Abstract: Petrology, Geochemistry, and Palynology of Joggins Formation (Westphalian A) Coals, Cumberland Basin, Nova Scotia

James C. Hower, John H. Calder, Cortland F. Eble, Andrew C. Scott, J. David Robertson, Lori J. Blanchard

Five Westphalian A coals were collected from the Joggins Formation section exposed along Chignecto Bay at Joggins, Nova Scotia. Several of the coal beds along the bay were mined beginning in the early 17th century. There has been little detailed investigation of the coal beds of this classic section.

The lowermost coal, the Upper Coal 29 (Fundy), is a high-vitrinite coal with a spore assemblage dominated by arboreous lycopod spores with tree ferns subdominant. The upper portions of the coal bed have the highest ratio of well-preserved to poorly-preserved telinite of any of the coals investigated. Coal 19 (Forty Brine) has 88% total vitrinite but, unlike the Fundy coal bed, the telinite has a poor preservation ratio and half of the total vitrinite population comprises gelocollinite and vitrodetrinite. The latter coal bed is directly overlain by a basin-wide limestone bed. The Lower Kimberly (Coal 15) shows good preservation of vitrinite with relatively abundant telinite among the total vitrinite. The Upper Kimberly, which underlies the tetrapod-bearing lycopsid trees found by Lyell and Dawson in 1852, exhibits an upward decrease in arboreous lycopod spores and an increase in the tree fern spore Punctatisporites minutus. The megaspore record is similarly dominated by Lagenicularugosa paralycopodites and tree fern spores. Telinite preservation increases upwards in the Upper Kimberly but overall is well below the preservation ratio of the Fundy coal bed.

The coals are all high sulfur, up to 13.7% total sulfur for the lower lithotype of the Fundy coal bed. The Kimberly coals are not only high in total and pyritic sulfur, but also have high concentrations of chalcophile elements.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90950©1996 AAPG GCAGS 46th Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas