Re: Coal/Tree Trunks

From: Bill Payne (bpayne15@juno.com)
Date: Tue Jul 10 2001 - 01:17:59 EDT

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    Hi Jonathan,

    I should be able to get to Tuscaloosa next week to copy the articles you
    referenced. I will be very busy for the next six weeks or so, but will
    try to pick up again later where we left off.

    One comment to your post:

    On Mon, 09 Jul 2001 20:09:22 +1000 Jonathan Clarke
    <jdac@alphalink.com.au> writes:

    > Seeing that most mires are defined by the water table their surfaces
    can be
    > very flat, especially when occurring in a low relief depositional
    setting. Why is this a
    > problem? On the scale of an outcrop or mine exposure why would not
    these appear
    > "as flat as a table top"? It may be my fault, but I seem to have lost
    your
    > point. I can't see the global significance you are trying to draw out
    of
    > this.

    Picture a swamp. Make it as flat as you like for as far as you like. My
    point in this is that swamps have trees growing in them. A "flood event"
    (local) that deposits impurities which are preserved as a parting in the
    coal seam would necessarily be interrupted by the trunks of the standing
    trees.

    We don't normally see any interruptions in the partings. Nor do we
    normally see any interruptions in the fine banded structure of the coal
    seams. Where are all the vertical trees? The ones that we do see are
    usually some distance above a coal seam.

    The photos I had hoped to post showing this are too big for the ASA
    e-mail, but the list manager has offered to post them on a temporary
    site. I'll get back to this when I have time. Meanwhile, I'll try to
    read up on some articles.

    Oh, one more thing. I visited an old strip mine a couple of weeks ago.
    The underclay had been exposed and weathered in a wash. There were some
    very nice round roots up to maybe an inch in diameter and exposed for
    about a foot of length. The roots were reddish in color and contained
    very little carbon - maybe a little in places on the surface. If I had
    seen them in fresh outcrop, I don't know that they would have been
    apparent. When I get back up there, I'll take a pick and see what I can
    find when I dig down.

    Thought you might want to know. :-(

    Later :-),

    Bill
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