effect of coal mining activities on the environment of tetraena mongolica in wuhai inner mongolia china a geochemical perspective abstract the main objective of this study is to investigate the geochemical impact of gob piles on the environment of tetraena mongolica a chinese nationally protected plant twenty five major and trace elements in samples of soil gangue roof and floor of coal seams collected from wuhai inner mongolia china were analyzed by atomic fluorescence spectrometry afs x ray fluorescence xrf and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry icp ms the results show that the elements such as cu pb mo and as were highly enriched in soil coal and coal gangue between 2003 and 2012 heavy metal concentrations had increased in soil due to mining activities leaching and volatilization are the two main pathways that gob piles affect the environment with the leaching range of the gob piles extending about 0 10 m while the range for volatilization is 3 5 km the concentration of cu pb mo and as in t mongolica also shows a positive correlation with the elemental compositions of the roof and floor of the coal seam and adult individuals have a higher correlation than juveniles therefore the distribution of coal resources and the local geology contribute to the restricted range of t mongolica in wuhai

marine origin of pyritic sulfur in the lower bakerstown coal bed castleman coal field maryland u s a abstract the amount kind distribution and genesis of pyrite in the lower bakerstown coal bed in a 150 15 m area of the bettinger mine castleman coal field maryland were studied by various analytical techniques the mined coal which had a nonmarine roof rock contained 1 4 2 8 wt total sulfur generally much lower than the high sulfur coal 3 0 wt total s to the north which is associated with marine roof rocks small scale systematic and nonsystematic variations in total sulfur and pyrite distribution were found in the mined area in the column sample most of the pyrite was found in the upper 9 cm of the 69 cm thick mined coal and occurred mainly as a pyrite lens containing cell fillings in seed fern tissue coal ball as bearing pyrite was detected by laser microprobe techniques in the cell walls of this tissue but not elsewhere in the column sample this may indicate that the as was derived from decomposition of organic matter in the cell walls the sulfur isotopic composition and distribution of pyrite in the coal are consistent with introduction of marine sulfate shortly after peat deposition followed by bacterial reduction and pyrite precipitation epigenetic cleat pyrite in the coal is isotopically heavy implying that later aqueous sulfate was 34s enriched

leaching experiments to study the release of trace elements from mineral separates from chinese coals abstract leaching experiments were carried out for two samples of mineral separates from chinese coals for the purpose to simulate the release of trace elements in acid mine drainage the leaching solution has a ferric ion concentration of 10 3 m ph 2 the experiments were carried out at room temperature the grain size of the mineral separates is 75 130 m the behavior of the release of eight trace elements co ni zn cd al cr as and pb were measured during the period of 312h the results from four leaching tests using two samples with two solid to liquid ratios show that the concentrations of co ni zn and cd continuously increased during the leaching period and they were correlated with the sulfate content in the same leachate this indicates that the elements were released during the oxidation and dissolution of pyrite the elements were easily dissolved in the leaching solution on the other hand the concentrations of al cr as and pb in the leachates varied considerably under same leaching conditions and were sensitive to the condition of the leachate during the leaching process the release of these four elements was affected by the ph of the leachate and by absorption and co precipitation they are less likely to migrate therefore the release and migration of the eight elements in acid coal mine drainage are controlled mainly by three factors the oxidation of pyrite the ph of the leachate and mineralogy of country rocks

enrichment of u se mo re v in coals preserved within marine carbonate successions geochemical and mineralogical data from the late permian guiding coalfield guizhou china we present multi element data on the super high organic sulfur shos 5 19 on average coals of late permian age from guiding in guizhou province china the coals formed on restricted carbonate platforms are all highly enriched in s u se mo re v and cr and to a lesser extent ni and cd although the guiding coals were subjected to seawater influence boron is very low and mainly occurs in tourmaline and mixed layer illite smectite uranium mo and v in the coal are mainly associated with the organic matter in addition a small proportion of the u occurs in coffinite and brannerite the major carrier of se is pyrite rather than marcasite rhenium probably occurs in secondary sulfate and carbonate minerals the u bearing coal deposits have the following characteristics the formation age is limited to late permian concentrations of sulfur and rare metals u se mo re v and in some cases rare earth elements and y are highly elevated the u bearing coal beds are intercalated with marine carbonate rocks organic sulfur and rare metals are uniformly distributed within the coal seams and the combustion products e g fly and bottom ash derived from the coal deposits may have potential economic significance for rare metals u se mo re v rare earth elements and y

impact of sulphur and trace element geochemistry on the utilization of a marine influenced coal case study from the south wales variscan foreland basin abstract incremental channel samples through two high volatile a bituminous coal seams the amman rider and bute seams below and above the vanderbeckei marine band at the westphalian a b boundary have been analysed using proximate petrographic inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry icp ms x ray fluorescence xrf and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x ray sem edx techniques the results show that both coals are vitrinite rich and indicate a similar history of palaeomire development with a period of falling water tables towards the middle plies of each seam mean sulphur contents in the coal with the marine roof the amman rider seam 4 19 wt are almost 4 times higher than in the coal with a non marine roof the bute seam 1 09 wt implying that high sulphur contents are derived from sea water sulphate in both coals sulphur is predominantly in the form of pyritic sulphur both syngenetic framboidal and euhedral crystals and epigenetic vein and cleat fill pyrite are present relatively constant levels of organic sulphur at around 2 have been recorded in the amman rider seam sulphur levels in the basal and top plies of each seam are at least twice that of the ply with the lowest sulphur content in the seam reflecting the stages in palaeomire development most strongly influenced by sulphate containing waters thorium uranium ratios are below 2 9 in the coal with a marine roof the amman rider seam indicating an enrichment of u from sea water most marked at the top and bottom of the seam the seam without a marine roof shows th u ratios between 2 5 and 4 9 indicating mild marine enrichment of u the concentrations of environmentally significant trace elements eses are correlated with either the ash or sulphur contents or both the correlation between s and pb as cu ni in the coal with a marine roof implies an origin of these eses from sea water and their mode of occurrence in sulphide minerals most eses in this coal are present at levels at least twice that of the global average in coals the exceptions being pb and zn which have concentrations less than half the global average by contrast the coal without a marine roof and with lower sulphur contents has most eses present at concentrations less than a third of the global average the exceptions being ni and cu diagenetic hydrothermal activity is documented in the middle ply of the coal with a marine roof this hydrothermal system redistributed the sulphur pb and as in this ply the principal utilization of bituminous coals in the south wales coalfield is as feed coals in power station boilers the resultant concentration of most eses in the solid residues from power plant coal combustion theoretically can be alleviated by careful blending of feed coals with low and high ese contents

distribution of sulfur and pyrite in coal seams from kutai basin east kalimantan indonesia implications for paleoenvironmental conditions abstract thirteen miocene coal samples from three active open pit and underground coal mines in the kutai basin east kalimantan indonesia were collected according to our microscopical and geochemical investigations coal samples from sebulu and centra busang coal mines yield high sulfur and pyrite contents as compared to the embalut coal mine the latter being characterized by very low sulfur

geochemistry and nano mineralogy of two medium sulfur northeast indian coals the petrology mineralogy and inorganic geochemistry of two contrasting high sulfur vitrinite rich subbituminous to bituminous coals from the north eastern region ner of india have been studied using a combination of optical microscopy quantitative x ray diffraction xrd field emission scanning electron microscopy fe sem high resolution transmission electron microscopy hr tem saed and chemical analysis techniques the study reveals that the fe nano particles are present in indian high sulfur tertiary coals including nano pyrite fe oxyhydroxides and a small amount of sphalerite the pyrite is present as framboids and unsymmetrical cubic crystals rhombohedral they contain potentially hazardous elements viz as pb and se measured by eds techniques mineral matter residues isolated from the coals by low temperature oxygen plasma ashing are dominated by carbonate minerals calcite dolomite ankerite pyrite and pyrite oxidation products jarosite and coquimbite kaolinite illite and quartz sulfate bearing phases such as tschermigite bassanite and gypsum are also present probably as artifacts of the plasma ashing process

distribution isotopic variation and origin of sulfur in coals in the wuda coalfield inner mongolia china abstract this paper describes coal petrographic characteristics sulfur abundance distribution and isotopic signature in coals in the wuda coalfield inner mongolia northern china petrographic studies suggest that depositional environment influences petrographic composition the no 9 and no 10 coal seams which are thought to have formed on a tidal delta plain have high collodetrinite contents up to 66 1 indicating enhanced gelification and bacteria activity during coal accumulation and also have the highest sulfur content 3 46 and 3 42 both organic and pyritic sulfur isotope values 12 3 to 5 8 and 18 7 to 1 1 respectively are variable and generally tend to be more negative in high sulfur coals than those in low sulfur coals in the wuda coalfield the negative sulfur isotope values indicate that a large portion of sulfur in the high sulfur coals has a bacterial origin sulfur isotopic compositions and variations within the section were used to propose a model to explain the origin of sulfur in these coals the presence of pyritized rod like bacteria cyanophyte s gelatinous sheaths and degraded algae organic matter suggests that bacteria and perhaps algae may play an important role in the formation of these high sulfur coals

observing the seasonal variability in the tropical atlantic from altimetry the tropical atlantic circulation is dominated by a strong wind driven seasonal cycle which is here described by means of the sea level heights measured by geos 3 and seasat altimeters seasat worked for just 3 months and geos 3 yielded an inhomogeneous space time coverage during its 3 5 years of operation to remedy this coverage shortfall all geos 3 and seasat data were merged together on a monthly basis without regard to year thereby ignoring the weak interannual perturbations of the tropical atlantic in this way a complete time series was produced for 1 year along each profile altirnetric heights were referenced to a global mean sea surface and then filtered to remove high and low frequency noise the residual heights were objectively analyzed to produce monthly maps of sea level anomaly between 10 s and 20 n these maps show a large annual signal in the western side of the basin between the equator and 10 n where the north equatorial countercurrent and south equatorial current are predominant the signal has an amplitude of 8 cm from a minimum in april may to a maximum in october november in the east the signal is weaker and depicts a semiannual cycle these results have been compared to similar maps obtained from historical hydrographic data merle and arnault 1985 the two sets of maps are in good agreement especially north of the equator where the largest seasonal variability occurs the major difference comes from underestimation of the altimetric signal amplitude due to the strong filtering and uneven distribution of the data

geological controls on the sulphur content of coal seams in the northumberland coalfield northeast england the sulphur content of coal is an important consideration when developing reserves for exploitation driven by emission limits from power stations becoming more stringent variations in the sulphur content of westphalian a and b coals from the predominantly freshwater northumberland coalfield northeast england were studied according to their regional stratigraphic and in seam location the observed variation in sulphur content spatially increases towards the source area away from more marine influenced areas with increased sulphur content through time linked to changes in the general depositional environment as conditions became more marine influenced a model of basinal surface water and groundwater flow driven by post depositional source area tectonism is thought to have played only a minor role in contributing secondary sulphur to the coal however the isotopic composition of coal pyrite shows a similar range in composition to that of pyrite and other sulphides from the north pennine orefield along the southern margin of the coalfield suggesting an additional potential source of secondary sulphur as sulphur rich fluids were expelled northwards through the coal measures during early permian variscan transpression from the south the westphalian a and b are interpreted as third order depositional sequences defined by third order maximum flooding surfaces each sequence is made up of several coal bearing fourth order parasequences which tend to be more brackish to marine in character on either side of the third order maximum flooding surfaces when base level was relatively high the lowest sulphur coals are confined to the lower to middle relative low stand part of the westphalian a third order base level curve and the lowest part of the westphalian b third order base level curve this difference is attributed to a more rapid rise of base level in the westphalian b the stratigraphic and spatial distribution of coal sulphur has been used as a guide to prediction of reserve identification for surface mining operations

the scale of sr isotopic diffusion during post metamorphic cooling of gneisses in the inner piedmont of georgia southern appalachians abstract rb sr whole rock isotopic analyses of two suites of contiguous gneiss samples each ca 10 cm in width collected in quarries within the georgia inner piedmont of the southern appalachians indicate that sr isotopic diffusion continued on a scale of 10 25 cm for at least 30 ma after culmination of high grade regional metamorphism variation of rb sr ratios between 14 contiguous slabs of one suite is sinusoidal about an overall mean of 1 5 permitting calculation of a 315 17 ma isochron on the basis of previous estimates of the scale of sr diffusion in feldspar under geological conditions an approximate closure temperature of 600 c may be calculated together with rb sr and 40 ar 39 ar mineral ages from this quarry the 315 17 ma isochron age is interpreted to date cooling through ca 600 c following culmination of high grade devonian regional metamorphism the average rb sr isotopic composition of a contiguous suite from another inner piedmont quarry confirms a paleozoic age for regional metamorphism

surface analysis of pyrite in the no 9 coal seam wuda coalfield inner mongolia china using high resolution time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry abstract the chemical composition of pyrite in coal can be used to investigate its geological and mineralogical origin in this paper high resolution time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry tof sims was used to study the chemical composition of various pyrite forms in the no 9 coal seam st d 3 46 from the wuda coalfield inner mongolia northern china these include bacteriogenic framboidal massive cell filling fracture filling and nodular pyrites in addition to fe 54fe 56fe 57fe other fragment ions were detected in bacteriogenic pyrites such as 27al si 28si 29si 30si 40ca cu 63cu 65cu zn 64zn 66zn 67zn 68zn ni 58ni 60ni 62ni and c3h7 tof sims images show bacteriogenic pyrites are relatively rich in cu zn and ni suggesting that bacteria probably play an important role in the enrichment of cu zn and ni during their formation intense positive secondary ion fragments from framboidal aggregates such as 27al 28si 29si alo ch2 c3h3 c3h5 and c4h7 indicate that formation of the framboidal aggregates may have occurred together with clay mineral and organic matter which probably serve as the binding substance the intense ions of 28si and 27al from massive pyrites also suggest that their pores incorporated clay minerals during crystallization together with the lowest 28si 23na value the intense organic positive secondary ion peaks from cell filling pyrites such as c3h3 c3h5 c3h7 and c4h7 indicate that pyrite formation may have accompanied dissolution or disintegration of the cell the intense p peak was observed only in the fracture filling pyrite and the highest 28si 23na value of fracture filling pyrite reflects its epigenetic origin together with xrd and rees data the stronger 40ca in nodular pyrite than other pyrite forms shows seawater influence during its formation

variation in elemental composition of macerals an example of the application of electron microprobe to coal studies abstract elemental composition of macerals in lignite sub bituminous high volatile bituminous medium volatile bituminous and anthracitic rank coals have been investigated using the electron microprobe technique the concentration of c o n s fe si and al have been measured directly and hydrogen was calculated by difference the chemical composition was compared to reflectance values and whole coal chemistry in lignite the sequence ulminite 66 27 c porigelinite 67 32 c micrinite 67 92 c corpocollinite 68 21 c macrinite 70 24 c and fusinite 73 03 c represents a series with increasing carbon content sulphur concentration is the highest in porigelinite 2 95 and the lowest in fusinite 0 21 whereas nitrogen is the highest in corpocollinite 3 12 and the lowest in micrinite and porigelinite in sub bituminous coal the sequence of decreasing carbon content is as follows macrinite 80 01 c sporinite 73 00 c semifusinite 72 76 c and telocollinite 67 49 c sulphur content is the highest in telocollinite 3 29 in high volatile bituminous coal carbon content is highest in fusinite 93 68 and lowest in cutinite 82 82 vitrinite macerals have the highest sulphur content and fusinite has the lowest in medium volatile bituminous coal a sequence of decreasing carbon and increasing oxygen content fusinite 90 02 c semifusinite 89 73 c and vitrinite 88 56 c is detectable but differences in carbon and oxygen content between macerals are small in anthracite no statistical differences in carbon and oxygen content between vitrinite and inertinite macerals exist about 94 c and 1 o for both macerals comparison of reflectance values to carbon and oxygen contents for individual macerals demonstrates that vitrinite and sporinite enter a common coalification path at 88 5 c and a reflectance of 1 25 semifusinite joins the path at about 89 c and a reflectance of 1 8 2 0 more data are needed to determine the relationship between reflectance and elemental composition for other macerals

palaeoenvironment of seam i in the marathousa lignite mine megalopolis basin southern greece the present study aims to elucidate the depositional environment of seam i in the megalopolis basin southern greece using existing geological data supported by maceral and mineralogical analyses as well as by natural radioactivity determinations very high pyrite and uranium contents and a very low tissue preservation index usually suggest a marine influence during deposition in seam i however these features are most probably the result of a karstic aquifer supplying the palaeomire with sulphate rich neutral to weakly alkaline water the pyrite formation and the u precipitation are attributed to the anaerobic conditions which prevailed during peat accumulation the petrographic mineralogical and geochemical data of the studied profile point to several changes in the surface runoff and the supply of clastic material during deposition

mineralogy and geochemistry of late permian coals from the donglin coal mine in the nantong coalfield in chongqing southwestern china abstract the donglin coal mine an important mine in the nantong coalfield in southwestern chongqing is immediately adjacent to the songzao coalfield to investigate the mineralogy and geochemistry of donglin coals profile channel samples from the mineable nos 4 and 6 coals were collected the minerals major element oxides and trace elements were analyzed by lta xrd in combination with siroquant software xrf icp ms icp cct ms as and se ise f and dma 80 hg analyzer hg the results indicate that the donglin low volatile bituminous coals were characterized by low ash yields and high total sulfur contents the minerals varied between the nos 4 and 6 coals differentiated by montmorillonite calcite ankerite and pyrite despite the low boron concentration donglin coals were influenced by brackish water during coal accumulation selenium 10 9 mg kg f 431 mg kg hg 0 350 mg kg nb 20 7 mg kg and ta 3 68 mg kg in the no 4 coals and f 425 mg kg be 7 11 mg kg ga 14 5 mg kg ge 22 5 mg kg zr 218 mg kg nb 35 5 mg kg and ta 4 42 mg kg in the no 6 coals are slightly enriched four vertical distributions of elements were demonstrated i e roof floor roof and floor and middle enrichments the slightly enriched trace elements and ucc normalized rey distribution patterns of the donglin coals jointly eliminated the impact of various volcanic ashes and terrigenous input from the kangdian oldland during the late permian however the roof rock samples shared the geochemical feature of mafic tonstein enriched sc v cr co and ni while the floor rock of the no 6 coals resembles alkali tonsteins enriched ga zr nb ta hf and rey lithium ga zr ag cd in sn cs hf bi th and u occurred in kaolinite and or montmorillonite in the no 4 coals while li nb ag cd in cs ba and th occurred in kaolinite in the no 6 coals vanadium sr and mo in the no 4 coals and sr and sc in the no 6 coals were associated with calcite and or ankerite arsenic se hg sb and tl and hg and mo were associated with pyrite in the nos 4 and 6 coals respectively lithium be ge and sb in the no 4 coals and be and ge in the no 6 coals might be of organic affinity

sedimentary and organic geochemical investigation of tertiary lacustrine oil shale in the central tibetan plateau palaeolimnological and palaeoclimatic significances article i nfo the zhuonai lake and lunpori oil shale located in the central tibetan plateau were deposited in a tertiary lacustrine environment in the hoh xil and lunpola basins respectively a combined investigation of sedimentary organic geochemistry and organic carbon isotope was performed to define source rock potential the palaeoenvironment and source of the organic matter three types of facies sequences are developed in the zhuonai lake section and oil shale mainly occurs in the oil shale marl sequence the oil shale silty claystone and oil shale marl facies sequences are developed in the lunpori section both oil shales are finely stratified especially for the lunpori oil shale with thickness of the laminae about 10 m which contains abundant pyrite crystals and fossilized fish bones both the zhuonai lake and lunpori oil shale contain high values of total organic matter toc s2 and hydrogen index hi indicating the oil shales have good oil source rock potential tmax values show an immature stage of organic matter for the zhuonai lake oil shale and thermally marginally mature for the lunpori oil shale because of difference in their burial history lunpori oil shale shows the characteristics of amorphous organic matter aom dominance odd over even predominance maximum n alkanes peak at nc25 or nc23 higher proportion of c29 sterane light 13 corg values 30 0 to 27 4 high concentrations of phytane pr ph ratio ranging from 0 02 to 0 18 high values of gammacerane index up to 25 26 and presence of carotane which are consistent with a reducing stratified and hypersaline palaeo lake with main contribution of algae and bacteria to the organic matter om oil shale samples from the lower and upper part of the zhuonai lake section are characterized by low h c ratios and high o c ratios amorphous humic om and vitrinite dominance odd over even predominance with long chain n alkanes dominance heavy organic carbon isotope and c29nc27 sterane distribution in agreement with a main contribution of land plant the heavy organic carbon isotope suggests the expanding of c4 land plant during the early miocene while the most samples show characteristics of aom dominance maximum peak at nc29 or nc31 and high c27 sterane concentration consistent with a main contribution from algae to the om the pr ph ratio cannot be applied as a measure for redox conditions in the section because of maturity effects biomarker analysis indicates that the salinity during the deposition of the zhuonai lake oil shale was not enhanced the oligocene lunpori oil shale and the early miocene zhuonai lake oil shale recorded the variation of palaeolimnological water chemistry the development history of the palaeo lakes from the oligocene saline to the early miocene fresh water reflects the variation of palaeoclimate from dry to humid in the central tibetan plateau

analysis of coal fire dynamics in the wuda syncline impacted by fire fighting activities based on in situ observations and landsat 8 remote sensing data abstract coal fires are a global catastrophe for valuable coal resources the environment human health and safety fire fighting activities are the approach to limit these catastrophic influences and to extinguish active coal fires the wuda syncline in inner mongolia is one of the biggest coalfields suffering from coal fires in china and is one of the coalfire areas globally which has been analyzed most comprehensively massive fire fighting activities have been undertaken to quench coal fires in the wuda syncline particularly activities such as blasting and excavation have accelerated since the year 2010 influence of fire fighting activities on coal fire dynamics is a significant topic but has rarely been reported yet although airborne and spaceborne earth observation data holds the potential to monitor extinguishing activities this data is rarely applied for this purpose airborne thermal scanner data is cost intensive to fly and spaceborne landsat 7 scanner system with a thermal band at 60 m spatial resolution in 2003 led to a limited exploitation of this valuable data source just recently landsat 8 satellite data with a thermal infrared band of 100 m spatial resolution is available since early 2013 and is able to fill this gap we conducted in depth in situ surveys on coal fires and fire fighting activities in the wuda syncline in may 2014 after visiting the wuda coalfield in 2012 we integrated our in situ observations and thermal anomalies extracted from both landsat 8 and landsat 7 slc on acquired before the scanner failure satellite data using an automated moving window thermal anomaly extractor regional anomaly extractor rae and analyzed coal fire dynamics impacted by fire fighting activities and the state of coal fires in the wuda syncline results show that after over 4 years of efforts to fight against coal fires in the wuda syncline the nos 1 7 no 9 no 12 and no 13 coal fire zones are extinct however the no 8 no 10 no 11 and no 14 no 18 coal fire zones are still active and furthermore three novel coal fire zones have evolved in the light of in situ surveys in the wuda coalfield these active and newly developed coal fires are mainly attributed to extinguishing related activities such as the blasting and excavation in fire affected areas which lead to the exposure of pure coal seams weathered coal pillars and coal waste piles to the outside air the contact of this coal and coal remnants with oxygen triggers spontaneous combustion of coal and further develops to coal fires additionally time series analyses of extracted thermal anomalies suggest that coal fires propagate eastward according with the dip direction of coal seams in the wuda coalfield the regional thermal anomaly extraction tool rae can delineate thermal anomalies with a high accuracy which is confirmed by our in situ surveys this paper is the first investigation on dozens of landsat satellite images to evaluate the state of coal fires within one year which is more accurate compared to previous approaches analyzing merely one or several satellite images to assess the state of coal fires during one year period

geochemistry of terrestrial oil shale from the lunpola area northern tibet china abstract the lunpola oil shale is the largest oil shale resource in tibet twenty four samples of oil shale mudstone and dolomite were collected from the lunpola oil shale for mineralogical and trace element analyses the vertical distribution and mode of occurrence of trace elements in this terrestrial oil shale were also discussed oil shale samples from the lunpola area have high toc contents 5 1 10 6 high ash yields 74 8 84 7 low total sulfur contents 0 19 1 03 and high shale oil contents 5 0 10 3 the major minerals in the oil shale samples are clays quartz calcite and dolomite with minor quantities of feldspar siderite hematite magnesite and pyrite other minerals such as halite zeolite barite anhydrite and mirabilite were detected in some oil shale samples the contents of as ba be bi cd ce cs hg la li mo nd pb pr rb se sm th u w and zr are enriched from 1 30 to 125 times as compared to their average crust abundance clarke values whereas the other elements are slightly higher or lower than their respective clarke values compared to common australian oil shale the lunpola oil shales contain higher as ba be ce co cs ga gd hf nb nd pb pr rb sc sm sn th and zr but lower cd cu lu mo ni se sr u v and zn elements associated with organic matter and or fe sulfides are highly enriched in all oil shale deposits suggesting that their speciation in oil shale is governed by general processes e g high organic matter content and anoxic environment whereas elements associated with clay minerals exhibit various enrichments indicating that their speciation in oil shale is governed by individual geochemical mechanisms e g source rocks the elements in the lunpola oil shale may be classified into three groups of associations according to their modes of occurrence group a elements tio 2 sc hf zr be li w v zn sio 2 al 2 o 3 rb ga sn cr ta cs k 2 o th na 2 o rees and ash yield have high positive correlations with ash yield and a mainly inorganic affinity group b elements as toc mno ni fe 2 o 3 cd co cu mo se mgo bi pb and hg show a negative correlation with ash yield and most elements possibly have a likely organic affinity and or fe sulfide affinity group c elements sr cao u and p 2 o 5 show a weak or negligible correlation with ash yield with the exception of cao elements of environmental concern as bi hg mo pb se and u are present in high contents and are clustered in the second association i e they are hosted mainly in fe sulfides and or organic matter

isotopic evidence for the origin of sulfur in the herrin no 6 coal member of illinois abstract the sulfur isotopic composition of the herrin no 6 coal from several localities in the illinois basin was measured the sediments immediately overlying these coal beds range from marine shales and limestones to non marine shales organic sulfur disseminated pyrite and massive pyrite were extracted from hand samples taken in vertical sections the 34 s values from low sulfur coals 0 for organic sulfur 1 8 to 16 8 0 for massive pyrite and 3 9 to 23 8 0 for disseminated pyrite in contrast the 34 s values from high sulfur coals 0 8 organic sulfur underlying marine sediments were more variable organic sulfur 7 7 to 0 5 0 pyrites 17 8 to 28 5 0 in both types of coal organic sulfur is typically enriched in 34 s relative to pyritic sulfur in general 34 s values increased from the top to the base of the bed vertical and lateral variations in 34 s are small for organic sulfur but are large for pyritic sulfur the sulfur content is relatively constant throughout the bed with organic sulfur content greater than disseminated pyrite content the results indicate that most of the organic sulfur in high sulfur coals is derived from post depositional reactions with a 34 s depleted source this source is probably related to bacterial reduction of dissolved sulfate in carboniferous seawater during a marine transgression after peat deposition the data suggest that sulfate reduction occurred in an open system initially and then continued in a closed system as sea water penetrated the bed organic sulfur in the low sulfur coals appears to reflect the original plant sulfur although diagenetic changes in content and isotopic composition of this fraction cannot be ruled out the wide variability of the 34 s in pyrite fractions suggests a complex origin involving varying extents of microbial h 2 s production from sulfate reservoirs of different isotopic compositions the precipitation of pyrite may have begun soon after deposition and continued throughout the coalification process

mineralogical and geochemical characterization of the saray and pinarhisar coals northwest thrace basin turkey abstract this study investigates the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of coals from the saray and pinarhisar coalfields in the northwest thrace basin using optical microscopy scanning electron microscopy x ray diffraction and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry the saray and pinarhisar coals were deposited in a limnic environment the sulfur content of the coals ranges from 0 3 to 15 3 and high sulfur contents may originate from both seawater and volcanism pyritic and organic sulfur are the dominant sulfur forms 1 2 and 2 7 on average respectively the mineral matter of the coals consists mainly of pyrite barite gypsum muscovite and kaolinite with minor amounts of quartz butlerite tamarugite and rozenite the coals are enriched in trace elements including v 61 ppm on average co 5 85 ppm on average ni 79 ppm on average as 39 2 ppm on average th 3 6 ppm on average and u 6 7 ppm on average based on pearson correlation coefficients ti v cr fe co ni cu se rb au hg pb and th have mainly inorganic affinities r ash elements 0 5 in the pinarhisar coals fe as and au also have inorganic affinities r ash elements 0 5 in the saray coals the element contents and correlation coefficients indicate that the strandja massif the tethyan ophiolite belt and the oldest basement sediments were included in the sediment source region for both coalfields while the strandja massif was the prevailing sediment source region for pinarhisar coalfield

geochemistry of trace elements in chinese coals a review of abundances genetic types impacts on human health and industrial utilization abstract china will continue to be one of the largest coal producers and users in the world the high volume of coal use in china has focused attention on the amounts of toxic trace elements released from coal combustions and also the valuable trace elements extracted or potentially utilized from coal ash compared to world coals chinese coals have normal background values for most trace elements with the exception of higher li 31 8 g g zr 89 5 g g nb 9 44 g g ta 0 62 g g hf 3 71 g g th 5 84 g g and rare earth elements la lu y 136 g g this is not only due to the higher ash yields of chinese coals but also to alkali volcanic ashes found in some southwestern coals the background values of toxic elements of hg 0 163 g g as 3 79 g g and f 130 g g in chinese coals are comparable to coals from most other countries the genetic types for trace element enrichment of chinese coals include source rock controlled marine environment controlled hydrothermal fluid controlled including magmatic low temperature hydrothermal fluid and submarine exhalation controlled subtypes groundwater controlled and volcanic ash controlled the background values of trace elements were dominated by sediment source regions low temperature hydrothermal fluid was one of the major factors for the local enrichment of trace elements in southwestern china serious human health problems caused by indoor combustion of coal in china include endemic fluorosis arsenosis selenosis and lung cancer endemic fluorosis mainly occurring in western guizhou was mostly attributed to the high fluorine in clay that was used as a briquette binder for fine coals in addition to a small quantity of fluorine from coal fluorine in the coal from endemic fluorosis areas of western guizhou is within the usual range found in china and the world endemic arsenosis in southwestern guizhou is attributed to indoor combustion of high as coal endemic selenosis in enshi of hubei was due to high se in carbonaceous siliceous rocks and carbonaceous shales fine particles of quartz released into air during coal combustion are hypothesized as a possible cause for the lung cancer epidemic in xuanwei yunnan china valuable elements including ge ga u ree rare earth element nb zr and re are concentrated to levels comparable to conventional economic deposits in several coals or coal bearing strata in china the ge deposits at lincang yunnan province and wulantuga inner mongolia have been exploited and industrially utilized the enrichment of ge in the two deposits was caused by hydrothermal fluids associated with adjacent granitoids the ga al ore deposit in the jungar coalfield inner mongolia was derived from the neighboring weathered and oxidized bauxite of the benxi formation pennsylvanian the nb ta zr hf ree ga deposits in the late permian coal bearing strata of eastern yunnan and chongqing of southwestern china were attributed to ashes of the alkali volcanic eruptions

spectral reflectance 400 2500 nm properties of coals adjacent sediments metamorphic and pyrometamorphic rocks in coal fire areas a case study of wuda coalfield and its surrounding areas northern china abstract although remote sensing is an effective tool extensively employed to detect and monitor coal fires continuous spectral reflectance properties of typical land surfaces such as coals adjacent sediments metamorphic rocks and pyrometamorphic rocks in coal fire regions have not been reported yet field and laboratory spectral reflectance of coals bituminous anthracite and coal waste sediments rocks sandstones siltstone desert sands limestones and shale metamorphic and pyrometamorphic rocks located in wuda coalfield and its surrounding areas are investigated for the reflective domain ranging from 400 nm to 2500 nm the results indicate that coal depicts the lowest reflectance 2 10 and strong absorption bands between 2200 and 2500 nm resulting from organic matter pyrometamorphic rocks are characterized by weak absorption features at 1400 and 1900 nm due to partial dehydration and strong ferric absorption features between 850 and 1100 nm attributed to thermal alteration and oxidation of the rocks sediments exhibit common absorptions features at 2200 and 2300 nm probably related to al oh vibrations and carbonate degenerate c o vibrations respectively spectral reflectance increases with a decrease of the coal rank and particle size the investigations on spectral reflectance properties of typical land surfaces in coal fire regions provide the basic understanding for applications of hyperspectral or multispectral remote sensing to classify land covers and to demarcate coal fire risk areas in similar geological settings

mercury emissions from dynamic monitoring holes of underground coal fires in the wuda coalfield inner mongolia china abstract the wuda coalfield inner mongolia china is one of the largest coalfields suffering from coal fires in china and has experienced fires for 50 years with the aim of observing the active state of underground coal seam fires to protect the main roadways of the coal mine 44 drill holes were drilled in five fire areas of the suhaitu coal mine to monitor gas emissions a lumexra 915 portable mercury analyzer was used to measure mercury concentrations in the exhaust gas the drill holes exhibited high gaseous mercury concentrations with an average of 4165 ng m 3 34 62 513 ng m 3 n 1584 which was 45 times higher than that measured in the near surface atmosphere around the drill holes this finding indicates that the mercury emissions originate from underground coal fires furthermore mercury concentration has a positive correlation with co content and gas temperature implying that mercury has the potential to act as a supplementary coal fire index gases to monitor the prevailing underground coal fire in north china on the basis of traditional indicators whether it can perform satisfactorily in practical applications requires further comprehensive study

isotopic evidence for the source of sulfur in the upper freeport coal bed west central pennsylvania u s a abstract sulfur isotopic variations were used to determine the sources of sulfur in a medium sulfur coal 2 wt s that lacked marine influence which is often cited as a major source of sulfur in coal variations in the amount and isotopic composition of the organic and pyritic sulfur among the coal bed facies of the upper freeport coal bed middle pennsylvanian are attributed to differential incorporation of syngenetic and epigenetic sulfur these variations reflect varying environmental conditions during paleopeat formation porosity and permeability and the availability of sulfate and iron a large increase in the abundance and sulfur isotopic value of pyritic sulfur in the upper facies of the coal bed in proximity to the overlying lacustrine shale corresponds to an increase in massive and irregular forms of pyrite this relationship is attributed to at least two stages of epigenetic pyrite incorporation an early stage of epigenetic pyrite moderately enriched in 34s apparently formed during the fluvial lacustrine period immediately following peat accumulation a late stage of epigenetic pyrite highly enriched in 34s formed after compaction of the original peat as cleat and fracture filling pyrite this sulfur was probably derived from bacterial reduction of dissolved sulfate in groundwater isotopic mass balance calculations indicate that this late stage epigenetic pyrite may account for up to 50 of the pyritic sulfur in some upper facies of the coal bed these results suggest that most of the pyritic sulfur in the upper freeport coal bed may be epigenetic incorporated either soon after peat accumulation or later during coalification

sedimentary control on the formation of a multi superimposed gas system in the development of key layers in the sequence framework abstract based on core observations well logs and test results of siderite bearing mudstone from the benxi formation to the member 2 of the shanxi formations in the linxing block northeastern ordos basin a logging identification model for siderite bearing mudstone key layer was established the porosity characteristics and sealing property were quantitatively evaluated by logging data sedimentary control on the formation of multi superimposed gas bearing system in the development of key layers in the sequence framework was also discussed the results showed that the siderite bearing mudstone has obvious logging response characteristics e g high photoelectric absorption cross section index pe high density den high amplitude natural gamma ray gr low acoustic ac low resistivity m2rx and low neutron porosity cncf the quantitatively evaluated results of the porosity characteristics and sealing property for the key layer showed that the key layer has the characteristics of low porosity with an average of 1 20 percent low permeability with an average of 2 29 10 8 m 2 and high breakthrough pressure with an average of 12 32 mpa in the study area this layer acts as an impermeable gas barrier in a multi superimposed gas system the results also indicated that the material composition of the multi superimposed gas bearing system can be established by the sequence stratigraphic framework the sedimentary evolution results in a cyclic rhythm of material composition vertically the spatial distribution of the corresponding transgressive event layer near the maximum flooding surface mfs in the sequence framework restricts the spatial distribution of the key layer with high breakthrough pressure and low porosity which constitutes the gas bearing system boundary the siderite bearing mudstone formed near the mfs in the second order sequence and constitutes a stable comparison of the first order gas bearing system boundary which has a wide range of regional distribution and stable thickness the siderite bearing mudstone formed near the mfs in the third order sequence is often incompletely preserved due to the late underwater diversion channel erosion and cutting this layer forms the coal bearing reservoirs which we termed as a second order gas bearing system in adjacent third order sequences to form a uniform gas bearing system

permo carboniferous paleogeography and coal accumulation and their tectonic control in the north and south china continental plates abstract permo carboniferous strata in north china and south china were essentially controlled by paleogeography paleoclimate and plate tectonics during that time north china and south china were separate microcontinents located on opposite sides of the equator thus the characteristics of their coal deposits differ substantially in north china the coal seams were initially deposited on a north sloping epicontinental basin during the middle carboniferous by the middle of the late permian the locus of coal formation had shifted from the north to the south as a result of the uplift of the northern margin due to continental collision with the siberian plate as the paleoplate was situated in the low northern latitudes moist tropical climate and favorable geographic setting allowed the extensive development of late carboniferous and earliest permian peat swamps on the northern alluvial fluvial plain and central paralic regimes more significantly two thick coal sequences were formed in the transition belt between the alluvial apron and fluvial plain and the shoreline area where high groundwatertable fed by both rainwater and groundwater favored the formation of thick peat in swamps with northward drift the paleoplate entered the subtropic semiarid and arid climatic belt between the late early permian and early late permian coal formation was restricted to the paralic delta plain where locally oceanic wet climate and high groundwatertable prevailed following this the subduction of the paleo tethys beneath the southern margin of north china led to the upwarp of the southern margin and kept the delta system growing vertically for a considerable period so that it kept pace with shoreline fluctuations on the southern area the result was that multicycle deltaic coals were well developed at this stage in south china coal was formed in the coastal zone of an epeiric and shelf sea which connected the marinal basins the basins were frequently influenced by plate marginal tectonic movements and continental rifting related to back arc extension as a result coal formation was often interrupted by sea level fluctuations early carboniferous coal was deposited during the short regressions during the widespread transgression mainly on the restricted marine paralic plain where clastic deposition was active in the middle and late carboniferous no coal was formed because the paleoplate had drifted into a subtropic arid belt early permian coal accumulated at first in the northeast and later in the southwest due to tectonic influences in the late permian relatively thick and extensive coal was formed even though it was during a transgressive period in both the western and eastern margins under the equatorial hot humid conditions in general the seam geometry and quality particularly ash and sulfur of the coal was directly controlled by the geography and the changes in the depositional environments however the fluctuation in coal formation and the migration of thicker coal zones was indirectly controlled by paleoclimate and the sea level fluctuations in response to plate tectonic influences

geochemistry of rare earth elements in a marine influenced coal and its organic solvent extracts from the antaibao mining district shanxi china twenty six samples including roof bottom and coal plies of a marine influenced coal bed were collected from the antaibao mining district shanxi china the rare earth elements rees were determined in solids and organic solvent extracts the distribution pattern showed three distinct patterns shale like lree rich and hree rich this is attributed to the variable microenvironment of peat forming swamp the degree of marine influences and different ree sources rees in the coal are mainly controlled by detrital minerals but also affected by seawater the chondrite normalized ree patterns of the organic solvent extracts are distinctly different from those of corresponding original coal samples which show a negative eu anomaly a depletion of middle rees and an enrichment of hrees the lrees in coal extracts are likely adsorbed by hydrogen containing functional groups and hrees are likely bonded to carbon atoms

coal fires revisited the wuda coal field in the aftermath of extensive coal fire research and accelerating extinguishing activities abstract the wuda coal mining area in inner mongolia autonomous region china is one of the largest coal fire areas world wide at the same time it is also one of the most extensively researched ones the sub surface coal fires raging in the underground coal seams of the syncline are located directly west of the town of wuda the fires have been mapped in situ based on remote sensing data as well as based on geo physical survey all throughout the years 2001 to 2005 numerous publications depict the situation during that time in the present study we assess the current situation in wuda coal field five years after the last field campaigns under nowadays on going and accelerating extinguishing activities we present the results of coal fire dynamics assessment based on in situ mappings between 2004 and 2010 the analyses of changes in mining infrastructure between 2005 and 2012 as well as land cover change in the area from 2005 to 2012 newest high resolution multispectral and panchromatic quickbird data as well as time series of quickbird data supported this endeavor we furthermore present the result of semi structured interviews undertaken with members of the local mine directorate of the wuda syncline all jointly analyzed data indicate that the wuda coal fires tend to move eastwards within the syncline meaning that they move along the dip of the coal seams to greater depths furthermore mining related infrastructure is clearly moving from the west to the east as well despite large funds spent on fire extinguishing only few fires remain permanently extinct while other fire areas increase in size the former land cover structure in the arid syncline does not exist anymore extinguishing activities have led to a complete turn over of all material in the region the coal fire problem in wuda area remains a pressing one

occurrence and distribution of organic sulphur in macerals of australian coals using electron microprobe techniques the organic sulphur content of the individual macerals in permian high volatile bituminous coals from the gunnedah basin of new south wales has been studied using an electron microprobe technique liptinite chiefly sporinite in the coal has the highest organic sulphur content and inertinite mainly semifusinite the lowest the vitrinite macerals have intermediate sulphur contents these variations are responsible for the relatively low overall organic sulphur in inertinite rich coals typical of australian permian deposits neither marine influence on coal formation nor increases in coal rank appear to be associated with significant changes in organic sulphur of the individual macerals concerned

assessment of impact of coal mining on ground and surface waters in tozakli coal field kirklareli northeast of thrace turkey in this study the surface and groundwaters of tozakli coal field were investigated in order to determine possible environmental impacts of coal mining on water pollution the water samples were analyzed for chemical trace metal and microbiological quality and compared with international directives epa and who in order to determine the impact of the mining activities as a source of pollution on bodies of water tozakli coal was lignitic rank and sulfur content varied between 9 and 4 the ph values of the waters were between 8 04 and 6 92 for the mine ponds and 8 7 and 6 6 for the groundwater and surface water the ca 2 mg 2 na k cl so 4 2 and no3 values of the waters varied between 394 2 and 52 195 and 1 200 and 22 6 and 1 1 and 0 9 756 and 20 2 4 and 1 1 mg l respectively in the mine ponds all the major cation and anion and trace element concentrations were below admissible limits of both epa and who except for so4 and no3 all the mine ponds and tap waters of the villages were contaminated by enterococcus spp while e coli and total coliforms were only present in the mine pond waters the geoaccumulation index igeo values of the clay samples from the mining area revealed that the soils were moderately contaminated by ni whereas as and ni concentrations had high anthropogenic shares due to coal mining the surface and groundwaters of the study area were not polluted by the coal mining operations

sulfur and carbon isotope geochemistry of coal and derived coal combustion by products an example from an eastern kentucky mine and power plant abstract the isotopic compositions of s 34 s and c 13 c were determined for the coal utilized by a power plant and for the fly ash produced as a by product of the coal combustion in a 220 mw utility boiler the coal samples analyzed represent different lithologies within a single mine the coal supplied to the power plant the pulverized feed coal and the coal rejected by the pulverizer the ash was collected at various stages of the ash collection system in the plant there is a notable enrichment in 34 s from the base to the top of the coal seam in the mine with much of the variation due to an upwards enrichment in the 34 s values of the pyrite variations in 34 s and in the amount of pyritic s in the coal delivered to the plant show that there was a change of source of coal supplied to the plant between week one and week two of monitoring supporting a previous study based on metal and sulfide geochemistry for the same plant the fly ash has a more enriched 34 s than the pulverized coal and in general the 34 s is more enriched in fly ashes collected at cooler points in the ash collection system this pattern of 34 s suggests an increased isotopic fractionation due to temperature with the fly ash becoming progressively depleted in 34 s and the flue gas s containing components becoming progressively enriched in 34 s with increasing temperatures substantially less variation is seen in the c isotopes compared to s isotopes there is little vertical variation in 13 c in the coal bed with 13 c becoming slightly heavier towards the top of the coal seam an 83 93 loss of solid phase c occurs during coal combustion in the transition from coal to ash owing to loss of co 2 despite the significant difference in total c content only a small enrichment of 0 44 0 67 in 13 c in the ash relative to the coal is observed demonstrating that redistribution of c isotopes in the boiler and convective passes prior to the arrival of the fly ash in the ash collections system is minor

the stable isotope geochemistry of australian coals abstract d h 13 c 12 c 18 o 16 o and 34 s 32 s ratios in the organic matrix and organic solvent extracts of australian coals and in the fluids and minerals associated with these coals are reported and reviewed against similar isotopic data for coals from other regions where coals are immature original isotopic differences between macrolithotypes and between solvent extracts lipid concentrates and insoluble residues are largely preserved however with increasing maturity these characteristic differences particularly those between macrolithotypes are rapidly erased conversely where as indicated by low total sulfur contents coals of cretaceous to permian age were deposited under essentially freshwater conditions 34 s values for the organically bound sulfur remain remarkably constant at 4 3 relative to meteoritic sulfur in similar younger tertiary coals the organic sulfur is markedly enriched in 34 s five distinctive isotopic patterns which may be interpreted in terms of the environment of sulfate reduction can be recognized from 34 s 32 s ratio measurements on the various forms of sulfur in australian coals isotopic studies of seam gas hydrocarbons collected in situ show these to be unexpectedly strongly depleted in the heavier isotopes of hydrogen and carbon relative to natural gases from proposed humic sources furthermore no pronounced increase in the 13 c content in methane with increase in rank of the parent coal was observed in addition several sources of associated carbon dioxide have been delineated including normal maturation processes invasion of the seams by magnetic carbon dioxide and interaction of the coal with intrusive magma isotopic exchange between free seam gases is not accepted as an explanation for some unusual isotopic fractionations seen rather the data suggest that these gases may be formed in a state approaching isotopic equilibrium this argument also satisfactorily explains the isotopic compositions of primary siderite and secondary calcite associated with bituminous coal seams however where seams are invaded and permeated with externally derived carbon dioxide usually of magnetic origin carbonates are frequently absent presumably as a result of the action of carbonic acid

geochemistry of trace elements in the kesan coal and its effect on the physicochemical features of ground and surface waters in the coal fields edirne thrace region turkey abstract in this study concentration and origin of trace elements of the kesan coals in edirne thrace basin have been investigated in order to determine possible environmental impacts on water pollution the coal ground and surface waters and clay samples were taken from the coal mining area the concentration of trace elements in 14 coal ashes 15 water samples and seven clays was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry additionally 11 of these coal samples were studied by proximate and seven coal samples were also studied by x ray diffraction analyses the mineralogical composition of the studied coal samples is made up mainly of quartz clay minerals feldspar group minerals pyrite and amorphous matter the kesan coal ash samples have higher average concentrations of cr 180 ppm ni 192 ppm rb 91 ppm and sr 1701 ppm average values of other trace elements are lower than the world average of brown coal ashes the sulfur content of the kesan coals ranges from 0 4 to 3 90 2 02 on average the ph values of the waters vary between 6 55 and 8 36 in coal fields 7 21 and 7 54 in springs the f cl no 3 so 4 ca mg na and k values of the waters vary between 0 11 and 0 25 mg l 33 49 and 52 90 mg l 0 05 and 59 27 mg l 85 and 2829 mg l 66 and 349 mg l 64 and 222 mg l 41 and 1187 mg l 2 and 13 mg l respectively in coal fields some elements are anomalous in concentrations in some water samples e g cr up to 49 6 ppb mn up to 1185 ppb fe up to 10 352 ppb ni up to 55 8 ppb as up to 9 7 ppb ppb it has been interpreted that the lower trace element concentrations in the water samples may be due to clay intercalated with coal the clays are smectite type and they are enriched in cr co ni as sr and th e g up to 394 ppm cr up to 305 ppm ni and up to 35 5 ppm as

sulphur isotopic composition in the palaeogene coal of japan abstract sulphur isotopic compositions of organic and inorganic sulphur are reported for 39 coal samples from three major coalfields of japan the 34 s values are from 2 7 to 21 1 and from 2 6 to 20 3 for organic and pyritic sulphur respectively in low sulphur coal beds 34 s value of organic sulphur of the kado coal 2 7 3 9 which was formed in a freshwater environment are probably the 34 s values of the primary sulphur in the palaoegene eocene coals of japan the 34 s values show a downward decrease in the low sulphur coal beds in the ishikari and miike coalfields in contrast the 34 s values are from 0 2 to 30 6 and from 9 6 to 43 1 for organic and pyritic sulphur respectively in high sulphur coal beds 1 total sulphur in the miike coalfield and show three distinctive vertical variations 1 a little downward and remarkable downward increase in organic and pyritic sulphur respectively 2 a large vertical variation having the maximum value near the middle of the bed in both organic and pyritic sulphur and 3 a downward decrease associating major fractionations near the top and bottom of the bed in both organic and pyritic sulphur both organic and pyritic sulphur even in the low sulphur coal beds except for the kado coal probably originated from the reduction of seawater sulfate which infiltrated from above and partially from below the bed two major stages of sulphur incorporation were inferred the early stage occurred at the peat forming stage and the late stage occurred after burial at a few hundred meters depth a distinctive relationship between the 34 s values and the sulphur contents is observed among individual coal samples in the low sulphur coals organic sulphur is enriched in 34 s relative to pyritic sulphur and is more abundant than pyritic sulphur in high sulphur coals three types are recognized 1 when the 34 s values of both organic and pyritic sulphur are over 20 organic sulphur is depleted in 34 s relative to pyritic sulphur and is more abundant than pyritic sulphur 2 when the 34 s values of organic sulphur are over 20 but those of pyritic sulphur are not organic sulphur is enriched in 34 s relative to pyritic sulphur and is more abundant than pyritic sulphur and 3 when the 34 s values of both organic and pyritic sulphur are less than 20 organic sulphur is enriched in 34 s relative to pyritic sulphur but no general pattern in the sulphur contents exists

bolsovian pennsylvanian tropical peat depositional environments the example of the ruhr basin germany abstract a set of 11 bolsovian coal seams from the german ruhr coal basin were analyzed in profiles for their organic geochemical and petrographic composition aiming at the reconstruction of depositional environments mainly in terms of water supply and redox conditions for this purpose established maceral indices and a i ratio were employed the seams show the same basic depositional pathways of terrestrialisation and paludification as reported for duckmantian coal seams from the same basin the presence of coals formed as ombrotrophic peat indicates that climate was still wet enough for the formation of domed bogs until the upper bolsovian although the typical densosporite facies does not occur within the uppermost third of the analyzed succession very high ts values for seam parsifal ii indicate the influence of marine waters at the peat stage a marine ingression event was not reported before for this stratigraphical level within the ruhr basin data also reveal some variability in vitrinite reflectance 0 65 0 74 within a given coal seam which cannot be due to thermal maturation for seams with decreased vrr values a correlation with high liptinite contents was found rock eval hi values do not show any strong variation with depths in the recorded maturity interval tmax values vary between 418 c and 444 c showing dependence on both thermal maturity and liptinite content decreasing contents of inertinite macerals throughout the pennsylvanian in the ruhr basin suggest climatic changes during that time span

sulfur distribution and isotopic composition in peats from the okefenokee swamp georgia and the everglades florida abstract peat cores from three aquatic environments freshwater brackish and marine have been analyzed for organic pyritic and sulfatic sulfur contents and isotope ratios peat collected from each environment has a unique combination of sulfur content distribution and isotope ratio freshwater peat from the okefenokee swamp contains the least sulfur 0 26 to 0 48 primarily organic sulfur and is vertically uniform in sulfur content and isotope ratio the organic sulfur isotope ratio of the okefenokee pear 12 3 to 12 8 per mil is similar to that of sulfate in associated surface waters cores from presently brackish and marine peats from the florida everglades have high organic pyritic and sulfatic sulfur contents with vertical variability in sulfur content and isotope ration the isotope ratio of organic sulfur in the brackish and marine peat is lighter than that of sulfate associated with their respective peat forming environments organic sulfur in the marine peat is isotopically lighter than in the brackish peat freshwater peats subsequently overlain by sediment associated with brackish to marine waters may have a sulfur content distribution and isotopic ratio indistinguishable from peats derived under brackish or marine conditions the primary source of sulfur in peats is dissolved sulfate associated with the peat forming system the sulfate concentration of the waters in which a peat forms is of major importance in determining the isotopic composition of the sulfur form found in peat the content distribution and isotopic ratio of low and high sulfur peats are similar to those reported for coals indicating that the fundamental sulfur geochemistry of coals may have been established during the peat forming stage of coalification the organic sulfur content and isotope ratio of a coal may be useful in estimating the relative sulfate ion concentration of the waters present during the peat forming stage of coalification where transgressive sequences are not involved the sulfate ion concentration of paleowaters could be used to interpret the paleoenvironment during the peat forming stage of coalification and thus information about the organic sulfur content and isotope ratio of coals may prove useful in helping to assess coal quality in advance of mining

records of terrestrial sulfur deposition from the latest permian coals in sw china abstract different sulfur fractions of low sulfur average 0 11 coals from the latest permian in southwestern china were analyzed isotopically at a high vertical resolution to examine the ramifications for potential terrestrial extinction mechanisms at the permo triassic boundary s org organic sulfur accounts for 87 of the total sulfur content on average while s py pyritic sulfur is very low 13 of the total sulfur content and ca 0 01 of the whole sample weight and relatively constant throughout the profile except for some insignificant additions in clay rich layers these indicate the possible differential contribution of local diagenesis during the early stages of peat accumulation the 34 s org values have a relatively narrow range from 1 5 to 7 6 while the 34 s py values have a wider range from 0 8 to 34 1 suggesting that pyrite was possibly formed in different stages and that there was negligible bacterial contribution to the primary organic sulfur fraction thus the organic sulfur signal in the coal is largely sourced from the original plant material and records temporal variations in the isotopic composition of the sulfur input to the coal forming environment the stratigraphically lower coal b3 has 34 s org values around 4 while the stratigraphically higher coal b2 which is closer to the permian triassic boundary has clearly higher 34 s org values ranging from 5 3 to 7 6 this change is most likely due to increased marine sulfate aerosol inputs into the coal forming peatland caused by coastline retreat during late permian transgression importantly there is no evidence in these discrete intervals of coal formation to indicate a dominant role of atmospheric inputs of isotopically lighter sulfur from either h 2 s released from euxinic oceans or volcanic so 2 this militates against theories that implicate such sources of sulfur in terrestrial extinction mechanisms at the end permian

sulphur isotopic and chemical compositions of the natural waters in the chuncheon area korea abstract the contribution of chinese sources to the acid deposition in neighbouring countries in far east asia has been disputed this study is to examine the isotopic composition of the s in the natural waters in the chuncheon area to see if the isotopic composition can be an indicator of the pollution sources in the area meteoric water sampled between september 2000 and july 2001 and surface water sampled in december 2000 and april 2001 in the area were collected to examine their chemical and isotopic compositions the ph values of the meteoric water lie between 4 02 and 6 89 but mostly lower than 5 6 indicating considerable acid deposition the ph of the surface water is generally higher than that of the atmospheric water factor analysis on the concentrations of the dissolved components suggests that the surface water chemistry depends principally on the chemistry of the atmospheric water the dissolution of carbonate minerals and silicate water interaction plays a rather minor role in affecting the water chemistry 18 o and d of all the natural water samples align fairly well along the global meteoric water line the 34 s of the dissolved so4 in the meteoric water has values ranging from 3 4 to 8 2 showing little seasonal difference the contribution from sea salt to the total atmospheric s is estimated to be less than 10 the 34 s of the anthropogenic s in the chuncheon atmosphere is calculated to be 2 5 to 7 2 which partly overlaps the reported values of s in chinese coal chinese rainfall and japanese fallout appropriate tracking and quantitative estimation of the contribution from possible pollution sources to the local s concentrations requires more information on the isotopic compositions of the potential pollution sources the 34 s of the dissolved so4 in the surface water has values ranging from 3 2 to 6 2 which is a little narrower than that of the meteoric water the 34 s and the concentration range of the dissolved so4 in the stream water the results from factor analysis on the compositional variables and observations from geological field work suggest that most so4 comes from the meteoric input and that the 34 s of the surface water may be utilized for the investigation of tracing and identifying the sources of the atmospheric pollutant s in the study area

concentration distribution and modes of occurrence of selenium in huaibei coalfield anhui province china selenium a toxic element is highly enriched in the coals of the huaibei coal deposit china for this study se content along with rock forming and trace element abundances was determined in 123 coal and 19 rock samples collected from the main coal seams in seven coal mines in the huaibei coalfield this was done to investigate the se geochemistry in the huaibei coals compared with average chinese coal and other coals around the world the huaibei coals are enriched in se by a factor of five differences in the boron content in the sequence of huaibei coal seams show that the depositional environment of the formations hosting the coal seams evolved from a delta front to a prodelta setting and then to a delta plain environment selenium is distributed unevenly both horizontally and vertically in the huaibei coal deposit pearson correlation coefficients between se with several elements ca fe and s indicate that iron bearing clay minerals and carbonates are the dominant carriers of se in coals of the lower shihezi formation selenium in coals from no 3 and no 10 coal seams are mainly associated with sulfide minerals the well developed faults in huaibei coalfield may have contributed to the enrichment of se in huaibei coals