classification of huminite iccp system 1994 abstract in the new classification iccp system 1994 the maceral group huminite has been revised from the previous classification iccp 1971 int handbook coal petr suppl to 2nd ed to accommodate the nomenclature to changes in the other maceral groups especially the changes in the vitrinite classification iccp 1998 the new vitrinite classification iccp system 1994 fuel 77 349 358 the vitrinite and huminite systems have been correlated so that down to the level of sub maceral groups the two systems can be used in parallel at the level of macerals and for finer classifications the analyst now has according to the nature of the coal and the purpose of the analysis a choice of using either of the two classification systems for huminite and vitrinite this is in accordance with the new iso coal classification that covers low rank coals as well and allows for the simultaneous use of the huminite and vitrinite nomenclature for low rank coals

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 characteristics elemental composition and modes of occurrence of some elements in the isaalan coal balikesir nw turkey abstract this study uses coal petrography micro ftir mineralogical and geochemical analyses to determine the coal characteristics and controlling factors of elemental enrichments in the isaalan coal nw turkey the obtained data show that this subbituminous coal has a relatively low ash yield avg 19 high hydrogen content avg 5 4 and total s content avg 2 4 on an air dry basis the maceral composition along with micro ftir data on ulminite suggests that lignin and resin rich vegetation was predominant the coal facies data imply the precursor peat was accumulating under mesotrophic anoxic conditions where water level was high and fluctuating the mineralogical composition of the bulk coal samples is composed mainly of quartz pyrite and clay minerals and lesser amounts of feldspars and carbonates the statistical analysis of the bulk compositional data shows the major elements including al fe k na mg p and the vast majority of trace elements have inorganic affinity whereas b presumably has organic affinity the trace element concentrations are variable and especially as and elements including b ba cr cs ni sb and v are enriched compared to most world coals the enrichments and distributions of cr cs ni and v were controlled by clastic inputs into a palaeomire whereas as enrichments were controlled mainly by epigenetic and to a lesser extent syngenetic factors introduced so42 and as rich surface and groundwater from the basin margin area along with anoxic conditions in the palaeomire resulted in syngenetic formation of as bearing pyrite the circulating intra seam solutions later liberated as from syngenetically formed pyrite which resulted in as and ni rich overgrowths around framboidal and massive pyrite crystals these solutions could also easily mobilize b that was absorbed by organic matter therefore b enrichment appears to be related to epigenetic factors tectonic activities during coalification allowed hydrothermal solutions from neighbouring epithermal mineralisation to penetrate and circulate along with underground waters that leached overlying volcanoclastic volcanic strata and supplied a number of elements to the studied coal thus infilling as bearing pyrite and silica were formed mainly during coalification all these results suggest that as enrichment in the study area is more likely a combination of epigenetic factors and syngenetic detrital rather than volcanogenic contributions as suggested earlier for some other turkish coal deposits

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

petrography palynology and depositional environments of the early miocene oberdorf lignite seam styrian basin austria abstract an early miocene ottnangian lignite seam up to 36 m thick occurs in the oberdorf trough at the northwestern margin of the styrian basin it forms part of the fluvial koflach voitsberg formation petrographic and palynologic data together with ash yield and sulphur content of samples from two boreholes and two surface profiles have been used to study vertical and horizontal coal facies variations numerous partings and a high ash yield show that the lignite originated in a topogenous mire petrographic indices and palynological data suggest a wet forest swamp paleo environment a fluvial main parting with channel sediments at the eastern margin of the oberdorf trough and overbank sediments in its central part splits the lignite into a lower and an upper seam the lower seam consists of a lower high ash part with frequent splittings and a higher low ash part the upward decrease in number and thickness of silty clayey partings interpreted as crevasse splay deposits reflects the withdrawal of the fluvial sediment source coal composition is characterized by an upward increase in detro xylitic coal and in tissue preservation a good correlation between tissue preservation and percentages of taxodiaceae cupressaceae pollen suggests that this is mainly a result of an increasing contribution of decay resistant gymnosperms conifers the upper seam is also ash rich abundant inertinite at the eastern margin of the oberdorf trough is related to fire episodes inside or outside the mire main features of the upper seam in the central basin are an upward increase in tissue preservation and in percentages of taxodiaceae cupressaceae pollen high sulphur contents in the fresh water lignite are a result of a concentration of sulphate rich waters above the impermeable floors of the lower and upper seams carbonate rich surface waters from the graz palaeozoic and raasberg sequence raised the ph value and controlled sulphur and ash contents in those parts of the lower seam which are uninfluenced by the basal sulphur enrichment palynomorph spectra are dominated by taxodiaceae cupressaceae pollen and pollen from plants living in a mixed mesophytic forest pollen from aquatic and reed plants are rare the ratio between arctotertiary and paleotropic pollen is close to one and supports the early miocene age of the lignite the detected pollen spectra point to warm temperate subtropic and humid conditions

coal characteristics palynology and palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the yenikoy coal of late oligocene age in the thrace basin nw turkey abstract the yenikoy coal field is located in a narrow area between the black sea coast and the istranca standrja mountain in the thrace basin the aims of this study are to characterize coal petrographical mineralogical palynological geochemical and sedimentological properties of the yenikoy coal deposit and to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental conditions during peat accumulation a total of 9 coal samples collected from the coal seam section are almost entirely composed of xylite rich lithotype and are characterized by low ash yield 7 9 21 1 average 13 6 on dry basis and high total s contents 1 0 3 7 average 2 2 on dry basis the macroscopic features maceral composition and coal facies suggest that the peat was accumulated under mesotrophic anoxic conditions and the peat forming vegetation consisted mainly of arboreal species e g cupressaceae ulmus carya zelkova alnus pterocarya and quercus the low hi values of the analysed samples are presumably related to presence of xylite rich lithotype rather than the dominance of herbaceous plant and or low preservation of organic matter in the palaeomire even though relatively b enrichments high total s contents and weak anomalies of some rey e g y ce and gd in the analysed samples could refer possible sea water influence into palaeomire in the study area during late oligocene the sedimentological and palynological freshwater algaes pediastrum spirogyra and mougeotia data that indicate the palaeomire was located within a delta plain environment where small freshwater lakes and or ponds developed the statistical analysis and sem edx data show the vast majority of elements in the analysed coal samples have inorganic affinity the major elements al k and enriched elements like b v cr hg and u seem to be affiliated with aluminosilicate minerals whereas fe ni and as have probably sulphide affinity the detrital presences of apatite crystals as detected by sem edx analysis indicate that rey have mainly phosphate affinity in the analysed samples vertical distributions of the elements and ash yields suggest that the detrital input ratio was changeable and controlled some elemental enrichment during peat accumulation these variations could be related to development of and fluvial conditions in the study area which interrupted peat accumulation several times during late oligocene

petrology mineralogy and geochemistry of the lower cretaceous oil prone coal and host rocks from the laoheishan basin northeast china abstract the coal and host rocks mainly oil shale partings in the laoheishan basin ne china are oil prone this study uses petrological mineralogical and geochemical analyses to determine the reasons of high oil yield in the coal and the origin and modes of occurrence of the minerals and elements in the coal and oil shale partings the obtained data show that this sub bituminous b coal has higher oil yield av 10 than oil shale partings av 5 7 consistent with a higher hydrogen content in the coal this oil prone coal has potential for comprehensive utilization due to the relatively high gross calorific value av 17 23 mj kg in the semi coke the maceral composition suggests that the relatively high hydrogen content in the coal is mainly caused by higher resinite content palynological analysis of coal and oil shale partings mainly proved the presence of gymnosperms and ferns revealing that the paleovegetation is dominated by lygodiacean osmundacean ground ferns and cupressaceaen taxodiaceaen canopy trees these canopy trees would have provided abundant hydrogen rich components e g resin to the paleomire all the identified sporopollen suggests a warm humid subtropical paleoclimate minerals in the coal include kaolinite quartz illite and or illite smectite chlorite feldspar calcite and traces of pyrite rutile and zircon similar to the oil shale partings most of the minerals quartz feldspar clay minerals rutile and zircon occur in layers within detrovitrinite and probably are of detrital origin pyrite and calcite are of epigenetic origin and probably derived from hydrothermal fluids compared with average chinese coal the laoheishan coal is enriched in zr nb in and sb zirconium and nb mainly occur in zircon indium is both organically and inorganically associated whereas antimony largely occurs in pyrite rey rare earth elements and yttrium distribution patterns of coals and oil shale partings are dominated by heavy rey enrichment whereas roof and floor samples are medium rey enriched the m hrey enrichment is probably caused by low temperature hydrothermal fluids the sedimentary input is the major controlling factor of geochemical patterns in coal and host rocks the source rocks are probably felsic intermediate igneous rocks from the surrounding basement as indicated by relatively high al2o3 tio2 ratios 7 38 cross plot between zr ti and nb y negative eu anomalies 0 28 0 96 the presence of k feldspar and plagioclase and lithic fragment types such as granite and andesite in the samples in addition source rocks of sediments have caused high zr and nb concentrations in the coal

zircon u pb and hf isotopic study of gneissic rocks from the chinese altai progressive accretionary history in the early to middle palaeozoic abstract gneissic rocks in the chinese altai mountains have been interpreted as either paleozoic metasedimentary rocks or precambrian basement this study reports geochemical and geochronological data for banded paragneisses and associated gneissic granitoids collected along a ne sw traverse in the northwestern chinese altai petrological and geochemical data suggest that the protoliths of the banded gneisses were possibly immature sediments with significant volcanic input and that the gneissic granitoids were derived from i type granites formed in a subduction environment three types of morphological features can be recognized in zircons from the banded gneisses and are interpreted to correlate with different sources zircons from five samples of banded paragneiss cluster predominantly between 466 and 528 ma some give neoproterozoic ages and a few yield discordant paleoproterozoic to archean ages zircon hf isotopic compositions indicate that both juvenile mantle and crust materials were involved in the generation of the source rocks from which these zircons were derived in contrast zircons occur ubiquitously as elongated euhedral prismatic crystals in the four samples of the gneissic granitoids and define single populations for each sample with mean ages between 380 and 453 ma the general absence of precambrian inheritance and positive zircon hf values for these granitoids suggest insignificant crustal contribution to the generation of the precursor magmas our data can be interpreted in terms of a progressive accretionary history in early to middle palaeozoic times and the chinese altai may possibly represent a magmatic arc built on a continental margin dominated by neoproterozoic rocks

paleoseismology of the palu lake hazar segment of the east anatolian fault zone turkey the east anatolian fault zone eafz is among the most important active continental transform fault zones in the world as testified by major historical and minor instrumental seismicity the first paleoseismological exploratory trenching study on the eafz was done on the palu lake hazar segment plhs which is one of the six segments forming the fault zone in order to determine its past activity and to assess its earthquake hazard the results of trenching indicate that the latest surface rupturing earthquakes on this segment may be the ms 7 1 1874 and ms 6 7 1875 events and there were other destructive earthquakes prior to these events the recurrence interval for a surface rupturing large m 7 earthquake is estimated as minimum 100 35 and maximum 360 years estimates for the maximum possible paleoearthquake magnitude are mw 7 1 7 7 for the palu lake hazar segment based on empirical magnitude fault rupture relations an alluvial fan dated 14 475 15 255 cal years bp as well as another similar age fan with an abandoned stream channel on it are offset in a left lateral sense 175 and 160 5 m respectively indicating an average slip rate of 11 mm year because 127 years have elapsed since the last surface rupturing event this slip rate suggests that 1 4 m of left lateral strain has accumulated along the segment ignoring possible creep effects folding and other inelastic deformation a 2 5 ma age for the start of left lateral movement on the segment and in turn the eafz is consistent with a slip rate of 11 mm year and a previously reported 27 km total left lateral offset the cumulative 5 6 mm year vertical slip rate near lake hazar suggests a possible age of 148 178 ka for the lake our trenching results indicate also that a significant fraction of the slip across the eafz zone is likely to be accommodated seismically the present seismic quiescence compared with the past activity paleoseismic and historic indicate that the eafz may be locked and accumulating elastic strain energy but could move in the near future

occurrence of minerals within fractures and matrix of selected bowen and ruhr basin coals abstract late permian age samples of black coal from the coeval bandanna formation and baralaba coal measures of queensland s bowen basin as well as carboniferous coal from germany s ruhr basin were investigated this paper presents scanning electron microscope sem analysis of the mode of occurrence of minerals within these coals and characterisation of the natural fractures present within the samples the coal samples located proximal to orogenic fronts in both basins are structurally complex with multiple generations of mineralisation evident stable isotope analyses of carbonates from selected samples indicate that methanogenesis related co2 reduction has occurred at two of the bowen basin sampling locations ankerite precipitated from a magmatic fluid or basinal brine is associated with significant sulphide mineralisation within brecciated ruhr coal proximal to major fault intersections with anticlines and has been meteorically altered to ferroan calcite and sulphates in coal from immediately below the carboniferous cretaceous unconformity similar alteration has occurred within a bowen basin coal sample close to the present day land surface variation of mineralisation within both the cleats and the coal matrix occurs on a fine scale with crystals of multiple mineral species often being present within micrometres of each other

a review of the western part of the altaids a key to understanding the architecture of accretionary orogens abstract the altaids is one of the largest accretionary collages in the world and the tectonic styles of the accretionary processes have been interpreted in several ways including as an amalgamation of multiple terranes as a result of oroclinal bending of a long single arc or as a caledonian continental collision based on recent tectonostratigraphic analyses together with paleomagnetic data the tectonic styles of the neoproterozoic to paleozoic accretionary processes of the altaids are discussed the western altaids is the main focus of the study which was mainly composed of several independent linear components such as arcs and microcontinents with proterozoic basement and cover rocks various kinds of arcs existed in the paleo asian ocean including a complicated type of arc alaskan type which is a combination of the japan and mariana type intra oceanic arcs and the cordillera type continental arcs these linear components rotated and collided with each other with multiple subduction polarities which could have been an important result of multiple linear element amalgamation and which has contributed greatly to the architecture of the eurasian continent the basic tectonic styles of the altaids can be summarized as arc arc collision oroclinal bending and large scale rotation and multiple subductions with a complicated archipelago paleogeography these basic features of accretionary orogens in general can be attributed to the amalgamation of complicated multiple linear elements some mesozoic to cenozoic accretionary orogens in the world are also characterized by processes of multiple linear element amalgamation more attention should be paid to the multiple linear element amalgamation of ancient accretionary orogens which will shed light on lateral and vertical continental growth

carbonate minerals in bulgarian coals with different degrees of coalification abstract coals of various rank ranging from lignite to anthracite and originating from seven coal basins in bulgaria were investigated for the occurrence and types of carbonate minerals the following carbonates are present in their characteristic forms calcite clastic organogenic cryptograined xenomorphic massive and infiltrational siderite cryptograined xenomorphic both infilling and replacing massive euhedral framboidal and infiltrational both fracture filling and cleat filling dolomite cryptograined xenomorphic massive and infiltrational and magnesite carbonate mineralization depends on the penetration of ready mineral forms and mineralized solutions during peat genesis and the infiltration of mineralized solutions during coalification the mineral composition of the carbonates in the coals studied and the occurrences of the various carbonate minerals depend on the combination of a series of factors such as 1 the presence of carbonate rocks in the province feeding the peat bogs 2 the way and capacity of feeding 3 acidity ph and reducing conditions eh of the environment 4 tectonic situation during the peat genesis and 5 availability of infiltrational mineral solutions during coalifications no infiltrational carbonate mineralization was found in the lignites studied due to the combination of the above five factors bituminous coals from the balkan basin and the anthracite from svoge are characterized by the greatest variety of carbonate minerals and their forms

sulfur in coals a review of geochemistry and origins geochemical studies of sulfur in coals comprise several major aspects relating to the nature and origin of sulfur in coals including the abundance and distribution of sulfur in coal seams abundance of sulfur in coal lithotypes and macerals characteristics and geochemical significance of sulfur containing organic compounds sulfur isotopic studies relating to the sources of sulfur in coals and sedimentary environments controlling the geochemistry of sulfur in coal a review of the evidence suggests that the variation of sulfur in coals is closely related to the depositional environments of coal seams for low sulfur coal 1 s sulfur is derived primarily from parent plant material for medium sulfur 1 to 3 s and high sulfur 3 s coals there are two major sources of sulfur 1 parent plant material and 2 sulfate in seawater that flooded peat swamps abundances of sulfur in coal are largely controlled by the degree of seawater influence during peat accumulation and by postdepositional changes diagenesis in high sulfur coals seawater sulfate diffuses into the peat which is subsequently reduced by bacteria into hydrogen sulfide polysulfides and elemental sulfur reaction of hydrogen sulfide with ferrous iron generates fine pyrite crystals and mackinawite fes0 9 mackinawite reacts with elemental sulfur to converts to greigite fe3s4 and then to framboidal pyrite the reduced sulfur species in the peat hydrogen sulfide elemental sulfur and polysulfides react with the organic matter to form organic sulfur compounds during coal diagenesis nodular pyrite forms permineralized peat was formed during diagenesis which contains appreciable fraction of pyrite after coal is solidified pyrite can deposit in the cleats from circulating groundwater epigenetic pyrite veins may be deposited from basinal fluids thus pyrite forms during various stages of coal formation from peat to coal as well as late epigenetic activity the relationships between sulfur abundance in coal seams and depositional environments of coals were reviewed for cases from the u s china u k germany hungary turkey indonesia and brazil in most cases low sulfur coals formed in a fluvial environment and high sulfur coals were deposited in seawater influenced environments there are exceptions for example turkish lignites formed in freshwater environments are high sulfur sulfur sources other than seawater are needed for these high sulfur coals the superhigh organic sulfur shos coals are highly enriched in organic sulfur but depleted in pyritic sulfur the shos coals were deposited in sulfur rich iron poor environments such as carbonate platforms or in an iron poor and clastic starved environment in which algae accumulate speciation of organic sulfur compounds in coal appears to be related to coal rank thiophenic compounds are more abundant in bituminous coal and anthracite than in low rank coals

the misis andirin complex a mid tertiary melange related to late stage subduction of the southern neotethys in s turkey abstract the mid tertiary mid eocene to earliest miocene misis andirin complex documents tectonic sedimentary processes affecting the northerly active margin of the south tethys neotethys in the easternmost mediterranean region each of three orogenic segments misis in the sw andirin central and engizek in the ne represent parts of an originally continuous active continental margin a structurally lower volcanic sedimentary unit includes late cretaceous arc related extrusives and their lower tertiary pelagic cover this unit is interpreted as an early tertiary remnant of the mesozoic south tethys the overlying melange unit is dominated by tectonically brecciated blocks 100 m across of mesozoic neritic limestone that were derived from the tauride carbonate platform to the north together with accreted ophiolitic material the melange matrix comprises polymict debris flows high to low density turbidites and minor hemipelagic sediments the misis andirin complex is interpreted as an accretionary prism related to the latest stages of northward subduction of the south tethys and diachronous continental collision of the tauride eurasian and arabian african plates during mid eocene to earliest miocene time slivers of upper cretaceous oceanic crust and its early tertiary pelagic cover were accreted while blocks of mesozoic platform carbonates slid from the overriding plate tectonic mixing and sedimentary recycling took place within a trench subduction culminated in large scale collapse of the overriding northern margin and foundering of vast blocks of neritic carbonate into the trench a possible cause was rapid roll back of dense downgoing mesozoic oceanic crust such that the accretionary wedge taper was extended leading to gravity collapse melange formation was terminated by underthrusting of the arabian plate from the south during earliest miocene time collision was diachronous in the east engizek range and se anatolia collision generated a lower miocene flexural basin infilled with turbidites and a flexural bulge to the south miocene turbiditic sediments also covered the former accretionary prism further west misis range the easternmost mediterranean remained in a pre collisional setting with northward underthrusting incipient subduction along the cyprus arc the lower miocene basins to the north misis and adana indicate an extensional to transtensional setting the ne sw linking segment andirin probably originated as a mesozoic palaeogeographic offset of the tauride margin this was reactivated by strike slip and transtension during later tertiary diachronous collision related to on going plate convergence the former accretionary wedge upper plate was thrust over the lower miocene turbiditic basins in mid late miocene time the plio quaternary was dominated by left lateral strike slip along the east anatolian transform fault and also along fault strands cutting the misis andirin complex

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

the east anatolian fault an oblique collisional belt abstract the tectonic setting for the area around the arabia africa anatolia triple junction is described from combined landsat spot satellite image analysis and field observations since the late miocene the motion along the east anatolian fault generated major structures corresponding to shortening with a sinistral slip component the 150 km wide area of the triple junction is highly deformed by folding and thrusting distributed mainly on the border of the anatolian block in addition kinematic reconstructions confirm that the arabia anatolia relative motion is both sinistral and convergent the sinistral strike slip faults of the east anatolian fault zone are of second order and local consequences of the n s arabia anatolia collision

on the fundamental difference between coal rank and coal type abstract this article addresses the fundamental difference between coal rank and coal type while theoretically settled long ago as being different aspects of coal systems science the two concepts are still often confounded in recent years this has resulted in the publication of several works stating that coal type changes with coal rank coal type refers solely to coals depositional origin and the maceral mineral admixture resulting from that origin coal types typically fall in to two categories humic coals developed from peat and sapropelic coals developed from organic mud either type may be allocthonous or autochthonous and within types further refinement of depositional environment can be made coal rank refers to the changes in geochemistry and resultant changes in reflectance caused by increasing thermal maturity of the coal thus it provides an overprint of maturity on existing coal types with proper techniques such as use of crossed polars and etching maceral forms can be differentiated even at high ranks and the original coal type determined

use of charophyte carbonates as proxy indicators of subtle hydrological and chemical changes in marl lakes example from the miocene bicorb basin eastern spain abstract the lower alluvial unit in the miocene bicorb basin contains several metric scale limestone intervals which record episodic shallow lacustrine environments in an alluvial setting developed during the early stage of the basin s evolution five main carbonate facies have been differentiated in the lacustrine limestones although calcite charophyte incrustations predominate and constitute the most striking features of these deposits the thinnest limestone intervals correspond to deposits from charophyte meadows in ponded shallow depressions in floodplains the thickest limestone intervals are mainly formed by banded limestones and usually correspond to diverse types of regressive sequences that have been interpreted as resulting from the infill of shallow lakes the sedimentological features and sequences show noticeable differences in the gradient of the littoral zones and the amount of palustrine deposits with models proposed for marl lakes charophytic carbonates from the best preserved facies show similar microtextures to those from recent charophyte incrustations the variations in stable isotopes 13 c 18 o for these primary carbonates occur in parallel with luminescence variations and correspond to hydrological changes and variations in solute composition and eh ph status in the lake waters the carbonates that display moderate to strong diagenetic modifications show a diverse degree of compaction aggrading neomorphism strong cementation and nodulization the isotopic values for these are arranged in diverse clusters there is a correlation between the degree of luminescence and the 13 c this suggests that hydrological and hydrochemical variations both in the lacustrine and diagenetic environments are being recorded in parallel we emphasize the need for further comparative studies between recent and ancient charophytic carbonates as these carbonates have been used in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions special attention must be paid to the diagenetic changes in ancient charophytic marls

the miocene coal seams in the soma basin w turkey insights from coal petrography mineralogy and geochemistry abstract the neogene soma basin western turkey hosts three coal seams km2 km3 and kp1 and several altered tuff layers within the miocene sequences this study focuses on the evaluation of coal petrography mineralogical and elemental compositions as well as the rock eval pyrolysis of the three coal seams from eynez isiklar and denis sectors and to identify the mineralogy of altered tuff layers within km2 and kp1 seams the routine coal quality analyses show that coal samples from the km2 seam are characterized by lower ash yields and total s contents and higher gross calorific values than km3 and kp1 seams the mineralogical composition of the bulk coal samples varies between all three seams the statistical treatment implies that major elements in bulk coal samples such as al fe k mg and na and the vast majority of minor and trace elements have inorganic affinity the trace element contents and elemental enrichments in the coal samples are generally changeable from seam to seam which could be related to differences in ash yield and mineralogy altered tuff layers or tonsteins were identified in km2 and kp1 seams the tonsteins are clay rich and certain trace elements e g as and zr are enriched in the coal layers beneath the tuff layers in the km2 seam this might be related to penetration of leached pore water into these layers and precipitation of epigenetic minerals the coal petrography composition and the coal facies diagrams show that the precursor peat of the km2 seam was accumulating under telmatic mesotrophic anoxic conditions whereas the water level was high and stable the relatively low ash yields and thicker coal beds suggest a lower clastic input from the basin margins and water table fluctuations resulted in calcareous intercalations in the km3 and kp1 seams these imply the development of limno telmatic conditions whereas fluvial activity affected during peat accumulation of both seams considering the maceral composition along with the coal thickness coal seams in the soma basin might display oil generation potential however the pyrolysis analysis shows that the studied coal seams are mainly gas prone and only certain coal beds have mixed hydrocarbon generation capacity all data presented in this study indicates that lithological features differences in coal qualities and elemental contents in the soma basin were mainly controlled by changes in the depositional conditions and the detrital input during miocene

comparing maceral ratios from tropical peatlands with assumptions from coal studies do classic coal petrographic interpretation methods have to be discarded petrographic investigations of tropical peat deposits from the tasek bera basin malaysia show that petrographic methods can contribute valuable information about paleoecological settings of mire deposits comparing modern peat forming environments and the pre maceral composition of peat samples allows the reconstruction of paleoecological conditions such as floral composition fires microbial activity etc and gives insight into paleodepositional environments in the past maceral ratios of coals have been used to interpret paleodepositional settings of coal deposits such a procedure assumes that coal texture and coal maceral composition are dictated solely by the depositional environment and thus different depositional environments should be clearly discriminated based on maceral ratios in the modern peat deposits of tasek bera divergent petrographic results occur in similar depositional environments hence poor correlation occurs between the petrography the degree of decomposition and the depositional environment furthermore from the time of peat deposition peat is subject to considerable alteration during subsequent diagenesis preservation of structured and strongly altered material such as inertinite gelified material or funginite is favoured and results in biased coal maceral compositions because maceral indexes in modern peat studies are of little utility in the reconstruction of paleoenvironmental settings it follows that coal maceral indexes should not be utilized in the future to interpret paleodepositional environments of coals

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

trace elements in the lower pliocene fossiliferous kangal lignites sivas turkey abstract the kangal lignite basin which is one of the most productive lignite basins in eastern anatolia turkey includes two lignite seams containing abundant gastropoda shells in the lower pliocene kalburcayiri formation the seams are currently exploited in an open cast mine in the kalburcayiri field and supply feed coal to a power plant with 300 mw capacity the average thickness of each of the two seams in this mine is about 10 m and they are separated by about 20 m of tuffaceous sedimentary rocks a 15 20 cm thick tuff bed occurs within the upper seam the purpose of the study was to understand mineralogy and trace element concentrations of the two lignite seams in the kalburcayiri formation which were affected by volcanic ashes fifty nine core samples of the lignites from seven boreholes across the basin and eight channel samples from the working lignite seams were collected and analysed by proximate analysis x ray powder diffraction xrd inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry icp ms and scanning electron microscopy sem with energy dispersive x ray microanalysis techniques the samples show that the worked lignite seams on an as received basis contain high moisture contents 43 4 57 8 all the samples on an air dried basis have high ash yields from 19 5 to 81 7 and a broad range of total sulfur contents from 1 16 to 7 04 and calorific values 684 to 4621 kcal kg except for two samples with no temperature rise due to high ash yield the mineral matter of the studied samples is made up of calcite quartz feldspar pyrite opal ct clay minerals gypsum and traces of aragonite the trace element analyses on a whole coal dry basis indicate that most of the borehole samples showed enrichment in specific elements including zn 15 1394 g g mo 13 368 g g and u 5 5 131 g g when compared to the range of these elements for most coals in the world the contents of zn mo and u for the samples from the worked lignite seams are respectively 38 187 54 161 and 28 55 g g the sem studies show that zn is hosted mainly in micron sized zn bearing mineral sphalerite but no mo and u bearing minerals have been detected during these studies except for monazites containing th and u traces the mo and u concentrations are negatively correlated with the ash yields and these elements are contained mainly within organic matter

occurrence and morphology of pyrite in bulgarian coals abstract coals with different degrees of coalification ranging from lignite to anthracite from seven bulgarian coal basins have been investigated the forms of pyrite and their distribution have been established the types found are massive pyrite represented by the homogeneous cluster like and microconcretionary varieties framboidal pyrite appearing in inorganic and bacterial forms euhedral pyrite which is either isolated or clustered anhedral pyrite in its infilling and replacement varieties and infiltrational pyrite as a replacement or infilling mineral most of the forms of the euhedral framboidal and massive pyrite developed during peat deposition the anhedral replacement pyrite formed in the peat bed during early diagenesis infiltrational pyrite filled fractures and cleats formed during the diagenesis catagenesis and metagenesis both similarities and differences with respect to the distribution of the pyrite types have been determined between coals of different ranks from bulgarian coal basins these differences are due to the presence of fe and s in the rocks adjacent to ancient peat bogs the activities of ground and surface waters which brought fe and s into the peat bogs the geochemical character ph and eh of the peat bogs and the sulphur bacteria development and the tectonic situation during diagenesis catagenesis and metagenesis

the structural relationship between the east anatolian and dead sea fault zones in southeastern turkey abstract the complex structural relationship between the east anatolian and dead sea fault zones is examined mostly based on field observations in southeastern turkey where the two fault zones are close together several faults previously poorly documented can be traced to connect either to the east anatolian fault zone or to the dead sea fault zone one of these faults connects the dead sea fault zone to the east to the amanos fault to the west the amanos fault a n trending normal fault is a part of the east anatolian fault zone since it is apparently a left step fault between the main and southern strands of the east anatolian fault zone the dead sea fault zone also is connected to the east anatolian fault zone northeast of the town of narli and or northeast of the hazar lake therefore we suggest that the two fault zones can be considered as one broad fault system in southeastern turkey although they are well recognized as two different fault zones this fault system is responsible for several complex neogene structural features of the western part of the southeastern turkey one of these is the hatay graben which can be divided into southern central and northern parts the graben contains down to the west normal faults in its southern part the central part of the graben is a divergent strike slip basin and the northern part is a half graben

miocene depositional environment and climate in western europe the lignite deposits of the lower rhine basin germany abstract miocene lignites representing a depositional history of about 7 million years 18 11 ma before present have been studied by organic petrological and organic geochemical methods including analysis of stable carbon and oxygen isotopes the three lignite seams investigated morken frimmersdorf garzweiler developed from peats which grew in a nutrient depleted paralic environment situated close to the sea all seams have low ash mineral matter contents but seam frimmersdorf is richer in sulfur as compared to seams morken and garzweiler sulfur richness and distribution in seam frimmersdorf might be due to the diagenetic effect of sulfate reduction and pyrite precipitation following flooding by the sea and deposition of the marine neurath sands on top of seam frimmersdorf geochemical palaeotemperature analysis gdgt revealed a warm climate during deposition of the peats representing lignite seams morken and frimmersdorf which shifted towards lower temperatures 2 3 c during deposition of the uppermost seam garzweiler i e at about 13 11 ma before present this trend is basically supported by cellulose oxygen isotope values which show a significant scatter however carbon isotope values are less variable indicating predominance of angiosperms in the peat vegetation and rather stable environmental conditions as well as floral assemblage organic petrological studies reveal predominance of small plants and a nutrient depleted environment a modified groundwater index gwiac was applied suggesting deposition above the general groundwater level

the western central asian orogenic belt a window to accretionary orogenesis and continental growth abstract the architecture of accretionary orogens is a key to understand continental growth here we present an overview of the orogenic components and their amalgamation in the western central asian orogenic belt caob the caob records the convergence and interactions among various types of orogenic components including the japan type mariana type and alaska aleutian type arc systems as well as the active marginal sequences of the siberia craton which incorporated wide accretionary complexes and accreted arcs and terranes during construction of the caob the kazakhstan arc chain was characterized by multiple subduction whereas the northern fringe of the tarim craton remained mostly as a passive margin the multiple convergence and accretions among these various orogenic components generated huge orogenic collages in the late paleozoic and even in the early triassic involving parallel amalgamation circum microcontinent amalgamation and oroclinal bending the preservation of trapped basins played a significant role in orogenesis with some parts of the oceanic plate being subducted and others behaving as rigid units the orogenesis in the caob was long lived lasting for more than 800 m y involving multiple subduction and long continuous accretion and featuring the complexity of accretionary orogenesis and continent growth

iron sulfide precipitation sequence in albian coals from the maestrazgo basin southeastern iberian range northeastern spain abstract deposition of important coal accumulations in the proximal areas of a delta estuary occurred in the maestrazgo basin during the middle albian late lower cretaceous these coals are characterized by high sulfur contents 4 18 in coal from the castellote subbasin and 7 16 in coal from the calanda subbasin dry basis a petrographic study of iron sulfide was carried out on the subject coals to deduce an iron sulfide precipitation sequence for five principal stages a early syngenetic stage b late syngenetic stage c syngenetic diagenetic stage d early epigenetic stage and e late epigenetic stage a sulfide precipitation control during the syngenetic stage carried out by different compounds liberated from organic matter during its coalification stages is deduced from the confrontation with other studies on coal differing in rank depositional environment and geographical location

mineralogy and environmental geochemistry of lagooned ashes resulted from combustion of maritza east lignite bulgaria the phase mineral composition of the feed coal fc from maritza east lignite used in the maritza east 1 thermo electric power station teps and lagooned ashes las generated from the burning of this lignite was studied the concentration and behaviour of 19 trace elements in the fc and las as well as in the soils and plants collected from the restored sites of former la disposals are also described the minerals and inorganic phases identified in the lignite include quartz kaolinite pyrite illite plagioclase gypsum calcite sulphur marcasite pyrrhotite magnetite k feldspar barite szomolnokite other fe sulphates sylvite ni carbonate or oxide hydroxide and glass the phase composition of las is represented by original lignite minerals pyrrhotite magnetite quartz kaolinite and newly formed minerals and phases generated during the combustion process pyrrhotite magnetite hematite quartz metakaolinite mullite indialite glass char or storage of las sulphur hematite fe hydroxides gypsum barite fe sulphates calcite sylvite it was found that cr cu and ti in the lignite ashes and co cr cu mn and ni in las are relatively enriched in comparison with their respective clarke values worldwide average contents for lignite and subbituminous coal ashes the concentrations of ag ba be co cu ga mo ni rb sn and ti in the soils have contents higher than their clarke values for soils the abundance of these elements plus mn v and zn in soils is probably related to some occurrence of discrete minerals and phases containing such elements the contents of be cr ga li ni pb ti and v in the plants growing on these restored la sites have concentrations higher than their clarke values for land plants dry basis the water soluble modes of occurrence of ag ba be co cr cu li mn mo ni pb sn ti and zn in soils and or las as well as the plant affinity to these elements should have a leading role for their concentration in plants the present results reveal that various trace elements with environmental concern could be potential pollutants of surface and subsoil waters soils and plants in the areas of restored la sites

kinematic consistency between the dead sea fault zone and the neogene and quaternary left lateral faulting in se turkey a revised quantitative kinematic model has been determined for the dead sea fault zone dsfz and the left lateral fault zones in se turkey the relative motions of the african and arabian plates across the dsfz are represented by relative rotation about 31 1 n 26 7 e at 0 40 0 02 ma 1 the northern dsfz in syria and southern turkey is interpreted for the first time as a series of transpressional stepovers along which the left lateral slip rate is substantially less than the rate of relative plate motion because this slip is oblique to the plate motion the slip rate on the east anatolian fault zone eafz is estimated as 8 mm a 1 restoring its observed slip thus requires its age to be 4 ma the previous phase of deformation which involved slip on the malatya ovacik fault zone mofz before the eafz came into being is thus dated to 7 4 ma suggesting initiation of the north anatolian fault zone nafz at 7 ma not 5 ma as previously thought the total left lateral slip on the northern dsfz in southernmost turkey is estimated as at least 65 km partitioned with 45 km on the amanos fault 10 km on the east hatay fault and a further 10 km on the kirkpinar fault farther east much of this slip is inferred to have occurred during the miocene before the modern geometry of this plate boundary zone developed when it first formed the af ar plate boundary was relatively complex it initially reactivated preexisting structures in the palmyra foldbelt in syria and in the gaziantep region of southern turkey which were significantly misaligned relative to the plate motion requiring major components of shortening as well as left lateral slip the transition from this initial rather diffuse geometry to the present localised geometry of the dsfz across western syria occurred within the miocene the predicted rate of relative motion between the stable interiors of the turkish and african plates in the vicinity of their common boundary onshore of iskenderun gulf in southern turkey is estimated as westward at 9 mm a 1 however this promontory of the african plate is itself moving westward relative to the stable interior of this plate at 7 8 mm a 1 the rate of localised left lateral slip on the onshore part of this boundary the ne trending yakapinar goksun fault is thus estimated as only 2 mm a 1 this locality can also be regarded as within the distributed boundary zone between the turkish and arabian plates the estimated relative motion between these plates is at 8 7 mm a 1 towards the ssw partitioned between localised left lateral slip at 2 mm a 1 on the yakapinar goksun fault and at least 1 mm a 1 on the amanos fault and 2 5 mm a 1 on east hatay fault with at most distributed left lateral simple shear at 3 2 mm a 1 across the amanos mountains in between however the combined slip on left lateral faults east of the amanos mountains may be as high as 6 mm a 1 with slip at 1 7 mm a 1 on the amanos fault and at 4 3 mm a 1 on the east hatay fault and any active faults farther east this requires no more than 0 7 mm a 1 of distributed simple shear across the amanos mountains raising the possibility that this component of deformation may in fact be zero this small nonzero estimate possibly indicating a closure error arising from minor errors in predicted values of other relative motion vectors it is proposed that this boundary between the turkish and african plates first developed at the same time as the mofz and nafz but its original geometry involving left lateral slip on the karatas osmaniye fault has since become locked by the presence of relatively strong ophiolitic crust within this fault zone this quantitative kinematic model demonstrates for the first time how it is possible for the left lateral faulting accommodating the nnw sse relative motion between the arabian and african plates in nw syria to dovetail into the left lateral faulting accommodating the wsw ene relative motion between the turkish and arabian plates in se turkey

the golbaoi basin southeastern turkey a complex discontinuity in a major strike slip fault zone we show that the 33 km long golbaoi basin on the east anatolian fault zone marks the triple junction between the african arabian and turkish plates the main strand of the turkish arabian plate boundary the goksu fault enters this basin from the ene before splaying to form faults which develop farther southwest into the turkish african and african arabian boundaries the golba i turko u fault the turkish african boundary is shown to have slipped 16 km the prevously unrecognised kirkpmar fault the african arabian boundary has slipped 17 km we propose that this fault geometry developed at c 3 ma following earlier slip starting at c 5 ma on other strike slip faults nearby which marked the start of westward motion of the turkish plate

coal petrology and the origin of coal macerals a way ahead the development of coal petrology and the establishment of a nomenclatural system have proved of major use both for the industrial utilization of coal and for the development of a broad understanding of coal formation and diagenesis the development over the past 30 years however of nomenclature that includes aspects of plant origin and process is a retrograde step e g pyrofusinite degradofusinite and funginite equally problematic is the use of prescriptive formulae to indicate coal origins this paper reviews some of the problems involved with coal petrology as it is usually practiced in addition new advances in organic geochemical techniques have led to a fuller understanding of the relationship of plants and coal macerals recent research on the origin of coal macerals is presented and there is a discussion of the problems and challenges facing coal petrologists a holistic approach to studies of the origin of coal and coal macerals which includes not only petrographic but also chemical and biological studies is advocated d 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

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

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

palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the cardak coal seam sw turkey abstract the study focuses on the firstly documented cardak coal seam cored in the neogene acigol basin denizli province being formed in a late stage of alpine orogeny in sw turkey the aim is to contribute reconstructing the palaeoenvironmental conditions before during and after coal formation on the basis of coal petrology mineralogical and palaeontological data combined with the results of previous studies the basin infilling consists of alluvial fluvial and lacustrine sediments their deposition depended on the water level in the basin which in turn was controlled by the interplay between tectonics and climate coal seam was probably formed in latest miocene early pliocene under the influence of basin s fluvial regime in oxbow and terminal lakes the coal seam comprises alternating inorganic and coal layers logged between depths of 599 00 to 627 00 m beneath surface the coal being lignite to subbituminous in rank displays moderate to high ash yield 21 31 46 11 wt on dry basis and high total sulphur content up to 13 30 wt on dry ash free basis the maceral composition points to an origin from mainly herbaceous helophytes along with woody species in the upper part of the core the presence of salinity tolerant ostracod species along with gypsum and halite are documented the palaeontological and mineralogical data obtained imply changes of climate water level and lake chemistry in the basin

ostracod evidence for the acheulian environment of the ancient hula lake levant during the early mid pleistocene transition abstract ostracod shells from the archaeological site gesher benot ya aqov gby in the upper jordan river valley israel were investigated to improve the understanding of the environmental conditions of the acheulian occupation site during the early mid pleistocene transition 0 78 ma the diverse ostracod assemblage consists of 28 species the distribution of most of the recorded species in the region today shows that the hydrological conditions at the early mid pleistocene transition were not fundamentally different from the modern ones however the predominance of candona neglecta shells in the gby sequence probably indicates cooler climatic conditions than today shells of candona angulata in the artefact richer upper half of the sequence suggest a slight salinity increase in the ancient hula lake from pure freshwater to slightly oligohaline conditions this shift probably resulted from wetter conditions and a more stable lake environment with increased residence time of the lake water and stronger influence of evaporation shells of the brackish water ostracod cyprideis torosa and the slightly halophilic heterocypris salina and plesiocypridopsis newtoni were recorded only rarely suggesting that the lake maintained an outlet through the entire period represented by the gby sequence shells of gomphocythere ortali in gby cycles 1 and 2 imply that a permanent freshwater stream existed close to the site humphcypris subterranea shells in cycles 3 5 provide further evidence that a tributary entered the lake from the south in contrast to the modern setting with the north south flowing jordan river at gby statistical analysis of the quantitative ostracod data from gby identified a group of samples from layers containing more abundant stone artefacts and another group of samples from layers with scarce artefacts samples from layers containing more abundant artefacts have relatively high abundances of c angulata darwinula stevensoni and physocypria kraepelini shells and include rare shells of ilyocypris hartmanni ilyocypris salebrosa heterocypris incongruens and pseudocandona sp 2 which do not occur in the other samples the presence of p kraepelini and h incongruens shells in artefact richer sediments possibly indicates poor bottom water oxygenation in the ancient hula lake sometimes during the periods of acheulian occupation however more detailed studies are required to assess whether lower dissolved oxygen levels in the lake resulted from a slight lake level rise and possibly higher nutrient flux to the lake during wetter conditions or whether hominins already impacted lake s nutrient status by butchering at its shore or by burning of near shore vegetation

accretionary orogenesis of the chinese altai insights from paleozoic granitoids zircon u pb dating and whole rock major oxide trace element and nd sr isotope compositions have been determined for four representative granitic intrusions in the sw chinese altai in order to understand the orogenesis and history of crustal growth in the central asian orogenic belt caob the ashile and halatas bodiesare relatively small intrusions formed in the late carboniferous 318 6ma andpermian 267 4ma respectively thelargertarlang tb andkeketuohaibatholiths kb havemagmaticagesof 359 to 412 ma the granitoids consist chiefly of tonalite granodiorite and granite and are metaluminous to weakly peraluminous in composition asi 0 8 1 1 the ashile pluton is characterized by relatively high mgo 2 73 3 54 wt and sr 395 456 ppm contents with low k2o na2o ratios 0 31 0 42 and mantle like nd sr isotopic compositions endt 2 85 to 3 26 initial 87 sr 86 sr 0 7047 0 7051 it probably formed by fractional crystallization of a mantle derived magma with limited assimilation of oldcrustalmaterial theotherintrusionshavenear zeroornegative endtvalues 0 67to 4 41 andhighersrisotopiccompositions initial 87 sr 86 sr 0 7067 0 7092 indicating a mixture of juvenile and old components in their genesis these intrusions are characterized by relatively low k rb cs contents and low rb sr ratios mostly b0 6 and generally exhibit moderate to high heavy rare earth element hree concentrations ybn 8 26 and weak hree fractionation dy ybnb1 5 with or without negative europium anomalies eu eu 0 5 1 0 these characteristics are consistent with an origin by dehydration melting of a hornblendebearing mid crustal source above the garnet stability field dominated by mafic to intermediate rocks this suggests that the deep crust of the chinese altai may contain a considerable proportion of juvenile material mantle derived magmatism probably in an active extensional continental margin setting played an important role in the formation of the chinese altai acting not only as a heat sourceforcrustalmeltingbutasasourceofjuvenilecomponents therelativelysmallvolumesanddistinctgeochemicalcompositions of the ashile and halatas plutons may imply a substantial change in the geodynamic setting in the late paleozoic 2007 elsevier b v all rights reserved

late triassic rifting and jurassic cretaceous passive margin development of the southern neotethys evidence from the adiyaman area se turkey evidence of rifting and continental break up to form the s neotethys is found within the volcanic sedimentary kocali complex this is a folded thrust imbricated succession that includes lavas volcaniclastic sediments pelagic carbonates radiolarites and manganiferous deposits interbedded ribbon cherts contain radiolarians of late triassic to late jurassic age the lower part of the succession of mid late triassic age tarasa formation is dominated by enriched mid ocean ridge basalt e morb the overlying late triassic to mid jurassic interval konak formation is characterised by intercalations of ocean island basalt and e morb taking account of structural position the basalts erupted within the outer part of a continent ocean transition zone continental break up probably occurred during the late triassic carnian norian early to mid jurassic lavas and volcaniclastic sediments record volcanism probably after continental break up in addition the karadut complex is a broken formation that is located at a relatively low structural position just above the arabian foreland pelagic carbonates redeposited carbonates and radiolarites predominate radiolarians are dated as early to mid jurassic and late cretaceous in age the pelagic carbonates include planktic foraminifera of late cretaceous age the karadut complex resulted from the accumulation of calcareous gravity flows pelagic carbonate and radiolarites in a relatively proximal base of slope setting after continental break up morb and ophiolitic rocks formed within the s neotethys further north tectonic emplacement onto the arabian platform took place by earliest maastrichtian time regional interpretation is facilitated by comparisons with examples of triassic rifting and continental break up in the eastern mediterranean region and elsewhere

paleoenvironment of the upper oligocene trbovlje coal seam slovenia abstract in the trbovlje region slovenia an upper oligocene coal seam up to 30 m thick developed in a topogenous mire and evolved within a transgressive setting the lower ash rich part of the seam unit i accumulated in a forest swamp strongly influenced by fluvial activity palynomorph spectra are dominated by taxodiaceae cupressaceae pollen ash yields decrease in the middle unit ii and upper part of the seam unit iii indicating decreasing fluvial activity an increase in cao contents reflects increasing amounts of inflowing water from an alkaline lake which progressively controlled peat hydrology in units ii and iii high sulfur contents in the nonmarine coal are a result of the carbonate rich water abundant pollen and spores from myricaceae and polypodiaceae indicate that unit ii represents a bush moor during deposition of unit iii this environment was replaced by a reed moor sapropelic coal unit iv and sapropelic shale unit v accumulated in a relatively large lake which was established by another water table rise the interpreted environmental changes are confirmed by biomarker data pristane phytane ratios reflect variations of the redox conditions within the mire and reach a minimum in the sapropelic unit iv the abundances of gymnosperm and angiosperm derived terpenoid hydrocarbons testify the predominance of gymnosperms over angiosperms during early peat stages unit i and increasing proportions of angiosperms during deposition of units ii and iii highest contents of diterpenoids coincide with maxima in the preservation of plant tissue tpi within unit i wet forest swamp suggesting that tpi is partly controlled by the input of resin rich decay resistant conifers sections of the seam characterized by advanced gelification show low steroids hopanoids ratios the results imply that gelification of plant tissue is related to increased microbial activity evidence is provided that the hopanes could be used as a measure for the activity of aerobic bacteria whereas for the hop 17 21 ene a microbial origin from anaerobic iron reducing bacteria is assumed a general influence of the floral assemblage and of varying contributions of algal biomass on carbon isotopic composition of the organic matter 13 c 24 0 to 28 1 is proposed carbon cycling during biogeochemical decomposition of plant tissue by bacteria is assumed to affect the 13 c values of the coal fossil wood collected from the seam is identified as derived from gymnosperms based on the molecular composition of terpenoid hydrocarbons this chemotaxonomical classification is corroborated by the mean carbon isotopic compositions of the fossil wood 13 c 24 0 and by the 13 c value 21 8 of the extracted cellulose from one macrofossil the low cellulose content of the sample 2 7 together with the slightly higher isotopic difference of 1 6 between cellulose and fossil wood compared to that found in modern trees can most probably be explained by the possible reversal in 13 c discrimination for cellulose when compared with wood in highly degraded samples

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

distinct deformational history of two contrasting tectonic domains in the chinese altai their significance in understanding accretionary orogenic process abstract the chinese altai a key component of the western central asian orogenic belt is considered to be formed through multiple accretions of different terranes however the deformational histories of each terrane tectonic domain i e structural records before and after the accretion are rarely studied which has hindered our understanding of the accretionary processes to fill the gap a systematic macro and microscopic structural analysis was carried out on two contrasting litho tectonic units i e the early paleozoic low grade alegedayi ophiolitic complex aoc juxtaposed to the high grade tarlang granitic massif tgm selected rock samples were analyzed using zircon u pb isotopic dating to constrain the timing of polyphase deformation our structural and geochronological data suggest that the two litho tectonic units were initially detached and located in different crustal levels and experienced distinct phases of deformation under contrasting p t conditions they were mutually accreted with each other in the early devonian and jointly underwent a wnw ese directed shortening deformational event d 1 at 390 ma the change of tectonic regime was further enhanced by a subsequent nne ssw directed shortening deformation d 2 after 380 ma the shortening process ended before the crustal scale sinistral strike slip shearing deformation along the erqis fault zone at 290 240 ma results of this study provide solid field based evidence for a model that the chinese altai initially underwent a nearly e w oriented subduction accretional event in the middle paleozoic before it was reoriented to a nearly n s oriented convergence

temporal and spatial distribution of ostracodes across the pennsylvanian permian boundary interval in eastern north america abstract ostracodes recovered from eastern north american coal measures in the appalachian illinois and maritimes basins have the potential to resolve the temporal and spatial relationships of the strata deposited during the pennsylvanian permian boundary interval the ostracode associations include 1 a pennsylvanian virgilian gzhelian marine association dominated hollinella cushmani with abundant brachiopods and foraminifera exclusive to the gil 30 core in kentucky illinois basin 2 a latest pennsylvanian virgilian gzhelian brackish association dominated by geisina upsoni kellet cavellina nebrascensis geintz and velatomorpha fittsi kellet exclusive to the gil 30 core in kentucky illinois basin and 3 an uppermost permian asselian sakmarian association of nonmarine taxa dominated by whipplella cuneiformis holland whipplella parvula holland paleodarwinula hollandi scott and haworthina bulleta harris and lalicker that occurs in the uppermost continental facies of both the illinois and dunkard basins a comparable nonmarine association of paleodarwinula hollandi and whipplella bretonensis copeland occurs in the bolsovian to cantabrian moscovian to kasimovian coal measures of the maritimes basin of atlantic canada the data presented herein provides new information about the withdrawal of marine waters from several major late paleozoic basins in eastern north america mid continental marine influence persisted into the latest pennsylvanian to earliest permian during deposition in the eastern illinois basin on the western appalachian coastal plain the uppermost nonmarine association of nonmarine ostracoda in both the illinois basin and dunkard basin indicates a synchronous development of aquatic freshwater faunas during lower permian times with increasing geographic isolation of the eastern north american basins the dispersal and radiation of ostracoda in these basins was apparently facilitated by brood rearing as demonstrated by the dominance of the platycopina and darwinulocopina

trace element contents in composited samples of three lignite seams from the central part of the drama lignite deposit macedonia greece abstract drill core samples of three lignite seams from the central part of the drama lignite deposit and their corresponding 1000 c ash samples were analyzed for their trace element contents by instrumental neutron activation inaa and inductively coupled plasma icp analyses compared to crustal abundances the lignite samples are enriched in as br mo and sb while ba co cr cs eu hf la lu rb sc sm tb yb zn zr and au are depleted while br is negatively correlated with the ash content of the lignite samples ce co cr la sc sm and yb are positively correlated elements from the sorrounding rocks and mineralizations of the drama basin have influenced the inorganic constituents of the lignite

late paleozoic strike slip shear zones in eastern central asia nw china new structural and geochronological data 1 new structural studies and 40ar 39ar dating in northwest china provide information about late paleozoic strike slip motions subsequent to accretional events which built eastern central asia during the paleozoic two principal areas were affected by these large transcurrent motions first in the tianshan range main east west ductile shear zones are dextral and coeval with an eastward decreasing greenschist retrograde metamorphism associated biotites give ages ranging from 290 ma to 245 ma the earlier n110 shearing occurred in western tianshan while the last one dextral in whole tianshan occurred 250 245 myr ago second in the chinese altay region several nw se shear zones structured the area the main motion is sinistral and occurred along the erqishi zone at 280 290 ma it is followed by a complex succession of dextral and sinistral shearing episodes leading to the northwestward structuring dated at 245 ma of a metamorphic zone that was folded during a compressive event

strike slip fault geometry in turkey and its influence on earthquake activity the geometry of turkish strike slip faults has been reviewed and described from this data set it appears that fault geometry the distribution of discontinuities such as bends and stepovers along the main fault trace plays an important role in controlling the location of large earthquake rupture segments along the fault zones large earthquake ruptures generally do not propagate past individual stepovers that are wider than 5 km or bends that have angles greater than about 30 more important than the size of each discontinuity however is the total geometric pattern i e the distribution of adjacent bends and stepovers based not only on distance from one another but also on relative discontinuity size certain geometric patterns restraining single or double bends are particularly common and can be viewed as responsible for strain accumulation along portions of the fault zone fault geometry not only plays a role in the extent of earthquake rupture but also in characteristics of earthquake behavior for example large earthquake epicenters often occur near restraining bends or double bends furthermore aftershocks and swarm activity can often be associated with releasing areas areas along the strike slip fault that are undergoing a relatively large amount of extension

early paleozoic paleomagnetism of east kazakhstan implications for paleolatitudinal drift of tectonic elements within the ural mongol belt abstract conflicting paleogeographic reconstructions of the ural mongol fold belt have been developed over the past decade very few of them however have been based on paleomagnetic data which still remain scarce the chingiz range in northeastern kazakhstan provides an opportunity to evaluate the tectonic evolution of the central part of this belt through extensive paleomagnetic studies in this paper we report the results from upper cambrian andesites and lower ordovician tuffaceous sandstones within the chingiz range a high temperature component htc decaying to the origin is isolated from upper cambrian rocks at eight sites with an easterly and low intermediate upward direction this component passes the tilt test and is likely primary a htc is also isolated from lower ordovician rocks at 11 sites these site means exhibit a shallow inclination girdle distribution within the southeast quadrant likely due to net rotations within the complex structure studied the inclination only tilt test is positive and the best grouping of data is observed at 100 untilting also included in our paleolatitudinal analyses are new middle and late paleozoic paleolatitudes from nearby parts of the chingiz range as well as published paleomagnetic data from central and east kazakhstan we favor normal polarity of the early paleozoic results of this paper and conclude that the study area moved northward throughout the paleozoic the observed paleolatitudes generally fit the siberian reference data and hence indicate coherent latitudinal motion of the boshekul chingiz tectonic zone and the siberian plate

organic petrographical mineralogical and geochemical features of the achlada and mavropigi lignite deposits nw macedonia greece abstract the achlada and mavropigi lignite deposits in northern greece provide the main coal source for the next generation of greek power plants a comparative characterization of these two lignite deposits is presented covering the coal rank and the features of the maceral components based on detailed coal petrography and the mineralogical and geochemical features of the coals and their ashes based on xrf and xrd analyses the data are used to interpret the palaeoenvironments of the lignite beds as well as factors that may affect their burnout behavior both deposits have a lignite c rank the mavropigi lignite is mainly a matrix lignite lithotype whereas the achlada deposit consists both of matrix and xylite rich lithotypes the achlada lignite was formed in a fluviatile environment mainly in the abandoned channels of a meandering river system during flooding periods hence it is enriched in inorganic matter with ash values 30 wt the mavropigi lignite formed in a reed marsh environment under limno telmatic conditions and displays ash values the inorganic matter of the two deposits is different in composition due to the contrasting environments and these differences should be taken into account in optimizing their utilization for power production a preliminary assessment indicates that the achlada lignite may have more favorable slagging and fouling properties than the mavropigi lignite although experimental studies are required for more solid conclusions to be reached

petrographic composition and depositional environments of the pliocene velenje lignite seam slovenia abstract a pliocene lignite seam up to 160 m thick occurs in the velenje depression in northern slovenia it forms part of a non marine transgressive sequence petrographic data together with ash and sulphur content of samples from two boreholes one located in the central and the other in the marginal part of the seam have been used to study vertical and lateral coal facies variations in the central part the lignite seam overlies fluvial sediments facies critical macerals and petrographic indices suggest that the lower ash rich part of the seam unit i accumulated in a wet forest swamp in an alluvial plain setting later this environment was replaced by a dry telmatic forest swamp unit iia according to our interpretation a decrease in tree density in units iib and iic reflects a change to a bush moor the transition from unit ii to unit iii is characterized by a rapid water table rise which resulted in the establishment of a wet limnotelmatic forest swamp within unit iii the tree density decreases and the degree of gelification increases towards the top of the seam suggesting a transition to a fen type environment another rapid water table rise ended peat formation in the eutrophic topogenous mire and established open lacustrine conditions a calcium rich environment resulted in high ph values and is responsible for high sulphur lignites up to 4 on a dry basis in the upper part of the seam the ph values were controlled by the amount of the inflowing lacustrine water only thin ash rich topotelmites accumulated along the northern margin of the mire there the seam originated in a wet forest swamp and was separated by limnic and fluvial sediments from other organic rich horizons due to its closer vicinity to the pre tertiary carbonates the depositional environment was probably even more alkaline therefore the lignite shows a higher degree of gelification and is even more sulphur rich up to 5 5 on a dry basis

new data on the development of the dunbarella marine marker horizon in the lublin coal basin poland abstract dunbarella marine marker horizon has significant stratigraphical importance for the lublin coal basin lcb poland it sets the boundary between westphalian a langsettian and b duckmantian and between paralic and limnic sedimentation at the same time this marker horizon is also the base of the lublin formation deposits where a main multi seam coal deposits can be found the horizon correlates with the clay cross marine band england the katharina horizon germany the netherlands and the quaregnon horizon belgium the paleontological material taken from recent boreholes provides new data about development of the dunbarella horizon of the lcb 32 bivalve species have been encountered and can be assigned to 28 genera edmondia posidonia sanguinolites polidevcia phestia and dunbarella are the most abundant in all profiles slightly less numerous are gastropods 9 genera represented mainly by glabrocingulum and euphemites and cephalopods 4 genera represented mainly by gastrioceras and anthracoceras very frequent although not so diverse are the brachiopods primarily inarticulate and represented almost exclusively by lingula studies of macrofauna showed the presence of marker species and faunal assemblages typical of the dunbarella horizon a distinctive feature of this horizon which was observed was the cyclic sedimentation and associated variability of the fauna spectrum this is typical for westphalian marine horizons of northwestern europe including those correlated with the dunbarella horizon

strike slip faulting as a trigger mechanism for overpressure release through piercement structures implications for the lusi mud volcano indonesia piercement structures such as hydrothermal vent complexes pockmarks and mud volcanoes are found in various geological settings but are often associated with faults or other fluid focussing features this article aims to investigate and understand the mechanisms responsible for the formation of piercement structures in sedimentary basins and the role of strike slip faulting as a triggering mechanism for fluidization for this purpose four different approaches were combined fieldwork analogue experiments and math