Permian Coal in Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica--Quality and Quantity

D. A. Coates, G. D. Striker, E. R. Landis

Fluvial coal-bearing rocks of the Victoria Group of the Beacon Supergroup crop out in a 2,000-km long belt from north Victoria Land to the Ohio Range. Although coal beds as thick as 10.7 m have been reported, they are generally thinner and lenticular and commonly not more than 3 km in lateral extent. In north Victoria Land, the small North Victoria basin contains coal in the Takrouna Formation; in south Victoria Land, the larger South Victoria basin contains the Weller Coal Measures; and the southernmost and largest Nimrod-Ohio basin, which extends from the Nimrod Glacier to the Ohio Range, contains the coal-bearing Buckley Formation and its equivalents.

The 144 published analyses of Permian coal from this region indicate that as-received ash contents range from 3.2 to almost 50% with an arithmetic mean of 15.3%. As-received sulfur contents range from 0.0 to 4.8% with an arithmetic mean of 0.57%. Calculated apparent rank ranges from high volatile C bituminous coal to meta-anthracite.

Paucity of data on coal thickness and distribution dictates that coal resource estimates be classified as hypothetical. Hypothetical coal resources, calculated on the basis of information from published geologic maps, geologic descriptions, and measured sections, total 3 billion MT in the North Victoria basin, 50 billion MT in the South Victoria basin, and 100 billion MT in the Nimrod-Ohio basin.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91022©1989 AAPG Annual Convention, April 23-26, 1989, San Antonio, Texas.