total c contents and gross calorific values are increasing furthermore the coal facies patterns evidence changes of depositional conditions and vegetation in the palaeomires during initial stages of peat accumulation the contribution of herbaceous peat forming plants were more common and palaeomires were open to detrital inputs whereas woody peat forming were becoming predominant and the water table was stable and high which caused development of anoxic conditions during late stages therefore the content of detrital minerals such as quartz and clay minerals illite smectite and chlorite increases in the lower parts of seam while that of pyrite increases in the upper parts in addition the sem edx data show that matrices of clay mineral aggregates are illitic in composition in the lower parts of seam while those of smectite prevalence are more common below and above altered tuff layers interestingly authigenic rhomboid k feldspar grains are observed within smectite clay aggregates in the samples from the upper parts of seam framboidal pyrite grains and clusters were also commonly identified from these samples as well this data shows that synchronous volcanic inputs were altered within a hydrologically closed system under slight acidic to neutral conditions during late syngenetic stages the enriched elements such as cr ni cs and v display moderate to strong positive correlations with ash yields while al2o3 and k2o indicate an aluminosilicate affinity clay mineral and feldspar considering the presence of metamorphic and ophiolitic rocks in the basement and the adjacent areas clastic inputs into the palaeomire seems to be controlling aluminosilicate affiliated elements additionally the sem edx analyses denoted that ni and as are associated with pyrite the ni and as bearing epigenetic pyrite infillings are mostly identified in coal samples below altered tuff layers hence as and ni enrichments are controlled by precipitation of leached pore waters from altered tuff layers nevertheless as and ni bearing syngenetic pyrite grains and clusters are related with the development of anoxic conditions within palaeomires this could also favour a mo and u enrichment which is another testimony for synchronous volcanic inputs altered under anoxic conditions overall high detrital input ratios from adjacent areas during initial stages of peat accumulation in the study area controlled by enrichments of aluminosilicate affiliated elements whereas during late stages of peat accumulation the development of a hydrologically closed system and redox conditions within the palaeomire caused as ni mo and u enrichments and the formation of smectite and authigenic k feldspars

paleoenvironment of eocene lignite bearing succession from bikaner nagaur basin western india organic petrography palynology palynofacies and geochemistry abstract lignite and associated shale samples from the matasukh mine of western india have been studied by petrographic palynofacies palynological and organic geochemical parameters the objective is to understand the floral organic composition and palaeo depositional conditions ecology and climate of the lignite bearing sequence petrographically the low rank b lignites are dominantly composed of huminite macerals followed by moderate liptinite and low inertinite macerals the predominance of detrohuminite attrinite densinite with respect to telohuminite textinite ulminite suggests that the woody vegetation has undergone higher degree of degradation during the peat accumulation as is also indicated by the frequent occurrence of funginite the tpi gi gwi and vi indices point towards limno telmatic condition of the palaeomire during the deposition of lignite forming peat under mesotrophic to rheotrophic basin conditions the reducing conditions in the depositional site are evident from the frequent pyrite content the studied samples had a high organic matter yield which showed a co dominance of phytoclasts and aom this nexus is indicative of a marginal marine depositional environment also evident from tyson s app diagram the palynofloral assemblage is dominated by angiosperm pollen especially those having affinity with the family arecaceae the presence of palynomorphs of the family dipterocarpaceae indicates the existence of rain forest vegetation in the vicinity of the depositional site the degradation products of oleanane and 23 norlupane in the sediment extracts also suggest that the angiosperm dominant higher plants served as the source for the peat forming biomass the presence of hopanes indicates high microbial activity during the formation of lignites the high cpi and tar values also indicate the large input of terrigenous higher plant materials

application of etching and sem in the identification of fossil plant tissues in coal abstract the masking effects of diagenesis and coalification on plant material in coal can be removed by chemical etching in addition identification of detailed botanical structure can be improved through scanning electron microscopy sem which provides greater resolution and clarity of image than conventional optical microscopy the combined techniques of etching and sem allow the original constituents of coal plant fossils as opposed to macerals to be characterized and compared in far greater detail than previously possible for example preserved woody tissue secondary xylem in some coals can be compared to extant plant material and identified as either gymnosperm or angiosperm based on anatomical characteristics such as type of ray tissue xylem tracheids and vessel elements observable in sem smaller structures such as types of fossil cork cells with suberized cell walls and inner cortex tissue are also described in submicron detail finally a feature discernable in the sem but not observed in optical microscopy are micron sized structures possibly mycorrhizal hyphae associated with secondarily thickened epidermal cell walls of probable primary roots in an eocene coal bed

geochemistry and petrography of the taupiri and kupakupa coal seams waikato coal measures eocene new zealand abstract geochemical and conventional petrographic techniques have been used to characterise variation within and between the eocene taupiri and kupakupa coal seams in new zealand both seams have a macroscopically bright lustre but the taupiri is dominated by non banded coal in contrast to portions of the kupakupa which contain large 1 3 cm thick vitrain bands microscopically these bands contribute the bulk of the humotelinite preserved tissue found in both coals the kupakupa seam contains higher proportions approx 20 of humotelinite than the taupiri approx 10 which contains higher concentrations of liptinite and sclerotinite both seams show a general decrease in humotelinite upwards in the seam although inorganic partings can modify that general trend especially in the kupakupa in all three splits of the taupiri eugelinite decreases upwards whilst detrogelinite proportions increase these petrographic attributes suggest that the taupiri palaeo peat was subjected to higher levels of degradation than the kupakupa coal geochemistry when interpreted in the context of seam geometry and stratigraphic relationships reveals a complex chemical history major element analyses supplemented by mineralogical analyses confirm previous work indicating a strong organic association for ca mg na fe and b these elements are more abundant in seams which are overlain by other coal seams indicating depletion by circulation of groundwater of surface origin for example na values in a split taupiri seam at maori farm 3 opencast vary across major sediment partings being highest in the lowermost coal interval si al ratios vary widely and commonly fall below the composition of kaolinite indicating breakdown of silicates and transport of silica and alumina in solution at the time of peat accumulation ti and p in whole coal fluctuate substantially and their present distribution also indicates mobility in solution there appears to be little association between elemental and maceral variation however there is a clear association in the kupakupa coal seam at the weavers opencast between p presence of organic partings and the degree of vitrain banding the highest concentrations of p are within and just below inorganic partings similarly the highest abundance of vitrain bands occur just above and or below partings although probably not causally related the increase in p and vitrain band abundance may be related to the same process that is flooding of the kupakupa palaeo mire with sediment laden waters a quicker burial from sediment loading and less aerobic degradation may have preserved the plant root material vitrain bands the p may have resulted either from the flood waters themselves or as residual p in buried plant material in either case immobilisation in insoluble form by reaction with al species is probable

investigation on the lignite deposits of surkha mine saurashtra basin gujarat western india their depositional history and hydrocarbon generation potential abstract an integrated approach is adopted to study the lignite deposits of surkha mine associated with the khadsaliya clays formation eocene of saurashtra basin western india the compilation of detailed investigation includes organic petrographical palynofacies and geochemical analyses the type and amount of organic matter and its relation to palaeoenvironmental conditions have been determined and discussed along with its significance as hydrocarbon source the macerals of huminite group show dominance av 61 over the liptinite and inertinite groups the petrographical indices gi tpi gwi vi indicate wood dominated precursors of peat were deposited in limno telmatic to telmatic regime under mesotrophic hydrological conditions in palynofacies analysis it is observed that the particulate organic matter is dominated by the phytoclasts group av 69 followed by the amorphous organic matter aom and palynomorphs the biomarker signatures show angiosperm and gymnosperm source vegetation the presence of sesquiterpenoids indicate the occurrence of dipterocarpaceae flora suggesting the existence of rain forest vegetation in the vicinity of depositional site the kaurane type of diterpenoids suggest the presence of conifers among the source flora the extrapolation of organic matter data on tyson s app diagram along with the pr n c 17 vs ph n c 18 plot indicate that the deposition took place in dysoxic suboxic conditions with intermittent shifting of the environment in proximal settings the huminite reflectance values av 0 31 r r show a good correlation with gross calorific values av 3917 cal g and average t max value 416 c of the lignites furthermore the abundance of thermally unstable hop 17 21 ene and hopane indicate immature stage of lignites these lignites contain high toc av 35 wt and low ash yields the volatile matter carbon and oxygen contents are relatively high whereas sulphur content is moderate and hydrogen and nitrogen contents are comparatively low in all the lignite samples the hydrogen index values vary between 53 and 538 mg hc g toc the atomic values of h c range from 0 47 to 1 04 and of o c from 0 20 to 0 29 overall the lignite bearing sequence is characterized by type ii iii admixed kerogens organic matters and has potential to generate hydrocarbons upon maturation

an airborne expendable bathythermograph survey of the south china sea may 1995 an extensive airborne expendable bathythermograph survey of the south china sea scs conducted in may 1995 and historical data are used to analyze and infer the upper layer 300 m synoptic structure and general circulation the primary thermal feature observed was a central scs warm pool surrounded by several cool pools the size of the warm pool decreased with depth from approximately 200 000 km2 at 50 m depth to about 70 000 km2 at 300 m depth the maximum temperature of the warm pool was 30 c appearing near the surface at the depth of 50 m the temperature of the central scs warm pool was 29 c and the temperature of the five surrounding cool pools ranged from 26 c to 22 c a three dimensional estimate of the absolute velocity field was obtained from the observed temperature field and a climatological salinity field using the spiral method striking circulation features were the existence of dual anticyclonic eddies in the central scs warm pool and the existence of cyclonic eddies associated with the cool pools in the upper layer the tangential velocity of the dual central scs anticyclonic warm core eddies is around 30 40 cm s and that of the five cyclonic cool core eddies varies from 10 cm s to 40 cm s the tangential velocity of all the eddies decreased with depth at 300 m depth it became less than 5 cm s for all the eddies

coal petrography mineralogy elemental compositions and palaeoenvironmental interpretation of late carboniferous coal seams in three wells from the kozlu coalfield zonguldak basin nw turkey abstract a number of coal seams of late carboniferous age in the coal bearing karadon kozlu and alacaagzi formations have been mined in several deep underground mines in the zonguldak basin nw turkey for this study a total of 154 coal core samples were collected from three research wells that were drilled in the tectonically complex settings of the kozlu coalfield all the coal samples were studied by means of coal petrography mineralogy and geochemistry special attention was given to the compositions and origins of fracture cleat filling minerals that were identified by sem edx on polished blocks the coal seams investigated are of bituminous rank they are characterized by low total sulphur contents 1 0 on dry basis and high gross calorific values 22 5 40 2 mj kg on dry ash free basis whereas ash yields and volatile matter contents are variable x ray powder diffraction data indicate that the mineralogical compositions of the studied coal seams are rather similar and clay minerals along with quartz and carbonate minerals were identified in almost all seams the statistical evaluations and sem data show that some elements such as mg ti zr nb and th are generally affiliated with silicate minerals whereas elements like cu zn mo and pb are mainly associated with sulphide minerals the silicate minerals are generally detrital and the majority of carbonate minerals are of epigenetic origin the epigenetic carbonate and sulphide minerals suggest that circulated solutions within coal seams were mainly derived from ca2 rich solutions leached from overlying formations such as cretaceous aged zonguldak formations and from hydrothermal solutions that likely were derived from andesitic dykes within the basin the regional tectonic activities during coalification seem to have deformed coal bearing formations and therefore intra basinal solutions could have penetrated into the studied coal seams the epigenetic mineralisation also resulted in elemental enrichments and elevated ash yields total sulphur and volatile matter contents in some coal seams thus deformation during coalification controlled some coal quality parameters in the studied wells the coal facies diagrams suggest that palaeomires mostly accumulated under limno telmatic conditions whereas a telmatic environment was more common in palaeomires of the kozlu formation coal petrography suggests that peat forming vegetation and water tables in palaeomires were changeable during the late carboniferous

estimating river sediment discharge to the ocean application to the eel margin northern california abstract hydrotrend a synthetic river discharge numerical model can simulate the natural variability daily annually and longer in the flux of water and sediment delivered to the coastal ocean the numerical model is designed to make discharge predictions based on climate even though field measurements of river flow are not available provided that appropriate assumptions are made regarding past climate the model can predict how a river may have behaved in the geological past sediment load is determined from a river s rating coefficients when applied to the flood dominated eel river northern california hydrotrend captures the intermonthly and interannual variability of discharge and loads over a century or more hydrotrend is applied to the ice age paleo eel river when sea level was lower and climate much cooler and wetter the paleo eel river at 18 000 year bp would see its hinterland runoff increase but not the magnitude of the peak discharges the post dicted sediment load of the paleo eel river was 25 greater than today s although basin precipitation was 45 greater and the hinterland area 4 greater through sea level lowering a method is provided to obtain sediment discharge rating coefficients for unmonitored modern rivers and paleo rivers the relationship q s g 1 2 h 3 2 a 1 2 provides for an estimate of a river s sediment load q s to within a factor of 3 over 7 orders of magnitude from knowledge of basin relief h and basin area a rating coefficients are determined from this estimate of q s and the power law rating curve q s aq b 1 where q is discharge

shoreline change analysis and its application to prediction a remote sensing and statistics based approach abstract shoreline change analysis and prediction are important for integrated coastal zone management and are conventionally performed by field and aerial surveys this paper discusses an alternative cost effective methodology involving satellite remote sensing images and statistics multi date satellite images have been used to demarcate shoreline positions from which shoreline change rates have been estimated using linear regression shoreline interpretation error uncertainty in shoreline change rate and cross validation of the calculated past shorelines have been performed using the statistical methods namely regression coefficient r 2 and root mean square error rmse this study has been carried out along 113 5 km of coast adjoining bay of bengal in eastern india over the time interval 1973 to 2003 the study area has been subdivided into seven littoral cells and transects at uniform interval have been chosen within each cell the past and future shoreline positions have been estimated over two time periods of short and long terms in three modes viz transect wise littoral cell wise and regionally the result shows that 39 of transects have uncertainties in shoreline change rate estimations which are usually nearer to cell boundaries on the other hand 69 of transects exhibit lower rmse values for the short term period indicating better agreement between the estimated and satellite based shoreline positions it is also found that cells dominated by natural processes have lower rmse when considered for long term period while cells affected by anthropogenic interventions show better agreement for the short term period however on regional considerations there is not much difference in the rmse values for the two periods geomorphological evidence corroborates the results the present study demonstrates that combined use of satellite imagery and statistical methods can be a reliable method for shoreline related studies

spatial and temporal variability in vegetation and coal facies as reflected by organic petrological and geochemical data in the middle miocene cayirhan coal field turkey abstract coal channel samples of middle miocene age are collected from the first tv and second tb seams from underground mines and from exploration boreholes within the cayirhan coal field in the beypazari basin turkey they are investigated in order to detect spatial and temporal changes in maceral and molecular composition of coal and to relate them to changes in vegetation and depositional environment the mean random reflectance values of ulminite 0 40 rr indicate a lignite to subbituminous c coal in rank maceral composition and biomarker ratios of the samples from both seams at the cayirhan deposit argue for coal formation in a limno telmatic environment under dysoxic to anoxic conditions alkaline surface waters of changing ph values and a high and unstable water level at the palaeomire are evidenced by moderate to high gelification index gi and ground water influence gwi values as well as high sulphur contents variations in tissue preservation index tpi and vegetation index vi values point to minor variations in the palaeovegetation during peat formation herbaceous plants dominated in both tb and tv palaeomires low tpi and vi values whereas in the surroundings arboreal vegetation were predominant the decreasing trends in pristane phytane ratios and carbon preference index cpi values towards the ne are suggested to reflect oxygen deficient conditions during peat formation due to a higher ground water level in this part of the basin the occurrence of c 29 diasterenes in low abundances provides evidence for periods of lower ph in the mire the borehole samples from the ne show slightly enhanced contributions of n alkanes from algal and microbial sources the terpenoid hydrocarbons present in the lignite argue for a major contribution of angiosperms to peat formation and slightly enhanced proportions of gymnosperms in the tv palaeomire in the ne based on the high concentrations of lupane type triterpenoids in the coal seams from the underground mine a higher density of betulaceae in the arboreal vegetation in the sw is indicated

evolution of swarna estuary and its impact on braided islands and estuarine banks southwest coast of india qualitative and quantitative evolution of the swarna estuary during the past 38 years 1967 2005 has been analysed by integrating the results of field surveys satellite images hydrodynamic modelling and topographic data in gis context significant changes in erosion accretion patterns of the estuarine banks inlet configuration and adjacent spits and origin morphology orientation and areal extent of fifteen braided islands have been estimated hydrodynamics of the region is studied through modelling and probable flow pattern that is responsible for morphological changes is discussed the simulated flow patterns indicate that current speeds are of the order of 10 20 cm s inside the estuary and of the order of 40 cm s at the mouth the right bank rb of the estuary is subject to net erosion and the left bank lb is subject to net accretion on an average 20 30 of the area of all braided islands would be flooded if the water level rises by 0 7 to 1 0 m islands of this estuary are morphologically very dynamic migrating towards north northeast and southwest directions and subject to net accretion whereas only one island i e the padu has lost its major portion of landmass a conceptual inverse distance weighted idw interpolation model has been generated and evaluated possible flooding on the estuarine shoals and braided islands due to heavy rainfall and or sea level rise the model reveals that the possibility of flooding will be higher for those islands which are located close to the rb than those close to the lb

microfacies and depositional environment of tertiary tanjung enim low rank coal south sumatra basin indonesia abstract the south sumatra basin is among the most important coal producing basins in indonesia results of an organic petrography study on coals from tanjung enim south sumatra basin are reported the studied low rank coals have a mean random huminite reflectance between 0 35 and 0 46 and are dominated by huminite 34 6 94 6 vol less abundant are liptinite 4 0 61 4 vol and inertinite 0 2 43 9 vol minerals are found only in small amounts 0 2 vol mostly as iron sulfide based on maceral assemblages the coals can be grouped into five classes 1 humotelinite rich group 2 humodetrinite rich group 3 humocollinite rich group 4 inertinite rich group and 5 humodetrinite liptinite rich group comparing the distribution of maceral assemblages to the maceral or pre maceral assemblages in modern tropical domed peat in indonesia reveals many similarities the basal section of the studied coal seams is represented typically by the humodetrinite liptinite rich group this section might be derived from sapric or fine hemic peat often occurring at the base of modern peats the middle section of the seams is characterized by humotelinite rich and humocollinite rich groups the precursors of these groups were hemic and fine hemic peats the top section of the coal seams is typically represented by the humodetrinite rich or inertinite rich group these groups are the counterparts of fibric peat at the top of the modern peats the sequence of maceral assemblages thus represents the change of topogenous to ombrogenous peat and the development of a raised peat bog a comparison between the result of detailed maceral assemblage analysis and the paleodepositional environment as established from coal maceral ratio calculation indicates that the use of coal maceral ratio diagrams developed for other coal deposits fails to deduce paleo peat development for these young tropical coals in particular mineral distribution and composition should not be neglected in coal facies interpretations

bituminite a tem view abstract an illinois coal high volatile bituminous b of carboniferous age containing typical bituminite has been examined by transmission electron microscopy tem to supplement observations with the light microscope with tem the bituminite has a fine fairly regular structure including voids of a characteristic shape this structure is almost certainly inherited from a botanical precursor and is thought to represent much altered remains of former colonies of algae probably green algae the present remains contain abundant lipid rich globules and probably also include matter of algal and bacterial origin which cannot be resolved even at tem resolutions

waterline extraction from landsat tm data in a tidal flat a case study in gomso bay korea waterline extraction is potentially one of the most effective satellite remote sensing tools for studying changes in tidal flat environment and coastlines however its application to the study of tidal flats has not been investigated in detail the waterline in a tidal flat in gomso bay korea is characterized and evaluated using 27 sets of landsat thematic mapper tm and earth observing system terra eos terra advanced spaceborne thermal emission and radiometer aster data ground truth data including grain size soil moisture content ground levelling and waterline tracking have been obtained the choice of spectral bands in terms of tidal conditions turned out to play a key role in locating the waterline while the waterlines extracted from near infrared nir short wavelength infrared swir and thermal infrared tir data are commonly reliable on the flood tide the discrepancies between different bands become large on the ebb tide the bands tir nir and swir are in that order decreasingly effective in extracting the waterline while ebb tides are in progress the effect of turbid water on nir can be reduced by a ratioing of nir and the visible band the location of the waterline is also an important factor to consider the discrepancy is largest on the middle tidal flat selection of the proper band for waterline extraction under various conditions is suggested however no single band can accommodate all aspects of the tidal flat environment a schematic model associated with the spectral reflectance of the tidal flat is proposed in which the remnant water scattered on the surface after exposure is emphasized as an additional factor

decadal shoreline assessment using remote sensing along the central odisha coast india one of the major requirements of planning coastal protection works is to understand the processes of erosion deposition sediment transport flooding and sea level changes which continuously alter the shoreline significant erosion can affect the stability and productivity of aquatic environment which may have severe implications for coastal inhabitants the middle coastal plains of odisha state on the east coast of india were investigated for morphological assessment of shoreline accurate demarcations of shorelines were carried out at parts of odisha coast specifically along gahirmatha paradip and coast above devi river to quantify erosion and accretion at annual to decadal scale for the years 1990 2000 and 2012 satellite derived remote sensing data landsat and irs p6 were used in the study digital shoreline analysis system discovered the eroded and accreted parts of the study area gahirmatha and coast above devi river experienced heavy erosion during 2000 2012 compared with 1990 2000 whereas paradip coast has comparatively undergone accretion during 2000 2012 some accreted spots are identified nearby river mouths which are attributed to heavy accretion of eroded materials by the action of sediment transport the detailed analysis reveals a maximum erosion of 124 33 and 154 m in a decade at gahirmatha paradip and coast above devi river respectively southern parts of gahirmatha coast showed highly dynamic behavior near hukitola bay and barrier island and are acting as a natural breakwater to conserve the shoreline this region had undergone severe geomorphologic changes due to natural as well as human interventions and poses a threat this coast exhibits unique reasons for erosion with various degrees of combinations of sediment depletion human activities high frequency of cyclones and floods sea level rise etc this study concludes that the shoreline of odisha coast is under heavy erosion and needs scientific and management attention

nearshore sediment characteristics and formation of mudbanks along the kerala coast southwest india in order to gain insight into the formation dynamics of mudbanks off the kerala coast of india extensive surveying of the nearshore bathymetry along with sediment characterization was undertaken the textural and geotechnical properties of the surficial sediments of a mudbank were determined during pre monsoon monsoon and post monsoon periods the mudbank sediments were clayey silts with high water and organic carbon contents high atterberg limits and low bulk density and therefore very susceptible to entrainment during the monsoon the mudbank regime was characterised by enhanced turbidity and a benthic fluff layer triggered by the increasing swell of the early monsoon period re suspension exposed a more consolidated previously sub bottom layer which exhibited lower water content and greater shear strength than the pre monsoon seabed texturally the monsoon seabed was similar to the pre monsoon seabed with the same modal grain size but the proportions of sand and coarse silt increased nearshore while the proportions of fine and very fine silt increased offshore there was a seaward fining textural gradient at all times but this became pronounced during the monsoon period paradoxically the monsoonal seabed displayed greatly reduced wet bulk density it is hypothesized that this was due to the presence of gas probably methane in the sediments while the pre monsoon sediments were fully saturated the monsoon sediments were only 83 saturated we speculate that the gas was forced into the surficial sediments either by wave pumping at the onset of the monsoon or by seaward flowing subbottom freshwater derived from monsoonal rains with the waning of the monsoon the benthic fluid mud layer rapidly disappeared and the seabed returned to its pre monsoon state as suspended sediments were redeposited the mudbank regime is therefore essentially an in situ phenomenon it is suggested that the mudbanks are palimpsest marshy lagoonal deposits rich in organic matter and derived gas that were submerged after a marine transgression the surficial sediment is annually entrained during the monsoon but erosion is limited by the formation of the benthic fluid mud layer which attenuates wave generated turbulence although some fine sediment disperses alongshore and offshore most is returned to the seabed as the monsoon declines

coal facies studies in australia despite the economic importance of coal to the australian economy detailed studies of controls on variation in coal type are remarkably few however important contributions have been made in the understanding of coal facies development tertiary lignite deposits of the gippsland basin provide key insights into the development of lithotype cyclicity and its relationship to relative sea level changes with individual paling up cycles being correlated to parasequences studies of permian hard coals have identified relationships between coal type and surrounding sediments unfortunately these relationships have been widely over interpreted in a manner that has diminished their real value

maceral distributions in illinois coals and their paleoenvironmental implications abstract for purposes of assessing the maceral distribution of illinois u s a coals analyses were assembled for 326 face channel and drill core samples from 24 coal members of the pennsylvanian system the inertinite content of coals from the missourian and virgilian series averages 16 1 mineral free compared to 9 4 for older coals from the desmoinesian and older series this indicates there was generally a higher state of oxidation in the peat that formed the younger coals this state probably resulted from greater exposure of these peats to weathering as the climate became drier and the water table lower than was the case for the older coals although oxidation during allochthonous deposition of inertinite components is a genetic factor that needs further study to confirm the importance of the climate regional variation of the vitrinite inertinite ratio v i on a mineral and micrinite free basis was observed in the springfield no 5 and herrin no 6 coal members to be related to the geographical position of paleochannel river deposits known to have been contemporaneous with the peats that formed these two coal strata the v i ratio is highest generally 12 27 in samples from areas adjacent to the channels and lower 5 11 some 10 20 km away we interpret the v i ratio to be an inverse index of the degree of oxidation to which the original peat was exposed high v i ratio coal located near the channels probably formed under more anoxic conditions than did the lower v i ratio coal some distance away from the channels the low v i ratio coal probably formed in areas of the peat swamp where the watertable was generally lower than the channel areas

a review and reinterpretation of evidence concerning the origin of victorian brown coal abstract the nature of the depositional environments which led to the formation of the very extensive victorian brown coal deposits located in southeeastern australia has been the subject of numerous publications previous publications on this subject have suggested that these coals were laid down in an extensive series of peat swamps similar to the florida everglades u s a one of the central premises of this depositional model has been that lithotype formation is dependent on the degree of inundation of the original peat forming environment specifically it proposes an inverse relationship between the degree of inundation and the lightness of colour of the resulting lithotype with the light and pale lithotypes being deposited in fully inundated environments in this manuscript the evidence on which this depositional model is based and other data from a variety of disciplines relevant to the question of the nature of the depositional environments of these coals is reviewed the resulting synthesis of data has led the present authors to conclude that previous depositional models cannot fully account for the observed chemical physical and geological characteristics of these coals therefore a new depositional model is proposed which seeks to account for these observed characteristics it is concluded by the present authors that deposition of these coals probably took place in an extensive and long lived series of ombrogenous raised or domed forested peat swamps structurally analogous to modern peat accumulations in se asia further it is suggested that lithotype formation is governed not by the degree of inundation of the original peat forming environments but rather by the degree of aerobic degradation experienced by the initial peat accumulations with pale and light coals representing the products of the most severely degraded peats

late cretaceous coal overlying karstic bauxite deposits in the parnassus ghiona unit central greece coal characteristics and depositional environment abstract the pera lakkos coal located on top of bauxite deposits in the ghiona mining district central greece is the only known mesozoic late cretaceous coal in the country it was derived from herbaceous plants and algae growing in mildly brackish mires that formed behind a barrier system during a regression of the sea on a karstified limestone partly filled in with bauxitic detritus petrological mineralogical and geochemical data point to the predominance of reducing conditions and intense organic matter degradation in the palaeomires o c vs h c and oi vs hi plots based on elemental analysis and rock eval data characterize kerogen types i ii this reflects the relatively high liptinite content of the coal besides kerogen composition o c vs h c plot for the pera lakkos coals is in accordance with a catagenesis stage of maturation in contrast with vitrinite reflectance and t max from rock eval pyrolysis which indicate the onset of oil window maturation stage suppression of vitrinite reflectance should be considered and the high liptinite content corroborates this hypothesis despite some favourable aspects for petroleum generation presented by the pera lakkos coal its maximum thickness up to 50 cm points to a restricted potential for petroleum generation coal oxidation took place either during the late stage of peat formation due to wave action accompanying the subsequent marine transgression or epigenetically after the emergence of the whole sequence due to percolation of drainage waters both options are also supported by the ree shale normalized profiles which demonstrate an upwards depletion in the coal layer oxidation also affected pyrite included in the coal this led to the formation of acidic sulfate rich solutions which percolated downwards resulting in bleaching of the upper part of the underlying bauxite

monitoring changing position of coastlines using thematic mapper imagery an example from the nile delta coastline movement due to erosion and deposition is a major concern for coastal zone management very dynamic coastlines such as sections of the nile delta coast pose considerable hazards to human use and development and rapid replicable techniques are required to update coastline maps of these areas and monitor rates of movement the synoptic capability of landsat thematic mapper imagery enables monitoring of large sections of coastline at relatively coarse 30 m spatial resolution by comparing positions of the nile delta coast in 1984 1987 and 1990 1991 mapped using a region growing image segmentation technique areas of rapid change can be identified and targeted for more detailed monitoring in the field or using higher resolution images rates of erosion and deposition can be estimated crudely and areas where change appears to be accelerating can also be identified areas of severe erosion along the nile delta coast are found to be confined to the promontories of the present day mouths of the nile at rosetta and damietta eroding shorelines are mostly flanked by accreting shorelines showing that some of the eroded material is redistributed along the coast the technique outlined here has potential to augment conventional field based surveying for monitoring shoreline changes over short timescales

japan sea thermohaline structure and circulation part ii a variational p vector method abstract the second part of this work investigates the seasonal variabilities of the japan east sea jes circulation using the u s navy generalized digital environmental model gdem climatological temperature and salinity dataset public domain on a 0 5 0 5 grid a variational p vector method was developed to invert the velocity field the gdem for the jes was built up on historical 1930 97 136 509 temperature and 52 572 salinity profiles the climatological mean and seasonal variability of the current systems are well inverted especially the tsushima warm current and its bifurcation the east korean warm current ekwc the japan nearshore branch the confluence of the ekwc and the north korean cold current near the korean coast and flows northeastward along the subpolar front and a mesoscale anticyclonic eddy in the ulleng tsushima basin furthermore this method has the capability to invert flow reasonably well across the shallow straits such as the tsushima korea tsugaru and soya strait

inertinite rich tertiary coals from the zeya bureya basin far eastern russia selected tertiary coals from the zeya buryea basin far eastern russia were investigated for aspects of their coal type rank depositional environment and post depositional history the coals have been examined in outcrop lithotype logging microscopically maceral reflectance and fluorescence and geochemically proximate analysis two laterally extensive coal bearing horizons occur one of palaeocene age and the other of early miocene age the palaeocene coals were investigated in active open cut mines at raichikhinsk and yerkovtsi and the early miocene deposit in an abandoned open cut mine at cergeyevka palaeocene coals at raichikhinsk and yerkovtsi were indistinguishable from each other macroscopically microscopically and geochemically the deposits were sufficiently coalified that brightness logging could be undertaken dull coals with numerous fusainous wisps were dominant four dulling up sequences which represent stacked peat deposits were observed at raichikhinsk at yerkovtsi only a small section of the middle of the seam which was mostly dull and muddy coal was investigated petrographically these coals were dominated by inertinite group macerals which is unusual in non gondwanan coals and rare in the tertiary rank classification was problematic with volatile matter vm content of vitrain daf macroscopic appearance and microscopic textures suggesting subbituminous b rank but carbon content moisture content and specific energy indicating a lignite rank notwithstanding complications of rank estimates of the maximum range burial depths were calculated taking the vm daf content of vitrain as 48 burial depth estimates range from 900 m for a high geothermal gradient and long heating time to a maximum of 3300 m for a low geothermal gradient and short heating time these estimates are maxima as the coal rank may be lower than implied by the vm the cergeyevka deposit is a soft brown coal limited sampling of the upper most portion indicated a high moisture content 75 daf and an unusual hydrogen rich geochemistry lack of identifiable liptinites using either reflected light or fluorescence microscopy suggested a significant bituminite component otherwise the coals appear to be typical for the tertiary an estimate of 125 m maximum burial depth was obtained using the bed moisture content of the coal which is around the present burial depth comparison of present day thicknesses with inferred burial depths suggests that at least 500 m of section is missing between the palaeocene coals and the early miocene coals palaeoenvironmental considerations suggest that fire played a significant role in the accumulation of the peats at raichikhinsk and yerkovtsi at cergeyevka peat accumulation ended by drowning of the mire two tuff beds were recognised within the seam at raichikhinsk and one in the seam at yerkovtsi correlation of the tuff beds is uncertain but they should prove useful in regional coal seam correlation and interpreting coal depositional environments geochemical analysis by xrf was complicated by high loss on ignition loi values despite extensive alteration an acid igneous source is implied from the presence of free quartz and tio2 al2o3 ratios of 0 02 to 0 05

coal facies interpretations based on lithotype and maceral variations in lower cretaceous gates formation coals of western canada abstract maceral analyses of lithotype samples from lower cretaceous coal seams have been used to define compositional characteristics of the various lithotypes and to assess coal facies changes within the seams based on maceral and lithotype variations the mean petrographic compositions of the lithotypes show a general trend to decreasing vitrinite increasing inertinite and increasing mineral matter contents from the bright to dull varieties the bright lithotypes are considered to have been formed in wet and densely forested swamps whereas the banded lithotypes were formed under somewhat drier conditions within the dull lithotype two distinct types were recognized based on differences in petrographic composition and the occurrence or absence of facies diagnostic macerals it is suggested that these differences are due to formation in distinct mire facies under the influence of open moor or raised mire conditions the lithotype variations within the seams together with the data on their petrographic composition were used to define facies changes which occurred during accumulation of the peats three types of seam development are recognized a seams containing a high proportion of clastic beds indicative of frequent floodings of the swamps these seams are characterized by the dominance of oscillatory sequences of bright lithotypes and dulling upward sequences below clastic beds the brighter lithotypes were formed in forested swamps and fens whereas for the duller sequences influences of open moor conditions are indicated b seams containing only minor thin clastic beds indicating relative stability of water levels during formation of the peat these seams are characterized by the predominance of duller lithotypes with common repetitions of dulling upward sequences the dulling up sequences indicate transitions from wet and very wet forest swamps to drier conditions with lower tree density c transitional seams characterized by a few clastic beds these seams formed under intermediate conditions of stability in respect to flooding events the seams are characterized by the predominance of banded lithotypes dull lithotypes near partings and brightening and dulling up sequences the brightening up sequences represent transitions from dry forest swamp to wet and very wet forest swamps while a reverse trend is indicated for the dulling up sequences the overall petrographic characteristics of full seam sections indicate that the seams are in general relatively low in vitrinite and relatively rich in inertinite macerals liptinite content is negligible and mineral matter contents are low based on petrographic indices obtained from facies diagnostic macerals an accumulation of the ancient peats under prevailing wet to very wet forest swamps is suggested vicinity to more open moor conditions is indicated for one seam by the higher input of dispersed macerals

evolution of pennsylvanian late carboniferous peat swamps of the ruhr basin germany comparison of palynological coal petrographical and organic geochemical data abstract this study focuses on the reconstruction of the environment during peat swamp development eight coal and sedimentary organic rock bearing seam successions were examined all belonging to the duckmantian pennsylvanian late carboniferous 410 samples were analysed with coal petrographical methods 155 of these also by palynological methods in addition on 55 samples organic geochemical investigations were carried out with respect to n alkanes and iso alkanes the established coal petrographical parameters gelification index gi tissue preservation index tpi groundwater index gwi and vegetation index vi were used to characterize different periods of peat swamp development furthermore the new index wci water cover index was introduced to reflect water level conditions by using the ratio between hydrophilous hygrophilous and mesophilous plants in this study the index is based on palynological data but can be equally applied when quantitative macrofloral counts are available gi versus tpi values show two general trends of peat swamp evolution low gi and tpi values as indicator for drier swamp conditions like ombrogenous mires and high gi and tpi values which show a trend to water covered environments like topogenous mires in addition ash yields and gwi versus vi data also emphasize a general trend from topogenous to ombrogenous mires a decrease in water level towards the top of the seams and thus resulting in the development of domed mires is reflected by the newly introduced wci hence these parameters show recurrent peat swamp successions characterized by mineral and vitrinite rich coals typical for topogenous swamps and an evolution towards inertinite liptinite rich coals with low ash yield typical for ombrogenous swamps n alkane ratios like the carbon preference index cpi pristane n c17 phytane n c18 pristane phytane and the n c17 n c27 relationship indicate a strong correlation of these parameters with thermal maturity e g cpi values correlate with vitrinite reflectance sulphur organic carbon s toc ratios are quite uniform in clastic rocks with low to moderate toc contents but highly variable in coals probably reflecting variable sulphate availability during deposition of peats sphenophyll rich floral assemblages are restricted to low sulphur environments