On Thu, 07 Jun 2001 20:45:01 +1000 Jonathan Clarke
<jdac@alphalink.com.au> writes:
> Three things I am sure I have said before. Firstly swamps don't need
to have
> trees growing on their tops. Many (thought not all) modern peat bogs
are
> treeless. Why should ancient ones necessarily have been different? To
expect
> coal forming bogs to have been covered in trees and claim that bog
models
> have been falsified is to use a straw man argument.
When I discussed this w/ Glenn several years ago on the ACG, Glenn tried
to say that these were treeless bogs covered with grass, until he
realized that grass didn't evolve until the Cretaceous. According to
James, the "ancient ones" were different in that the majority of the coal
consists of tree parts. Gastaldo has documented tree trunks vertically
over the Mary Lee coal seam. I have seen tree trunks above, below, and
between coal seams. I think your straw man allegation is a bunch of
feathers. :-)
> Secondly trees are reported growing from the tops of at least some
coals in
> the eastern US. See T. Demko and R. A. Gastaldo "Paludal environments
of the
> Mary Lee coal zone, Pottsville Formation, Alabama: stacked clastic
swamps and
> mires" (International Journal of Coal Geology 20 (1992): 23-47) figure
3
> (sketch) and figure 6 (generalised diagram); R. A. Gastaldo
"Implications on
> the paleoecology of autochthonous lycopods in clastic
sedimentaryenvironments of the > Early Pennsylvanian of Alabama"
(Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, >
> Palaeoecology 53(1986): 191-212) figure 1 (generalised architecture)
and figure 3 (wall > map). For non-US examples (and to show these are
not just figments of the
> imagination of the dreaded Gastaldo) see J. W. Dawson "On the
coal-measures of the > south Joggins, Nova Scotia" (Quarterly Journal of
the Geological Society of London 10
> (1854): 1-41) figures 2, 5 and 8 (all field sketches); J. H. Calder,
M. R. Gibling, C. F.
> Eble, A. C. Scott, and D. J. MacNeil "The Westphalian D fossil
lepidodendrid forest at
> Table Head, Sydney Basin, Nova Scotia: sedimentology, paleoecology
> and floral response to changing edaphic conditions" (International
Journal of
> Coal Geology 31(1996): 277-313) figures 2 & 3 (stratigraphic logs)
figure 4
> (long section), figures 6a & 7b (photographs). What was that about
being
> weary of people criticizing ideas but refusing to address the data?
Ah, my friend, you are much too ready to accept the opinions of others
(you should believe me and no one else :-)). A year or so ago I saw a
Powerpoint presentation of a study by a geologist (OEC) and a friend of
his (professor in the field of humanities who did the presentation) on
the Blue Creek/Mary Lee stratigraphic section. The Blue Creek coal
underlies the Mary Lee and in this mine (Cedrum Mine in Walker County,
Alabama); they are separated by about 20 feet of shale and/or sandstone.
The presenter showed photographs of, I'm guessing, more than 50 vertical
tree trunks in the interval between the Blue Creek and Mary Lee. *None*
of these trees had roots attached. One photograph in particular was a
closeup of the base of a tree, and clearly showed that the trunk was
truncated, not rooted.
This is the same area and the same Mary Lee interval that Gastaldo
interpreted as "stacked clastic swamps." I have an abstract which I
guess is for the article you referenced above. I didn't realize he had
authored an article; thanks for the references - I'll try to get them.
You mentioned "figure 3 (sketch) and figure 6 (generalised diagram)."
Did Bob publish any photographs or only sketches?
> Thirdly, as you should well know, layering in coals can have many
origins.
> You have to be specific. I think we have discussed here and on the ACG
list
> compaction, sediment seams, formed by flooding of swamps, and ash
falls.
> Unless you have something new to add I don't see much point discussing
them.
"Sediment seams, formed by flooding of swamps, and ash falls" *prove*
what I am saying. If these were swamps, and if these swamps had trees
growing in them, them the sediment seams and ash layers (partings) in
coal seams would be interrupted by the trunks of the standing trees.
James, I know you don't accept my interpretation, but will you please
help me out here and confirm the continuity of the partings?
A review of Arp's _Seeing Red_ may be found at:
http://www.metaresearch.org/publications/books/SeeingRed-Arp.asp
Bill
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