Late Carboniferous cyclothems in Atlantic Canada and event correlation in the Euramerican Coal Province

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:5906940

Gibling, M R ^[1]

---

1. Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada). Dept. of Earth Sciences

The Maritimes Basin of Atlantic Canada contains a thick Late Carboniferous succession and is interposed between US and European coal basins. In the Sydney coalfield of the Maritimes Basin, events of probable regional significance are recorded in ten mid Westphalian D to early Stephanian cyclothems, 20--70 m thick and about 2--300,000 years in mean duration. Coals up to 4.3 m thick are associated with coastal sandstones/shales and are overlain by thin black shales/limestones; agglutinated foraminifera indicate restricted marine conditions. Coal-bearing units alternate with alluvial-plain deposits that include red mudstones formed as mature paleosols in a strongly season climate. Stacked alluvial channel bodies above some coals are interpreted as paleovalley fills that reflect incision and subsequent aggradation, probably related to relative sea-level fluctuation associated with Gondwanan glaciation. Red strata predominate and coals become uneconomic higher in the Stephanian as Euramerican climates became more continental. Coeval coal-bearing strata (and, probably, cyclothems) also underlie large areas of the Gulf of St. Lawrence which, together with the Sydney region, is about 80,000 km[sup 2] in area. Biostratigraphic studies indicate that the Westphalian D to early Stephanian correlates with the Desmoinesian/Missourian of the interior US. The Maritimes Basin cyclothems are thus coeval with cylothemic intervals in the Midcontinental, Illinois and Appalachian Basins that include major economic seams (Herrin No. 6, springfield No. 5, Freeport, Kittanning). Although the level of biostratigraphic resolution currently precludes precise correlation, cyclothem-generating events probably influenced and may be traceable in coastal plain settings through much of the Euramerican Coal Province in the latest Carboniferous.

• OSTI ID: 5906940
• Report Number(s): CONF-921058--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 24:7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
011000* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
ANIMALS
APPALACHIAN BASIN
CANADA
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
COAL DEPOSITS
COAL SEAMS
CORRELATIONS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DIMENSIONS
FORAMINIFERA
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
ILLINOIS BASIN
INVERTEBRATES
MICROORGANISMS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
PALEONTOLOGY
PALEOZOIC ERA
PROTOZOA
RESOURCES
SARCODINA
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
STRATIGRAPHY
THICKNESS