Paleoenvironmentally determined maceral, lithotype, and elemental relationships in two coals of the Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee

Samples comprising vertical sections of two coal horizons have been analyzed for major and minor elements, maceral contents, and lithotypes. The coals studied are the Middle Pennsylvanian Pewee of the uppermost Redoak Mountain Formation, and the Grassy Spring of the lowermost Cross Mountain Formation that are exposed in stripmine highwalls on the Cumberland Plateau near Caryville, Tennessee. The Pewee coal was deposited in an upper delta plain environment and the Grassy Spring coal was deposited in a lower delta plain environment. These coals were chosen because their different paleoenvironments were expected to provide a contrast by which to elucidate controls on the distribution of major and minor elements, maceral contents, and lithotypes.

This study concludes that: (1) the elemental relationships established during the existence of the respective swamps are indicative of their environments of formation; and (2) the maceral contents and lithotypes of the two coals reflect the sedimentological and geochemical conditions under which they were formed. These results suggest that: (1) future studies of the elemental contents of coals must consider a coal's environment of deposition if the data collected are to be of use in predicting coal quality; and (2) the field study of a coal can significantly augment the interpretation of the coal's depositional environment which is usually based solely on the consideration of the coal's associated strata.