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    Coal facies studies in Australia

    Peter J. Crosdale*

    Coalseam Gas Research Institute, School of Earth Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4814, Australia

    Received 1 January 2003; accepted 12 October 2003

    Abstract

    Despite the economic importance of coal to the Australian economy, detailed studies of controls on variation in coal type are

    remarkably few. However, important contributions have been made in the understanding of coal facies development. Tertiary

    lignite deposits of the Gippsland Basin provide key insights into the development of lithotype cyclicity and its relationship to

    relative sea-level changes, with individual paling-up cycles being correlated to parasequences. Studies of Permian hard coals

    have identified relationships between coal type and surrounding sediments. Unfortunately, these relationships have been widely

    over-interpreted in a manner that has diminished their real value.

    D  2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

     Keywords:  Depositional environment; Lignite; Black coal; Lithotype; Maceral

    1. Coal in Australia

    Extraction, utilization and export of coal is well

    recognized as a major contributor to the Australian

    economy. According to the Australian Bureau of 

    Statistics, in 2001–2002 coal and associated products

    accounted for AUD$13.4 billion, or almost 9%, of all

    goods and services exported. Coal production in

    1999–2000 was 254 million t of black coal and 66million t of brown coal, making Australia the 4th

    largest black coal producing country (behind PR 

    China, USA and India) and the world’s largest ex-

     porter of both steaming and coking coals.

    Australian coals are widely distributed both spa-

    tially and temporally, with mineable coals found in

    most coal-forming periods represented except those

    of the Carboniferous   (Ward et al., 1995).   Economi-

    cally, the most important coals are those of the

    Permian Sydney– Gunnedah– Bowen Basin of New

    South Wales and Queensland and the Late Eocene to

    Middle Miocene deposits of the Gippsland Basin in

    Victoria. Petroleum products have also been identi-fied as being sourced from many of these coals, e.g.

    the gas resources of the Permian Cooper Basin and

    the oil and gas resources in Bass Straight (Gippsland

    Basin).

    The Permian coals are generally hard coals be-

    tween high volatile bituminous and anthracite rank,

     producing a wide variety of commercial products

    including thermal, hard and soft coking, PCI, etc.

    The Tertiary coals of Victoria are lignite in rank and

    are used predominantly for power generation although

    0166-5162/$ - see front matter  D   2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.coal.2003.10.004

    * Tel.: +61-7-3394-3011; fax: +61-7-3394-3088.

     E-mail address: [email protected]

    (P.J. Crosdale).

    www.elsevier.com/locate/ijcoalgeo

    International Journal of Coal Geology 58 (2004) 125–130

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    Table 1

    Author Method Depositional environment/  

    other comments

    Age; Area ASTM rank Ro%

     Paleozoic coal basinsDiessel, 1975   Carboniferous,

    Hunter Valley

    Diessel, 1965, 1970,

    1982, 1985, 1986a,b,

    1996; Diessel et al.,

    1967; Glasspool, 2000

    coal petrology, TPI/GI,

    sedimentology, vitrinite

    reflectance, fluorescence,

    mesofossils

    first paper on TPI/GI

    technique 1982, source

     paper for this technique,

    relates coal petrography

    to sedimentology 1986a;

    vertical trends suggesting

    overlying marine influence

    with some sequence

    stratigraphic significance;

    explanation to the origin

    of inertinites by charring

    Permian, Sydney

    Basin

     bituminous 0.6 – 1.2

    Tadros, 1988a,b, 1993   maceral Permian, GunnedahBasin

     bituminous

    Shibaoka and Smyth, 1975;

    Smyth and Cook, 1976

    microlithotype, lithotype explanation of dulling up

    sequences

    Permian, Sydney and

    Gunnedah Basins

     bituminous

    Diessel, 1982   TPI/GI first paper on TPI/GI

    technique

    Permian, Sydney and

    Gunnedah Basins

     bituminous

    Hunt, 1982, 1989; Hunt 

    and Hobday, 1984; Smyth,

    1989

    microlithotype, maceral,

    sulphur 

    relates microlithotypes to a

    variety of sedimentary

    environments

    Permian, Sydney and

    Gunnedah Basins

     bituminous

    Marchioni, 1980   maceral, microlithotype terrestrial/telmatic/limnic— 

    using Hacquebard and

    Donaldson 1969. facies

    diagram

    Permian, Liddell Seam,

    upper Hunter Valley,

     New South Wales

    hvb

    Smyth, 1984   microlithotype relates microlithotypes to a

    variety of sedimentary

    environments

    Permian, Cooper Basin bituminous

    Beeston, 1991; Beeston

    and Draper, 1991

    maceral, palynology,

     botany

    combines a variety of 

    techniques to produce a

    facies model for coal

    deposition

    Permian, Queensland bituminous

    Cook, 1981   coal petrology, coal

    geology

    from Permian to

    Cenozoic, Australia

    Diessel and Smyth, 1995   maceral, microlithotype ternary microlithotype

    diagrams with

    superimposed clastic

    environments

    mostly Permian

    of Australia

     bituminous

    and lignite

    Hunt and Brakel, 1989   microlithotype relates microlithotypes to

    a variety of sedimentaryenvironments

    Permian, Australia bituminous

     Mesozoic coal basins

    Smyth et al., 1992   dispersed organic

    matter 

    lacustrine environments Triassic, Gunnedah

    Basin New

    South Wales

    Gould, 1980   plant megafossils dominantly conifer derived

    coals in a moist temperate

    climate

    Middle Jurassic,

    Surat Basin

    sub-bituminous

     P.J. Crosdale / International Journal of Coal Geology 58 (2004) 125–130126

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    extensive research has been done on their liquefaction possibilities.

    2. Facies studies

    Given the economic importance of coal to the

    Australian economy, surprisingly little detailed work 

    as been done on coal facies, especially on a regional

    scale. There are a number of interesting problems

    which detailed facies studies would help resolve,

    including the large percentage of inertinite in manyof the Permian coals; the development of very thick 

    (up to 30 m), clean, inertinite-rich coals; the relation-

    ship of coal type to sedimentary environment; the

    development of lithotype cyclicity; controls on the

    distribution of authigenic minerals. While some

    aspects of these problems have been dealt with exten-

    sively by some authors, many questions remain.

    Facies studies of Australian coals reported here

    (Table 1)  deal predominantly with depositional envi-

    ronments and utilize the full range of ‘standard’ and

    Author Method Depositional environment/  

    other comments

    Age; Area ASTM rank Ro%

    Cenozoic coal basinsMeakin, 1985   palynology Eocene, St Vincent  

    Basin, South Australia

    lignite

    Baillie, 1992; Baillie and

    Bacon, 1989

    Eocene, Bass Basin,

    Victoria

    George, 1975; Blackburn,

    1980, 1985; Lully et al.,

    1980; George, 1982; Sluiter,

    1984; Kershaw and Sluiter,

    1982; Holdgate, 1985,

    1996; Holdgate et al.,

    1995; Khandekar, 1985;

    Mackay et al., 1985;

    Kershaw et al., 1987;

    Sluiter et al., 1995

    lithotypes, plant 

    megafossils,

    lithotypes, palynology,

    macerals, proximate

    and ultimate analysis,

    sequence stratigraphy,

    sea level change

    explanation of lightening

    up of lithotypes using

    sequence stratigraphy

    and climatic changes

    Oligocene/Miocene,

    Latrobe Valley,

    Victoria

    lignite

    Partridge, 1982; Smith, 1982   p alynology relates sea level change to

    coal formation

    Oligocene/Miocene,

    Gippsland Basin,

    Victoria

    lignite

    Anderson and Mackay,

    1991; Holdgate, 1992;

    Blackburn and Sluiter, 1994

    lithotype, maceral,

     palynology, sea level

    change, plant 

    megafossils

    review paper, details of 

     peat-forming plant 

    communities, ombrogenous

     peats; many references to

    unpublished and difficult 

    to access reports

    Oligocene/Miocene,

    Victoria

    lignite

    Partridge, 1997   palynology Miocene, Port Phillip

    Basin, Victoria

    lignite

    Harris, 1980; Holdgate, 1997;

    Holdgate and Clarke, 2000

    sea level change South Australia;

    Australia, New Zealand,

    Germany; Australia

    lignite

    Murray et al., 1997   geochemistry Otway Basin,

    Victoria/South Australia

    General models

    Diessel, 1998; Diessel et al.,

    1995, 2000

    sequence stratigraphy

    Diessel and Gammidge, 1998   vitrinite reflectance

    Table 1 (continued )

     P.J. Crosdale / International Journal of Coal Geology 58 (2004) 125–130   127

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    more novel techniques, e.g. fluorescence and reflec-

    tance studies.

    Particularly influential in black coal depositional

    environment studies have been microlithotype (e.g.Shibaoka and Smyth, 1975; Smyth and Cook, 1976;

    Hunt, 1982, 1989; Hunt and Brakel, 1989; Hunt and

    Hobday, 1984; Smyth, 1984, 1989; Marchioni, 1980;

    Diessel and Smyth, 1995) and maceral (e.g.   Diessel,

    1982, 1985, 1986a,b, 1996) analyses. These studies

    have shown clear relationships exist between petro-

    graphic composition of the coal and its enclosing

    sedimentary environment. However, these relation-

    ships are widely misinterpreted to infer conditions of 

    the peat-forming mire (see discussions in   Crosdale,

    1993; Wüst et al., 2001).

    It is unfortunate that over-interpretation of petro-

    graphic data, especially the maceral facies diagram

    (Diessel, 1982),   has occurred since these techniques

    have a number of potential uses. Foremost is the

    grouping and classification of coals based on their 

    complete and detailed petrography. Following this

    classification it is possible to investigate vertical and

    lateral changes of individual seams and sequences of 

    seams within a basin. The maceral and microlithotype

    facies diagrams provide us with an easy way to

    represent petrographic variability but challenge us to

    correctly interpret the meaning.Lignite deposits of the Gippsland Basin have been

    of particular interest since very thick coals occur (up

    to 200 m) which are characterized by cycles of 

     paling-up lithotypes. These lithotype cycles have

     been investigated by a variety of techniques includ-

    ing the study of plant megafossils, palynology,

    macerals, proximate and ultimate analysis, other 

    geochemistry and sequence stratigraphy. These tech-

    niques, coupled with regional studies and correla-

    tions with off-shore petroleum provinces, have

    shown that each lithotype cycle represents a para-sequence (e.g.   Anderson and Mackay, 1991; Holdg-

    ate et al., 1995). Coupled with detailed restorations

    of plant communities, a comprehensive picture of 

    lithotype development emerges. However, it is still

    unclear how these systems work in detail. It is

    simply not sufficient to say that rising sea-level

    results in a rising water table due to ponding, or 

    that falling sea level has the opposite effect. Peat-

    forming environments also respond strongly to local

    climate and local ground water hydrology.

    3. Conclusions

    Despite some very detailed work in selected depos-

    its, coal facies studies are generally poorly representedin Australia. This is especially significant given the

    value of coal to the Australian economy and the value

    of coal facies studies into understanding the geolog-

    ical variability of deposits. However, important stud-

    ies on Tertiary lignites and new ways of thinking

    about coal development based on standard maceral

    analysis have had large impacts.

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