Abstract
The upper Freeport is generally a thick, widespread coal bed in the north-central Appalachian basin. It is a principal bed mined in the Castleman coalfield, Garrett County, Maryland, as delineated on a new geologic map of the coalfield. In the northern part of the coalfield, the upper Freeport is 21-48 in. (53-122 cm) thick and thickens toward the northwest, where the ash and sulfur contents are generally 7-10 wt. % and less than 1.5 wt. %, respectively. This coal bed thins southward and eastward and is absent from a large area in the central part of the coalfield, where its position is occupied by a carbonaceous claystone or flint clay. Toward the south and east, the upper Freeport coal bed generally contains 12-15 wt. % ash and 1.5-6.2 wt. % sulfur.
Lithofacies analysis of the floor rocks and their lateral equivalents indicates deposition of the upper Freeport coal bed in floodplain swamps. Limestone and limy claystone floor rocks in the northwest represent distal floodplain lake deposits. Where the coal is unminable or absent to the south, proximal overbank floodplain shale, siltstone, and silty claystone grade laterally into channel sandstone. The gradation of thin coal into carbonaceous claystone to the south indicates increased oxidation and shoaling in a well-drained swamp. There, the coal has the highest ash and sulfur contents, which probably reflect the influx of detritus and iron-rich clays. Thus, the upper Freeport is thickest and has the lowest ash and sulfur contents where the paleoenvironment was a poorly drained, distal floodplain swamp.
