Comparative facies formation in selected coal beds of the Powder River Basin

By: , and 
Edited by: Romeo M. FloresPeter D. WarwickTimothy A. MooreGary GlassArchie SmithDouglas J. NicholsJack A. WolfeRonald W. Stanton, and Jean Weaver

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Abstract

Petrologic studies of thick coal beds [Warwick, 1985; Moore, 1986; Moore and others, 1986; Moore and others, 1987; Warwick and Stanton, in press], which build on sedimentological interpretations [Flores, this volume] of associated units, provide data to interpret and contrast the varieties of peat formation in the Powder River Basin. Detailed analyses of the composition of coal beds lead to more complete interpretations regarding the depositional environment on a regional and local scale. Our efforts in the Powder River Basin [areas A-D in fig. 1 of Flores, this volume] have resulted in a series of site-specific studies that interpret the types of peat formation from the arrangement of different facies which comprise the coal beds and from the spatial form of the coal beds.

Our approach was to use a combination of megascopic criteria for facies sampling, and where only core was available, to analyze many interval samples to discriminate facies by their maceral composition. Coal beds in the Powder River Basin are composed of laterally continuous, compositional subunits of the bed (facies) that can be discerned most easily in weathered highwall exposures, less readily in fresh highwalls, and very poorly in fresh-cut core surfaces. In general, very low ash ( 

Publication type Conference Paper
Publication Subtype Conference Paper
Title Comparative facies formation in selected coal beds of the Powder River Basin
ISBN 9780875905846
DOI 10.1029/FT132p0019
Year Published 1989
Language English
Publisher American Geophysical Union
Description 3 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Conference publication
Larger Work Title Tertiary and Cretaceous coals in the Rocky Mountains region: Casper, Wyoming to Salt Lake City, Utah June 29-July 8, 1989
First page 19
Last page 21
Country United States
State Montana, Wyoming
Other Geospatial Powder River Basin
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