Modern coastal back-barrier environment: analog for coal basin or for carbonaceous black shale
Coastal back-barrier salt-marsh environments are evaluated as possible modern analogs for some coal-forming basins. Analysis of the amount of organic matter in Holocene salt-marsh peats from 158 core samples at Plum Island, Massachusetts, indicates that the organic matter content is too low to ultimately produce coal. C-14 dates indicate depositional rates of 1 mm/yr. Both the high and low salt-marsh peat facies would probably diagenetically alter to a carbonaceous shale. A review of the organic content reported from other nondeltaic back-barrier and coastal salt-marsh environments indicates that they commonly have too much detrital material to classify as coal precursors. Barrier-island systems, being affected by sea-level changes and subject to landward migrations, also lack long-term stability needed for coal formation. These data suggest that modern back-barrier environments are not good analogs for coal-forming basins.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 7018782
- Journal Information:
- Geology; (United States), Vol. 16:4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Barrier and back-barrier environments of deposition of the Upper Cretaceous Almond Formation, Rock Springs Uplift, Wyoming
Facies relationships and systems tracts in the late Holocene Mississippi Delta plain
Related Subjects
04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
COAL DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC MODELS
OIL SHALE DEPOSITS
CARBON 14
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
DEPOSITION
DIAGENESIS
ISOTOPE DATING
MARSHES
MASSACHUSETTS
ORGANIC MATTER
PEAT
SALINITY
SEA LEVEL
VARIATIONS
AGE ESTIMATION
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON ISOTOPES
ECOSYSTEMS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FEDERAL REGION I
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
ISOTOPES
LEVELS
LIGHT NUCLEI
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
RESOURCES
USA
WETLANDS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
011000* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
040201 - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Site Geology- (-1989)