Geology of Coal Fires: Case Studies from Around the World

The “sedimentary cover” refers to the stratified rocks of youngest Proterozoic and Phanerozoic age that rest upon the largely crystalline basement rocks of the continental interior. The early chapters of the volume present data and interpretations of the geophysics of the craton and summarize, with sequential maps, the tectonic evolution of the craton. The main body of the text and accompanying plates and figures present the stratigraphy, structural history, and economic geology of specific sedimentary basins (e.g., Appalachian basin) and regions (e.g., Rocky Mountains). The volume concludes with a summary chapter in which the currently popular theories of cratonal tectonics are discussed and the unresolved questions are identified.
Combustion metamorphic events resulting from natural coal fires
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Published:January 01, 2007
Abstract
Fossil-fuel fires in coal-bearing and bituminous complexes and associated combustion metamorphic transformations of sedimentary protoliths have been observed adjacent to many coal and oil deposits worldwide. The geologic and topographic features governing the distribution of fossil-fuel fires are similar for the majority of combustion metamorphic complexes. There are more than 40 such complexes in Europe, Asia, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Combustion metamorphism is a striking geologic phenomenon, and the geologic history of Tertiary and Quaternary sedimentary basins prior to the ignition of any fossil fuels they contain determines the characteristics of future combustion metamorphic rocks. The evolutionary trend of combustion metamorphic systems is: formation of a fossil fuel → ignition and combustion of the fuel → decomposition and alteration of adjacent sedimentary strata and minerals, respectively → formation of pyrometamorphic rocks → retrograde alteration. The thermal energy for high-temperature and low-pressure metamorphism is supplied by the combustion of coal, gas, oil, or bitumen.
- alteration
- Asia
- Australasia
- Australia
- basins
- bituminous coal
- coal
- combustion
- Europe
- fires
- heat transfer
- high temperature
- low pressure
- metamorphism
- New Zealand
- North America
- petroleum
- pressure
- protoliths
- sedimentary basins
- sedimentary bodies
- sedimentary rocks
- temperature
- transformations
- combustion metamorphism
- pyrometamorphic rocks