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Geochemistry of a middle Devonian cannel coal (Munindalen) in comparison with Carboniferous coals from Svalbard

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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).

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Fig. 1

Georeferenced data from Norsk Polarinstitutt (http://data.npolar.no)

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Acknowledgements

We thank Malte Jochmann and Stein Henningsen for excellent cooperation during field work. Petra Adam, Monika Weiß and Sylvia Kramer are thanked for laboratory assistance. Samples were obtained during CASE 17-2, which was a geological expedition within the CASE research program (CASE = Circum Arctic Structural Events) of the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Stilleweg 2, 30655, Hannover, Germany

    Martin Blumenberg, Philipp Weniger, Jolanta Kus, Georg Scheeder, Karsten Piepjohn & Lutz Reinhardt

  2. Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of Petroleum and Coal, RWTH Aachen University, Lochnerstr. 4-20, 52056, Aachen, Germany

    Marc Zindler

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  1. Martin Blumenberg
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  2. Philipp Weniger
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  3. Jolanta Kus
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  4. Georg Scheeder
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  7. Lutz Reinhardt
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Correspondence to Martin Blumenberg.

Additional information

This article was selected from the third Circum-Arctic Structural Event workshop which was held in Hannover (Germany) in March 2017.

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Blumenberg, M., Weniger, P., Kus, J. et al. Geochemistry of a middle Devonian cannel coal (Munindalen) in comparison with Carboniferous coals from Svalbard. Arktos 4, 1–8 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41063-018-0038-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41063-018-0038-y

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