Geochemistry of a middle Devonian cannel coal (Munindalen) in comparison with Carboniferous coals from Svalbard
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Geochemistry of a middle Devonian cannel coal (Munindalen) in comparison with Carboniferous coals from Svalbard Martin Blumenberg1 · Philipp Weniger1 · Jolanta Kus1 · Georg Scheeder1 · Karsten Piepjohn1 · Marc Zindler2 · Lutz Reinhardt1 Received: 29 November 2017 / Accepted: 1 March 2018 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract Since the appearance of trees in the Devonian, coal preservation in the geological rock record considerably increased and since then terrestrial coals are an extraordinary large sink for carbon in the geosphere. In Munindalen near Pyramiden (Dickson Land, Svalbard), low mature middle to upper Devonian strata (Mimerdalen Subgroup) crop out, which bear well recognizable terrestrial coal seams. Here, we report new geochemical and petrographical data of this ancient coal and compare them with younger coals of Svalbard from the Carboniferous, a period when land-dwelling plants started to rule the terrestrial realm. Similar to other Devonian cannel coals (highly bituminous terrestrial coals), the Munindalen coals are rich in spores and were most likely formed by early lycopsid trees in a near-equatorial setting. Geochemical data are in line with a predominantly liptinite-related origin of the coaly matter and the coals demonstrate a high hydrocarbon (oil) generation potential [hydrogen index: 570 mg hydrocarbons (HC)/g total organic carbon (TOC)]. Biomarkers support a terrestrial plant origin of the coals and demonstrate the geochemical simplicity of these very early terrestrial plants (e.g., by the lack of specific diterpanes known from modern plants and the occurrence of sterane-related simple pregnanes). Keywords Svalbard · Spitsbergen · Biomarkers · Cannel coal · Munindalen · Billefjorden
Introduction Since the beginning of the last century, the various Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic coals from Svalbard and Byørnøya became an interesting target for petrologists and geologists [1]. On one of his expeditions in 1928 to Svalbard, the Norwegian geologist and mineralogist Thorolf Vogt discovered a Devonian “cannel” coal near the western end of Billefjorden (Munindalen; [2, 3]). The Munindalen coals were originally placed into the Middle Devonian [3] and represent one of the first land plant accumulations in the This article was selected from the third Circum-Arctic Structural Event workshop which was held in Hannover (Germany) in March 2017. * Martin Blumenberg [email protected] 1
Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Stilleweg 2, 30655 Hannover, Germany
Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of Petroleum and Coal, RWTH Aachen University, Lochnerstr. 4‑20, 52056 Aachen, Germany
2
geological record on Earth likely related to early tree-shaped Lycopsids found in stratigraphically somewhat younger outcrops nearby [4]. The term “cannel” owes its name to the word “candle”, because cannel coals burn with a steady flame due to the high bituminous, sapropelic composition [5]. In addition, in the studied Munindal
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