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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
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The ambient coal rank (metamorphism) of the Carboniferous coals in the Western Kentucky coalfield ranges from high volatile A bituminous (vitrinite maximum reflectance up to 0.75% Rmax) in the Webster syncline (Webster and southern Union Counties) to high volatile C bituminous (0.45 to 0.60% Rmax) over most of the remainder of the area. Anomalous patterns of metamorphism, however, have been noted in coals recovered from cores and mines in fault blocks of the Rough Creek fault zone and Fluorspar District.
Coals in Gil-30 borehole (Rough Creek faults, Bordley Quadrangle, Union County) vary with no regard for vertical position, from high volatile C (0.55% Rmax) to high volatile A (0.89% Rmax) bituminous. Examination of the upper Sturgis Formation (Missourian/Virgilian) coals revealed that the higher rank (generally above 0.75% Rmax) coals had vein mineral assemblages of sphalerite, twinned calcite, and ferroan dolomite. Lower rank coals had only untwinned calcite. Several sites in Webster County contain various coals (Well [No. 8] to Coiltown [No. 14]) with vitrinite reflectances up to 0.83% Rmax and associated sphalerite mineralization. Mississippian and Lower Pennsylvanian (Caseyville Formation Gentry coal) coals in the mineralized Fluorspar istrict have ranks to nearly medium volatile bituminous (1.03% Rmax). Rank varies between fault blocks and, in places, shows unexpected vertical trends. The regional rank trend exhibited by the fault zones is generally higher rank than the surrounding areas. Sphalerite mineralization in itself is not unique within Illinois basin coals, but if it was partly responsible for the metamorphism of these coals, then the fluid temperature must have been higher within the above mentioned fault complexes.
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