--> Development of Coal Within a Sequence Stratigraphic Framework with Examples from the Fluvio-Deltaic Breathitt Group (Pennsylvanian), Eastern Kentucky, by J. F. Aitken and S. S. Flint; #90986 (1994).
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Abstract: Development of Coal Within a Sequence Stratigraphic Framework with Examples from the Fluvio-Previous HitDeltaicNext Hit Breathitt Group (Pennsylvanian), Eastern Kentucky

John F. Aitken, Stephen S. Flint

Various models have been developed to explain the distribution of coals in a stratigraphic framework. These models typically assume that the nature of coal deposits was controlled by the autocyclicity of clastic settings surrounding the peat forming Previous HitenvironmentsNext Hit. The distribution of coal is considered to result from the geometry of the associated clastic facies. However, it has been shown that there is considerable variability in coal-bearing successions, independent of depositional environment, such that these models are not accurate predictors of coal development. As mires are initiated, sustained and preserved in conditions of slowly rising base level, it is possible to consider the stratigraphic significance of coal seams within the concept of unconformity-bounded depositional seq ences.

Regional correlations in the fluvio-Previous HitdeltaicTop Pennsylvanian Breathitt Group indicate that thick and laterally extensive coal seams are time correlative to significant flooding surfaces at the coeval coast. Coals occur which are updip equivalents to both the initial flooding (transgressive) and maximum flooding surfaces.

Kentucky Geological Survey coal quality data clearly indicate a progressive increase in both thickness and British Thermal Unit rating with associated declines in ash content throughout the transgressive systems tract. This correlation is reversed for the highstand systems tract, often with few coal seams preserved. Generally sulphur contents are highest in close stratigraphic proximity to marine horizons, although there exceptions exist. These patterns occur on both 3rd and 4th-order scales.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90986©1994 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 12-15, 1994