International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Coal Geology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijcoalgeo

Review article

Coal more than a resource: Critical data for understanding a variety of

earth-science concepts
Stephen F. Greb ⁎
Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Coal is one of the world's primary energy sources and it is critical for making coke, used in steel making; and is
Received 1 April 2013 used for a multitude of chemical products. Aside from its significance as a fuel or product, however, coal and
Received in revised form 29 July 2013 data derived from the exploration or mining of coal have also provided the foundation and testing ground for
Accepted 5 August 2013
diverse geologic concepts. Because of coal's economic importance, and common variability in thickness, distribu-
Available online 15 August 2013
tion, and quality, it has been critical to collect and correlate a wide variety of surface and subsurface data sets at
Keywords:
relatively high-spatial frequency, which varies from the mine to basinal scale. Also, because many coal beds
Coal occur in most coal basins, the collection of coal data from multiple beds creates relatively high-temporal frequency
Historical geology data sets at scales from laminae to bed to larger unit scale. These data have been important for the development
Appalachian Basin and expansion of many earth science concepts including aspects of basin analyses, paleogeography, paleoclima-
Illinois Basin tology, paleontology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, structural geology, and tectonics.
Pennsylvanian © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Carboniferous

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2. Stratigraphy and sedimentology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1. Coals as stratigraphic markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2. Depositional facies and sedimentology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.1. Paleochannels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.2. Tidal rhythmites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3. Stratal stacking patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.1. Glacio-eustacic models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3.2. Delta lobe progradation models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3.3. Tectonic models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3.4. Climatic models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3. Tectonics and basin analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1. Structures and structural horizons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2. Fault movement, structural controls on sedimentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.3. Subsidence rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4. Rank, burial depth, geothermal gradients, and heat flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.5. Source rock maturation and hydrocarbon distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4. Paleoclimates and paleogeography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5. Paleontology and paleoecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.1. Paleobotany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.2. Palynology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.3. Invertebrate paleontology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.4. Vertebrate paleontology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.5. Ichnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.6. Extinctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

⁎ Tel.: +1 8593230542.
E-mail address: greb@uky.edu.

0166-5162/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2013.08.003
16 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32

6. Biogeochemical cycles through time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

7. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

1. Introduction
Coal is one of the world's premier fuel resources. It remains an im-
portant component of coke to make steel, which spurred (and is still
spurring) the industrial revolutions of many countries, and it is used
to make a variety of chemicals and compounds. Coal has also been an
important contributor to infrastructure with many towns, roads, rail
lines, river ports, etc., developed as a result of mining and the need to
get the coal to market. Coal mining, processing, and utilization also
had negative environmental impacts, of which concerns about climate
change are the most recent.
Another aspect of coal geology, which is sometimes overlooked, is the
many ways in which data collected from coal basins including samples
from mines and tailings, borehole data, in-mine data, mine highwalls,
and roadcuts and railway exposures along coal transport routes has
been fundamental in shaping and testing a variety of geological concepts.
The following essay examines just some of the ways in which data and
methodologies derived or enhanced as a result of coal exploration,
mining, development, and research have been important in shaping
our understanding of broader concepts in general geology and earth
history. Special focus is placed on examples from eastern and central
North America (Figs. 1, 2), which have been major coal research areas
for more than one hundred years.
2. Stratigraphy and sedimentology
2.1. Coals as stratigraphic markers
In some coal basins, tens of thousands of exploration bore holes and
coal measurements are made during exploration and development.
Some coal beds have distinctive partings or roof strata, which allows
relatively easy regional correlation. Other coals are primary economic
targets, so significant research is spent on insuring their regional corre-
lation. The large amount of data and economic incentive for correlating
coal beds provides for relatively detailed stratigraphic frameworks for
the coal-bearing parts of many coal basins (Eble et al., 2009; Heckel,
1995; Peppers, 1996; Rice and Hiett, 1994; see also Section 3.1). In the
Appalachian and Illinois Basins (Fig. 1), coals can be used as marker
or key beds at vertical distances of 10- to 30-m intervals, which is a
relatively high degree of stratigraphic resolution. Lithostratigraphic
correlations are combined with palynologic and other paleontologi-
cal data (see Section 5) to corroborate basinal correlations and facil-
itate extra-basinal correlations. These data can be used for a wide
array of additional stratigraphic, sedimentological, and tectonic
analyses.
2.2. Depositional facies and sedimentology
The detailed correlation of coal beds in individual basins, and then
between basins, allowed for a wide range of analyses of the strata be-
tween the mapped coal beds, which continues to this day. In the late
1950s and early 1960s, field work on modern sedimentation patterns
in the Mississippi River delta led to increased use of depositional facies
in stratigraphic analyses, which rapidly transferred into interpretations
of coal-bearing strata (Donaldson, 1966; Ferm and Cavaroc, 1968;
Moore, 1959). Widespread exploratory coring, exposure of surface
mine highwalls (especially prior to surface mine reclamation laws),
and road cuts along coal haul roads provided a wealth of data to the
expanding field of clastic sedimentology. Ferm (1970) noted that data
being gathered in studies of modern coastal-deltaic sediments should
be applied to rock strata, and that in turn, “the generation of rock data
that will be meaningful to the student of recent sedimentary processes
(p. 346).” In many publications, classic examples of lower delta plain,
transitional delta plain, and upper delta plain-fluvial facies, and details
of subfacies (washovers, levees, floodplains, etc.) were described in
outcrops along US Highway 23 and Kentucky Highway 80 in eastern
Kentucky (Figs. 2, 3), and in other parts of the Appalachian Basin, and
compared to modern analogs from the Gulf and Atlantic coasts
(Baganz et al., 1975; Cobb et al., 1981; Donaldson, 1974; Ferm, 1970;
Horne et al., 1978; Saxena and Ferm, 1976). Similar examples from
coal basins around the world were gathered (Fielding, 1987; Flores,
1981; Galloway and Hobday, 1983; McCabe, 1984, 1987), and have
become staples of sedimentary geology text books. Two additional
examples are highlighted in the following section from the Illinois
Basin.
2.2.1. Paleochannels
In many coal basins, mine maps and exploration borehole data
have been used for mapping the positions of paleochannels because
of their adverse effects on coal thickness and roof control in under-
ground mines (e.g., McCabe and Pascoe, 1978; Nelson, 1983). In the
Illinois Basin, channels may also be associated with low-sulfur
coals (e.g., Gluskoter and Simon, 1968). Because mines sometimes
encounter paleochannels (Fig. 4A), compilations of data from coal
mine maps (Fig. 4B) allow correlation of paleochannel systems between
mines; in some cases, for hundreds of kilometers (Fig. 4C, Beard and
Williamson, 1979; Eggert, 1984; Krausse et al., 1979; Nelson, 1983). Rec-
ognition and mapping of paleochannels and extensive fluvial sandstones
allowed for subsequent regional correlation of incised paleovalleys and
the position of lowstand sequence boundaries (Aitken and Flint, 1995;
Martino, 2004; Pashin, 2004), and has provided data for interpreting as-
pects of fluvial sedimentology, paleoslope, source areas, and paleo-
ecology, as well as changes in those characteristics through time
(e.g., Etheridge and Schumm, 1978; Gardner, 1983; Greb et al.,
2003).
2.2.2. Tidal rhythmites
Tidal facies are also among the many facies associated with coal
beds. Tidal rhythmites were initially discovered in non-coal-bearing
facies, but have perhaps been most widely recognized and researched
in Carboniferous Midcontinent and eastern U.S. coal basins. Kvale et al.
(1989) published a report on vertically-accreted rhythmites in a silt-
stone with in-situ lycopod trees above a coal bed in the Mansfield For-
mation (Fig. 2) in Orange County, Indiana (Fig. 1). The Hindostan
whetstone beds preserved daily, monthly, and yearly tidal cycle period-
icities. Soon, similar rhythmites were found throughout the coal fields in
other eastern and midcontinent Carboniferous basins preserving a host
of long- and short-term paleo-tidal periodicities (Archer, 1998; Demko
and Gastaldo, 1996; Feldman et al., 1993; Greb and Archer, 1998;
Martino and Sanderson, 1993). Aside from their possible relationships
to coal quality and mine roof heterogeneity, data from these
rhythmites helps to constrain aspects of paleogeographic reconstruc-
tions; paleoceanography including interpretations of paleo-ocean reso-
nance periods (e.g., Archer, 1996); and even the rate of the retreat of the
moon from the earth (e.g., Sonett et al., 1996).
 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32 17

Fig. 1. Pennsylvanian coal basins of eastern and central North America, highlighting some of the areas mentioned in this report. Al = Alabama, IL = Indiana, IL = Illinois, KY = Kentucky,
OH = Ohio, NS = Nova Scotia, PA = Pennsylvania, WV = West Virginia.

2.3. Stratal stacking patterns data on the manner in which facies are layered and distributed. Regional
mapping of coal resources in the early part of the twentieth century led
Aside from providing data to interpret a wide range of sedimentary to the discovery of similar vertical profiles of rock types above many of
facies, data from coal mines and mine areas have provided significant the mined Pennsylvanian coals in the Illinois Basin. Udden (1912, p. 47)

Fig. 2. Generalized stratigraphy of some of the coal basins in eastern and central North America mentioned in this report. Group names are all capitalized. Formation names are mixed case.
AL = Alabama, eKY = eastern Kentucky, ePA = eastern Pennsylvania, IL = Illinois, IN = Indiana, NS = Nova Scotia, wKY = western Kentucky, wPA = wesern Pennsylvania,
WV = West Virginia.
Modified from Greb et al. (1992, 2009). Maritimes stratigraphy from Calder (1998) and Calder et al. (2005).
18 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32

Fig. 3. Coal mining and exploration have provided data for a variety of facies analyses in coal-bearing rocks. A) Roadcut correlations in eastern Kentucky along Kentucky Highway
80 (see location in Fig. 1) and B) corresponding interpretive model of fluvial deposition.
From Horne (1979b), Figs. 13–14.

measured vertical coal-bearing sections of strata (what would now be
part of the Middle Pennsylvanian, Carbondale Formation, Fig. 2) near
Peoria, Illinois (Fig. 1), and discussed a “repetition of a sedimentary
cycle,” each representing successive stages, which he envisioned as a
series of “submergences alternating with periods during which sunken
areas were…(infilled).” In the 1930s, the lithologic successions noted by
Udden were widely mapped throughout the Illinois Basin and compari-
sons were made to other basins (Wanless, 1931; Weller, 1930, 1931).
“The word “cyclothem” [was] proposed to designate a series of beds
deposited during a single sedimentary cycle of the type that prevailed
during the Pennsylvanian Period” (Wanless and Weller, 1932). This defi-
nition (minus the temporal affinity) is similar to the modern sequence
stratigraphic definition of a parasequence. In the following years, compar-
isons of cyclothems within and between basins led to the discovery of dif-
ferent scales of variability in coal-bearing successions and different orders
of apparent cycles (e.g., Moore, 1936), as well as a variety of models to ex-
plain the variations (Fig. 5).
2.3.1. Glacio-eustacic models
Wanless and Shepard (1936, p. 1206) were the first to relate
cyclothemic deposition to the far-field influences of glacio-eustacy
(Fig. 5), sparking research and debate into the role of changing sea level
on sedimentary stacking patterns, which continues to this day. If coal-
bearing strata in the Appalachian, Illinois, and Midcontinent Basins were
the result of eustatic changes, then the non-marine to marine stratal
stacking patterns recorded in the coal measures represented repeated
transgressions and regressions from which detailed sea-level curves
could be developed (e.g., Busch and Rollins, 1984). These transgressive–
regressive sea-level curves, in combination with palynology and biostra-
tigraphy, provided powerful tools for correlating strata between basins
(e.g., Heckel, 1986, 1994) and around the globe (e.g., Ross and Ross,
1985), and ultimately to sequence stratigraphic analyses of coal-bearing
basins (Aitken and Flint, 1995; Flint et al., 1995; Gastaldo et al., 1993;
Gibling and Bird, 1994; Greb et al., 2004; Kvale et al., 2004; Martino,
1996, 2004; Pashin, 2004; Weibel, 1996). Correlations of cyclothems

Fig. 4. Coal mining and exploration has aided in the delineation of depositional facies such as paleochannels. A) Underground mine photo of sandstone (Ss) paleochannel (part of Galatia
paleochannel) cutting down through top of the Springfield coal in southern Illinois (photo courtesy of Scott Elrick). Coal thickness approximately 1.5 m. B) Map of part of the Galatia
paleochannel compiled from multiple mines in Saline County, Illinois (see location Fig. 1). C) Major paleochannels which have been mapped above the Springfield and Herrin coal
beds in the Illinois Basin compiled from mine and exploration borehole data.
Panel B is modified from Nelson (1983), with permission of the Illinois State Geological Survey. Panel C is modified from data in Hatch and Affolter (2002).
 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32
Fig. 5. Comparison of classic Illinois and Appalachian Basin cyclothems, with graphical representations of hypotheses for the formation of this cyclic stratal pattern as discussed in the text.
After data in Wanless (1939).
and sea-level curves to stage boundaries and paleontological data have
generally resulted in corroboration of cyclothem durations in the
Milankovitch glacial-eustacy band (Greb et al., 2008; Heckel, 1986;
Maynard and Leeder, 1992). Heckel (2008) noted that if Carboniferous
cyclothems are the product of Milankovitch-band eustacy, then they
also offered the promise of finely calibrating the global Carboniferous
time scale. Similar calibrations may be possible for other coal-bearing
intervals.
2.3.2. Delta lobe progradation models
Williams and Ferm (1964) used subsurface coal exploration bore-
holes and data collected from mines to challenge ideas of cyclothems
as distinct successions of beds, interpreting Appalachian cyclothemic
successions as lateral facies transitions in larger delta lobe successions
(Fig. 5). Ferm (1970) advocated delta switching and differential subsi-
dence of sediment as a primary control on the distribution of coal-
bearing successions in the Appalachian Basin (Fig. 1) and later noted
the importance of structural accommodation with sediment flux (Ferm
and Weisenfluh, 1989). The deltaic models and examples of facies derived
from them (see Section 2.2) have been used not only to explain stratal
successions in coal-bearing basins, but have also proved useful for
petroleum exploration as well as other aspects of sedimentary geology
(e.g., Horne et al., 1978, see also Section 2.2).
2.3.3. Tectonic models
In the early history of coal geology, many geologists adhered to a
diastrophic (tectonic) model for coal deposition and inferred periodic
subsidence, sometimes followed by uplift, to explain the stacking of
strata in coal-bearing successions (Lyell, 1845; Rogers, 1843;
Stevenson, 1911; White and Thiessen, 1913). Not surprisingly, this dia-
strophic subsidence model carried over into theories to explain
cyclothemic deposition (Fig. 5, Ashley, 1931; Stout, 1931; Weller,
1930). In foreland settings, increases in the number of coals, coal thick-
ness, and coal zoning have been examined as a function of tectonic ac-
commodation (Chesnut, 1996; Ferm, 1970; Horne, 1979a; Weisenfluh
and Ferm, 1984; see also Section 3). Tankard (1986) used flexural tec-
tonic models to infer episodic thrust-sheet loading and periodic foreland
bulges and accommodation to account for the alternation between
coastal-deltaic coal-bearing successions (successions of cyclothems) by
major marine zones (essentially sequence-scale stratal packages). Simi-
larly, Willard (1989) inferred that tectonic influences accounted for
much of the lateral variation in typical late middle to late Pennsylvanian
cyclothems; from marine-dominance in the U.S. Midcontinent eastward
19
into mixed dominance in the Illinois Basin, to fluvial dominance in the
Appalachian Basin (Fig. 1).
2.3.4. Climatic models
Wanless and Shepard (1936, p. 1206) related cyclothemic strata not
only to glacio-eustacy, but also to changes in climate (aridity and
humidity) related to glaciation. Paleoclimate influences on coal-
bearing strata were debated widely in the mid 1900s (e.g., Giles,
1930), but were hampered by an inaccurate understanding of ancient
paleogeography. Once paleogeographic reconstructions began to recon-
cile past positions of the coal fields, climatic influences on deposition
became more widely researched. Beerbower (1961) suggested climate
could cause changes in discharge which could result in the stacking
patterns seen in Upper Pennsylvanian and Permian cyclothems of the
Appalachians. Cecil et al. (1985) and Cecil (1990) looked at temporal
and spatial differences in sediment-stacking patterns (coals, carbonates,
redbeds), inferring climate as a primary control on sediment stacking
patterns (Fig. 5, see also Section 4).
3. Tectonics and basin analyses
3.1. Structures and structural horizons
Extensive mapping of coal beds during exploration and mining has led
to the discovery of many faults and structures, usually at the detriment of
mining. In western Kentucky and southern Illinois (Fig. 1), for example,
many faults were discovered and their trends mapped, because they
were intersected by coal mines, or large offsets in coal elevations/depths
were encountered during exploration drilling (Fig. 6A, Crider, 1914;
Henson et al., 1996; Nelson, 1981, 1983). Because successive coals are
commonly stacked in 10-m increments in the Carbondale Formation
(middle Pennsylvanian, Fig. 2) of the Illinois Basin (Fig. 1), and because
several coals have distinctive partings or roof lithologies, offsets in coal
beds discovered by exploration boreholes could be used not only to iden-
tify the faults but also to determine the amount of offset and dip of the
fault in the subsurface (Fig. 7B). This was especially true before wide-
spread oil and gas exploration, but continues to this day.
In many cases, subsurface stratigraphic tops (depths, subsea
elevations) of major coal seams have more data than other subsurface
marker horizons in coal basins, and thereby may show more subtle fea-
tures than would otherwise be detected in the subsurface. During geo-
logical mapping in western Kentucky by the U.S. Geological Survey and
Kentucky Geological Survey (1960–1978), coal beds were used as
20 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32
Fig. 6. Coal mining and exploration have provided data for structural analyses. A) Mine map from Hopkins County, Kentucky (see location Fig. 1) showing faults encountered by mining in
the Springfield coal (Carbondale Formation). B) Various types of structural information which have been determined in coal basins from coal mine data as discussed in the text.
structural horizons on 168 7.5-minute geologic quadrangle maps. In
western Kentucky, one coal bed, the Springfield (Western Kentucky
No. 9) coal of the Carbondale Formation (Fig. 2), was used as the primary
structure horizon on 47 quadrangle maps.
3.2. Fault movement, structural controls on sedimentation
Differences in the thickness of coal beds, the number of benches of
beds in a seam, the number of beds in a zone, and the overall distribu-
tion of beds, benches, and zones relative to known local and regional
structures have been used to infer not only the position of structures,
but also the relative timing of movement along faults (Fig. 6B) and
other structures (Chesnut, 1994; Ferm and Horne, 1979; Gastaldo et al.,
2004; Henson et al., 1996; Horne, 1979a; Pashin, 1994a,1994b). Thick-
ness changes in coal beds across faults can be used to detect even rela-
tively small-scale movements along faults (Broadhurst and France,
1986; Greb et al., 1999, 2002; Weisenfluh and Ferm, 1984).
3.3. Subsidence rates
Correlations of coal beds create data sets of relatively high-temporal
fidelity. If coal beds can be correlated to Milankovitch-band eccentricity
cycles, or if palynological and megafossil correlations of coal-bearing
Fig. 7. Changes in carbon ratios, and later vitrinite reflectance, at the surface and with depth
have been used to interpret varied aspects of basin history as discussed in the text.
strata can be tied to known stage boundaries and their ages than qualita-
tive assessments of differential subsidence can be interpreted. Qualitative
assessments of subsidence have been interpreted in many coal basins
(e.g., Ferm and Cavaroc, 1969) and, in some cases, between basins,
which provides information on larger scale tectonic accommodation
and regional or temporal changes in accommodation (e.g., Greb et al.,
2003). Quantitative estimates using back-stripping methods have also
been done (Klein, 1993; Klein and Kupperman, 1992; Pashin, 2004;
Willard and Klein, 1990). In coal-bearing rocks this can be done at
fourth- or fifth-order cycle or stage intervals, rather than the broader for-
mation or system-scale intervals often used in basin analyses.
3.4. Rank, burial depth, geothermal gradients, and heat flow
In 1836, Hildreth and Morton (p. 125), having noted changes in coal
characteristics across the Ohio River Valley of the Appalachian Basin,
wrote; “After the vegetable materials which form the coal beds, were de-
posited or buried under the superincumbent strata, it would seem that
a strong degree of heat had been applied, in addition to the pressure,
before they could assume their present bituminous appearance.” In
1841, Mathew Lea published one of the first forms of proximate analyses
using chemistry in the United States from coal samples collected in the
Southern Anthracite Field of Pennsylvania (Hower, 1999; Lea, 1841; see
location Fig. 1). Two years later, with additional data, Henry Rogers, the
state geologist of Pennsylvania, noted that coal rank increased eastward
across Pennsylvania from the bituminous coal fields of what would now
be called the Northern Appalachian Basin to the anthracite fields (Rogers,
1843); “There prevails a very interesting law of gradation, in the quantity
of volatile matter belonging to the coal as we cross the Appalachian
basins from the southeast towards the northwest (Rogers, 1851, p. 22).”
Increased coal rank appeared to be correlated to the amount of folding
and deformation in the host strata (although other mechanisms were
subsequently inferred). Because large amounts of chemical data were col-
lected on several of the principal mined seams, Rogers could “…trace the
very same coal-seam, through its various degree of bituminization (p.
24),” and infer “that the phenomena are truly those of baking and meta-
morphism of all the strata by an intense and pervading heat (p. 28).”
Lesley (1879) agreed with the finding of Rogers, but hypothesized
that the change from bituminous coals eastward into anthracite coals
in Pennsylvania could not be explained simply by analyzing proximate
analyses of coals at the surface, but that “an increment in the carbon
ratio due to depth of the coal beneath the surface [was needed] (p.
155).” Hilt (1873) had noted this same rank increase with depth six
years earlier in Germany. Lesley, however, also noted that “no informa-
tion respecting the amount of still higher, once existing, but now eroded
[coal] measures [remains]…although we can tell, the amount may
have been considerable…(p. 155). Although there was considerable de-
bate concerning the cause of rank changes in the eastern coal fields
(Hower, 1997; Stevenson, 1893, 1911; White and Thiessen, 1913), this
early research effectively set the stage for questions and studies of burial
diagenesis.
 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32 21

Seventy years later, advances in coal petrography, led to the use of

vitrinite reflectance for quantifying the types of metamorphism and
inferred burial depths that had been hypothesized earlier (see summaries
in Hower et al., 1993; Teichmüller, 1987). In the Appalachians, for exam-
ple (Fig. 7), vitrinite reflectance in combination with other coal chemistry
data, structural and mineralogic data, has been used to interpret (1)
paleogeothermal gradients and original burial depths of Paleozoic strata
beneath thick sedimentary cover (Hower and Davis, 1981); (2) deep
burial by tectonically emplaced crustal blocks (Levine, 1986); (3) isostatic
unroofing of crustal blocks (Friedman, 1987); (4) elevated heat flow from
deep-seated basaltic intrusions (Hower, 1978); (5) migration of hydro-
thermal fluids during orogenesis (Daniels et al., 1990), (6) migration of
hydrothermal fluids along deep basement structures (Ruppert et al.,
2010); (7) differentiation of discrete burial and hydrothermal metamor-
phic events (Chyi et al., 1987); (8) basin subsidence rates (Zhang and
Davis, 1993); (9) timing of fold-generated metamorphism in different
parts of the coal field (Levine and Davis, 1989), and (10) even possible
metamorphosis by meteor impact (Hower et al., 2009). Coal samples
from the Appalachian and Illinois Basins have also been used to infer
the temperatures of intruded dikes in contact with the coals
(Clegg, 1955; Sosman, 1938; Stewart et al., 2005).

3.5. Source rock maturation and hydrocarbon distribution

In 1915, David White, a coal geologist from the U.S. Geological Survey,
building upon the earlier work of Rogers, compared the position of coal
fields and percent fixed carbon from coal beds across the eastern and
central United States with major tectonic structures and the position
and grade of oil from oil fields and gas pools known at the time
(Fig. 8). White noted that coal's “sensitivity to dynamic action, makes it
possible, through the changes in the fuel, to recognize this action in re-
gions where other indications are obscure and difficult to see (p. 197).”
He considered the alteration of coal a dynamo-chemical process and hy-
pothesized that the eastward change in fixed carbon percentage in
Pennsylvania (PA in Fig. 8) was a result of tectonic processes. By com-
paring trends in oil gravity he also noted “that the oils found in the re-
gions of higher alteration of the carbonaceous deposits are in general
higher rank, than are those in regions of lower alteration, but also that
in a single region the rank of oil increases, pari passu, in the same direc-
tion as does the alteration of the carbonaceous deposits (p. 207).”
Hence, oil generation was influenced by the same processes as coal
alteration; laterally, at the surface, and with depth. He then com-
pared the occurrences of known oil and gas fields with carbon isovols
in coal and found that in “regions where the progressive devolitization
of the organic deposits in any formation has passed a certain point,
marked in most provinces by 65 to 70% of fixed carbon (pure coal
basis) in the associated or overlying coals, commercial oil pools are
not present…though commercial gas pools may occur in a border
zone of higher carbonization (p. 212).” In essence, White (1915, 1935)
used coal data to define what would ultimately be called the oil and
gas window.
Quantification of deeper, carbonaceous material was also ultimately
aided by advances in coal petrography (see summaries in Burgess,
1975; Stach et al., 1982; Taylor et al., 1998; Teichmüller, 1987). Coal
petrographers found that vitrain in coal and in vitrainous non-coal
material in sedimentary rocks showed systematic changes relative to
basin shape and increasing metamorphism (e.g., Huntjens and van
Krevelen, 1954; Seyler, 1943). Thus, vitrinite reflectance became one
of the most useful methods for determining source-rock maturation in
sedimentary basins (Hacquebard and Donaldson, 1970; Lopatin, 1971;
Tissot and Welte, 1978; Wapples, 1980), and for determining the
upper and lower thermal limits for peak oil, wet gas, and dry gas gen-
eration (e.g., Taylor et al., 1998). Vitrinite reflectance has also been a
critical tool for understanding maturation in gas shales (Cardott and
Lambert, 1985; Jarvie et al., 2005; Streib, 1981).
Fig. 8. Map comparing fixed carbon percentage in coal beds with oil gravity in the eastern
United States in 1915 (not showing oil and gas fields). CAB = Central Appalachian Basin,
BW = Black Warrior Basin, IB = Illinois Basin, NAB = Northern Appalachian Basin,
PA = Pennsylvania. The Appalachian mountain chain borders the eastern side of the
Appalachian Basin.
Modified from White (1915).
4. Paleoclimates and paleogeography
Because mineable coals form from thick peats and thick peats re-
quire positive net moisture (evapotranspiration) to accumulate, coals
are, at least, qualitative paleoclimate indicators and can be used to con-
strain ancient paleoclimates and paleogeography at a variety of scales.
Early paleobotanical studies in coal measures of Europe and eastern
North America, noted the abundance of plant fossils and large preserved
trees, which were often inferred to indicate lush vegetation and wet
climates. Holland (1835), for example, wrote “…at the period when
these plants flourished, the climate where they are now found, must
to say nothing of other conditions, at least have been much hotter and
moister than at present.” Hildreth and Morton (1836, p. 124) wrote
concerning Carboniferous plant fossils from the Appalachian Basin;
“The climate, at that period, must have been both more warm and
more humid than at present, as many of the plants are of those families
which now grow only in tropical climates….” Early attempts at rec-
onciling paleoflora (much of it collected from coal-bearing strata) and
paleoclimate were hampered by trying to fit them to their modern con-
tinental positions (Parrish and Barron, 1986). This would take a long
time to reconcile.
Suess (1885–1889) noted the distribution of Permian Glossopteris in
Africa, India, and South America, and inferred that a land bridge had
once connected these distant areas, called Gondwana Land. Many of the
Glossopteris fossils were found in association with coal beds (e.g., Hislop,
22 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32
1861). Wegener (1912, 1924) also used coal data in his theory of conti-
nental drift. He commented on coals in northern Europe, Iceland, and
Greenland, which “occur in similar manner between two basaltic flows,
whereby a former land connection has been concluded (Wegener,
1929 [1966], p. 57).” He pointed to the apparent connection of the
Appalachian–Hercynian fold belt between North America and Europe
“which make the coal deposits of North America appear as the direct
continuation of the European (Wegener, 1929 [1966], p. 53). He noted
that the only way the distribution of Euramerican coals and their trop-
ical flora made sense (Fig. 9), was if the continents and continental
positions relative to the equator were different than today. “…if drift
theory is ignored, the present-day position of this [Euramerican coal]
belt leads to contradictions” (Wegener, 1929 [1966]), p. 142).
As plate tectonics took hold in the 1960s and 1970s, apparent discrep-
ancies between Carboniferous wet-tropical coal belts in Euramerica and
Permian cool-temperate coal belts in Gondwana began to be reconciled.
Widespread Paleozoic and Mesozoic coal belts now fit into latitudinal-
constrained climate belts similar to the distribution of modern thick
peats (e.g., Briden and Irving, 1964). With paleogeographic constraints
in place, coal distribution became widely used as an indicator of wet
(cool or tropical) paleoclimates (e.g., McKerrow and Scotese, 1990;
Ziegler et al., 1979, 1987), and was used to test a variety of regional
paleoclimate interpretations and models (Cecil et al., 2003; Parrish and
Barron, 1986; Parrish et al., 1982; Ziegler et al., 1987).
The importance of coal-derived data to paleoclimate interpretations
can also be seen in the construction of paleoclimate curves (Fig. 10).
Phillips et al (1985) used changes in Pennsylvanian coal and coal-ball
constituents (shoot:root ratios, fusain percentage, and wood/periderm
ratios) in the Illinois Basin to infer regional climate changes (as a relative
wetness curve) through time. Donaldson et al. (1985) used lithologic
indicators (coals, red beds, flint clays, limestones) to develop a slightly
more undulatory (relative to time) climate curve for the Appalachian
Basin. Cecil et al. (1985) expanded paleoclimate investigations in the
Carboniferous, using a wide range of lithologic and geochemical data
from the Appalachian coal fields to infer temporal and spatial variation
in paleoclimate (Cecil et al., 2003), including short-term variations at
the “cyclothem” level superimposed on larger paleoclimate trends
(Fig. 10, Cecil, 1990).
Aside from regional and stage-to-period scale temporal climate
analyses, data from coals have sparked a wide range of paleoclimate hy-
potheses at the bed scale. Esterle and Ferm (1986) and Esterle et al.
(1989) looked at changing coal quality as a function of tropical peats
domes (ombrogenous vs. topogenous peats) and, thereby, annual rain
fall for Central Appalachian coal beds. Eble and Grady (1990, 1993)
added a spore component to these bed-scale interpretations, which
Fig. 9. Wegener used coal data as part of the data set he used to reconstruct Carboniferous and Permian “drifting” continents.
Modified from Wegener (1924), Fig. 17.
allowed stratigraphic comparisons to determine temporal ranges of
ombrogenous peats. Soon many researchers were examining low-ash
coals as indicators of tropical climates. As such, vertical and lateral
changes in palynomorphs, petrography, ash yield, and sulfur content
became indicators for changes in paleoclimate and paleo-water level
at bed or bench scale within individual coal beds or between beds in a
formation.
5. Paleontology and paleoecology
The disturbance of rock strata during mining provides large amounts
of rock for paleontological analyses. Not surprisingly, a wealth of paleon-
tological information has been made available through mining, mine ex-
ploration, and infrastructure development. The most significant finds
have been made in paleobotany and palynology, which is not surprising
as coal is an accumulation of botanical debris, but important discoveries
have also been made in invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology.
5.1. Paleobotany
The origins of paleobotany are firmly “rooted” in Carboniferous plant
fossils found in the coal mines of Europe (see reviews in Andrews, 1980;
Cleal et al., 2005; Clement-Westerhof, 1971). Early works by Schlotheim
(1804), Steinhauer (1818), Sternberg (1820–1838), and Brongniart
(1821, 1837) contained many fossils from coal mines, which laid the
groundwork for describing and classifying plant fossils. The differences
between the fossils and modern flora intrigued scientists and led to
questions about the world before the present; “That they are the growth
and deposit of remote periods of time, is inferred from the specific differ-
ence of many of the fossil plants, in different beds, compared with those of
modern times… (Hildreth and Morton, 1836, p. 60)”, and; “The study of
fossils in particular carries back our thoughts to a time when…land and
sea, mountains and valleys, rivers and plains, continents and oceans,
must have been arranged in a way entirely different from what we now
behold (Whitham, 1833, p. 4).”
In eastern North America, some of the first reported plant fossils
were from coal mines in the Appalachians (Bunbary, 1847; Hildreth,
1827; Hildreth and Morton, 1836; Lesquereux, 1858, 1879–1884;
Taylor, 1845) and, of course, the in situ forests of Joggins (Brown,
1848; Dawson, 1854). Concerning Joggins (Figs. 1–2), Sir Charles Lyell,
wrote, “…if I could verify the accounts of…the superposition of so
many different tiers of trees, each representing forests which grew in
succession on the same area, one above the other; and if I could prove
at the same time their connexion with seams of coal, it would go farther
than any facts yet recorded to confirm the theory that coal in general is
 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32
Fig. 10. A wide range of lithologic, paleontologic, and geochemical data have been collected in coal mining areas which has been used to interpret changing paleoclimate, as shown here for
the Pennsylvanian of the northern Appalachian and Illinois Basins.
derived from vegetables produced on the spots where the carbonaceous
matter is now stored up in the earth (Lyell, 1845, p.149–150).” Lyell
(1845, 1854) and Lyell and Dawson (1853) were able to show that
Stigmaria found in underclays of coal beds, were also found as roots of
in situ lycopod trees (Fig. 11A), and hence, coal was formed in place
from accumulated peat rather than transported as organic particles.
Abundant plant fossils found in the coal measures ultimately allowed
reconstructions of the whole plants from which they were derived
(Fig. 11B).
Lyell also noted that “among the plants occurring usually in the shaly
roof or ceiling of the coal [from Pennsylvania and Joggins], are many
identical with European species… (Lyell, 1845, p. 19).” Similar findings
were made by other paleontologists. In 1879–1884, Lesqueruex summa-
rized the plant fossils reported from mining areas in several American
coal basins (Fig. 12), and like Lyell, could show that many were similar
(and, in many cases, the same), as their European counterparts. The sim-
ilarities were “sufficient to prove a most intimate correlation of the floras
of both continents at the Carboniferous age (Lesquereux, 1879, p. 666).”
White (1909) made direct stage-by-stage comparisons of global Carbon-
iferous flora providing the foundation for global megafloral correlations.
These reports led to the realization that the two areas represented a single
phytogeographic province and provided data for future paleogeographic
and paleoclimatic reconstructions (see Section 5), as well as providing
data for biostratigraphic zonation (e.g., Read and Mamay, 1964;
Wagner, 1984).
5.2. Palynology
The study of palynology and pre-Quaternary stratigraphy benefited
greatly from coal data. Numerous studies have reviewed the history of
palynology (e.g., Chaloner, 1968; Cross, 1964; Jansonius and McGregor,
1996), which began as the study of Pleistocene spores and pollen in
buried peats and marshes, but subsequently spilled over into strata
representing lithified peats and marshes. Many of the first pre-
Quaternary spores identified were from Carboniferous coals in England
(e.g., Whitham, 1833). As more palynomorphs were identified and data
were collected on changes in palynomorphs through time, palynomorphs
became useful indicators of age and relative stratigraphic position. Bennie
and Kidston (1886) found different spores in different coals in England.
Thiessen and Staud (1923) found that several coals in Pennsylvania
(Northern Appalachian Basin) could be distinguished based on spores
23
seen in thin sections. By the mid-1900s, large oil companies began
to use palynomorphs for biostratigraphy in non-marine strata, moving
beyond coals to source-rock shales (Chaloner, 1968; Cross, 1964).
Palynomorphs continue to be useful for biostratigraphy in non-marine
strata (Kosanke, 1984; Peppers, 1996; Smith and Butterworth, 1967).
Because individual coal beds are well-correlated and palynologically
constrained, paleontological data gathered within and between beds
can be used for a broad range of relatively high-frequency temporal
and spatial analyses in stratigraphy, tectonics, paleoecology, paleocli-
matology, and paleogeography (as discussed in some of the other
sections). It can also be used for a variety of paleobiological analyses.
For example, examination of overall trends in paleobotany from
Pennsylvanian coal-bearing strata has resulted in identification of
various temporal and spatial scales of faunal turnover, migration, and
evolution, which can be related to paleoclimate and other factors
because of the high-resolution of the data collected (e.g., DiMichele
et al., 2001, 2004; Phillips et al., 1974).
5.3. Invertebrate paleontology
Mining areas have also contributed greatly to our knowledge of
invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology. Many coals in eastern and
midcontinent North America, for example, are overlain by marine and
estuarine roof shales. In 1845, Lyell wrote, “When we have once em-
braced the doctrine of the origin of pure coal from terrestrial plants,
which grew like peat in the spots where we find them, the contact of
an incumbent regular bed of black bituminous slate…abounding in sea
shells perfectly preserved, is highly interesting (Lyell, 1845, p. 15).”
Finding abundant brachiopods, molluscs, and other marine fauna
above coals led to the realization of repeated submersion of coals by
marine conditions, which led to the concept of Carboniferous coals as
coastal deposits, the identification of multiple marine transgressions
and flooding surfaces, a better understanding of Carboniferous deposi-
tional systems, and a better understanding of invertebrate evolution
and paleoecology. Significantly, marine fauna from the coal measures,
such as goniates and conodonts, have also provided important biostrat-
igraphic tools for global correlations.
A good example of coal mining's contribution to the study of inver-
tebrate paleontology are the fossils found in the Middle Pennsylvanian
Mazon Creek fauna (Fig. 13A–F) of the Illinois Basin (Baird et al., 1986;
Johnson and Richardson, 1966; Nitecki, 1979; Shabica and Hay, 1997;
24 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32
Fig. 11. Plant fossils are common in coal-bearing strata. A. Coal was interpreted as depos-
ited in place when Stigmaria roots were found attached to Sigillaria tree stumps. B. Whole
plant reconstruction of Sigillaria tree based on corresponding fossils.
Panel A is from Lyell (1854), Fig. 481; which is from Brown (1848), Fig. 2. Panel B is from
Dawson (1868), Fig. 161.
see location Fig. 1). Mazon Creek fossils were first discovered in stream
banks and spoil piles of small mines in the mid-1800s. Large-scale surface
mining in the 1950s through 1970s resulted in the removal of vast areas
of overburden, resulting in a plethora of fossils in coal refuse piles. Fossils
occur in siderite concretions of the Francis Creek Shale, which immedi-
ately overlies the Colchester Coal (Middle Pennsylvanian), Carbondale
Formation (Fig. 2). More than 320 invertebrate species have been re-
ported from the Mazon Creek area, as well as more than 350 plant spe-
cies and at least 45 vertebrate species (Shabica and Hay, 1997).
Significantly, the concretions sometimes include soft-part preservation
of invertebrate organisms including jellyfish, polychaetes, non-annelid
worms, hemichordates, cephalopods with tentacles, and terrestrial and
aquatic arthropods (including insects), as well as fish and tetrapods.
Fig. 12. Illustration of the coal measure fern, Pecopteris vestita.
From Lesqueruex (1879), plate XLIII, no. 4.
Another important element of the Mazon Creek invertebrate fauna
are insects (Fig. 13D). More than 150 species have been reported,
making this one of the most important localities for Paleozoic insect
fauna in the world (Shear and Kukalová-Peck, 1990). Insects, especially
giant insects, are common elements of Carboniferous dioramas and
illustrations (Fig. 14A). The giant, dragon-fly like Meganeura monyi,
which had a wingspan of 63 cm was first discovered in coal mines
near Commentry, France (Brongniart, 1885). Large mayflies have been
found in the Mazon Creek fauna, Illinois (Fig. 14A, Carpenter, 1960).
Another giant arthropod from the Carboniferous coal measures is
Arthropleura (Jordan and Meyer, 1856). Arthropleura may have reached
lengths of nearly 2 m (Fig. 14A–B), making it the largest land arthropod
of all time (Ferguson, 1966; Martino and Greb, 2009; Shear and
Kukalová-Peck, 1990).
The gigantic size of many of the Carboniferous arthropods has histor-
ically been the cause of great curiosity and has long sparked debate about
styles of evolution and possible relationships to paleoclimate (e.g., Giles,
1930). Recent research from these coalfield giants has been used to sup-
port estimates of higher atmospheric oxygen levels (as much as 35%)
during the Carboniferous than today (21% today) (Fig. 14C; Berner,
2006, 2009; Berner et al., 2003; Dudley, 1998; Graham et al., 1995).
5.4. Vertebrate paleontology
The number of aquatic and terrestrial vertebrate fossils that have
been discovered in mine roofs and talus from coal mines around the
world has also been significant (e.g., Cope, 1875; Moodie, 1916), but
perhaps the most significant contributions have been in the recovery
of Carboniferous tetrapod fossils. Milner (1987) summarized the diver-
sity of early tetrapod fossils from the Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian
(Westphalian A–D) in the British Isles, Czechoslovakia (Nýřanny and
Třmošná), Germany (Saarbrücken), and eastern North America. Many
of the fossils were found in coal mines. By the mid-1800s, only two tet-
rapod fossils had been discovered, and both were from coal fields in
Europe (Goldfuss, 1847; Meyer, 1844). In 1851, the first tetrapod fossil
from North America, the skull of Baphetes pedestris, was found by
Sir William Dawson. The fossil was found in a coal mine refuse pile in
 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32 25

Fig. 13. Invertebrates in the Francis Creek Shale, Carbondale Formation, from the Mazon Creek area, Illinois Basin (see location in Fig. 1). The Essex fauna at Mazon Creek contains recog-
nizable marine invertebrates such as A) shrimp-like crustaceans, Acanthotelson stimpsoni (FMNH 38140), but also; B) unusual soft-bodied creatures such as Tullimonstrum gregarium
(FMNH PE22106), and even C) jellyfish, cf. Essexella sp. The Braidwood fauna contains oligohaline to freshwater fauna including D) insects like Eubleptus danielsi (FMNH PE40223), E),
millipedes like Myriacanthepestes (FMNH 31904), and F) horseshoe crabs like Euproops danae (FMNH PE30499).
All specimens, except for B, from the Field Museum of Natural History collections. The Tullymonstrum image is used courtesy of the Illinois State Museum collection.

Nova Scotia, and likely came from the Joggins Formation (Fig. 2, Lyell
and Dawson, 1853; Owen, 1853). Dawson originally thought the fossil
was a fish, but two years later it was determined to be a labyrinthodont
reptile (now considered a baphetid tetrapod, rather than a reptile). In
1852, Lyell and Dawson were investigating the in situ trees at “Coal
Point” at Joggins, Nova Scotia (see location Fig. 1), for the purpose of
determining “the relation of Stigmaria, as a root, to Sigillaria [a tree]”
(1853, p. 58, see also Fig. 11). They were trying to prove that Stigmaria
were roots and that coals were deposited by the accumulation of peat
in situ, rather than as accumulations of organic debris by floods. More
significant than that hypothesis, however, was the discovery of a prim-
itive temnospondyl tetrapod, Dendrerpeton, inside one of the fossil trees
(Fig. 15A–B). Several years later, Dawson returned to Coal Point “princi-
pally with the view of collecting material for the further prosecution of
[his] researches on the structure of coal…[and] found, still in situ in the
ledge at the base of the cliff, the lower part of an erect [fossil tree]

Fig. 14. Several species of arthropods grew to giant size during the Pennsylvanian Period based on fossils from coal-bearing strata. A) Relative size of Pennsylvanian giant arthropods and
the largest modern arthropods with similar body plans (although not directly related). B) Reconstruction of Arthropleura in a Carboniferous swamp. C) Interpreted oxygen content (%O2) in
the atmosphere through time (in millions of years before the present) showing position (green arrow) of the Pennsylvanian giant arthropods.
Data is from Berner (2006, 2009).
26 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32

trunk…much more richly stored with animal remains… (Dawson, 1860,
p. 269).” Included in the remains was the oldest reptile fossil ever dis-
covered, Hylonomus lyelli (Fig. 15C–F). More than 100 tetrapod skeletons
(as well as 215 species of plants, invertebrates and vertebrates) were
ultimately discovered at Joggins (Calder, 2012).
Three other eastern North American coal mining areas were
significant vertebrate localities in the mid- and late-1800s; the
previously-mentioned Mazon Creek area (upper Middle Pennsylvanian,
Carbondale Formation) of Illinois (Cope, 1875; Moodie, 1916; Newberry
and Worthen, 1866), and Middle Pennsylvanian strata near Cannelton,
Pennsylvanian and Linton, Ohio (see locations Fig. 1). During the
mid-1800s, the Ohio No. 6 (Upper Freeport) coal (upper Middle
Pennsylvanian), Allegheny Formation (Fig. 2), was mined near the
town of Linton (Fig. 1). The floor of the seam in some areas was a
cannel coal, deposited in an abandoned oxbow (Hook and Baird,
1986; Hook and Ferm, 1985). Numerous fossil fish and tetrapods
(Fig. 16A–C) were found in the mine and refuse piles of the mine in
the mid-1800s (Cope, 1875; Moodie, 1916; Newberry, 1889; Wyman,
1857). In all, more than 7000 vertebrate specimens, representing at
least 23 genera of amphibian, 10 genera of fish, and three genera of rep-
tiles were recorded (Hook and Baird, 1986). “In the Linton cannel are
buried fragments of entire individuals of all the inhabitants of this body
of water which had hard parts, bones, scales, spines, or teeth capable of
preservation. Hence we get a complete picture of the life of the Carbon-
iferous age, and we find it unexpectedly rich and varied (Newberry,
1889, p. 212).”
The tetrapod fossils collected during the mid- and late-1800s from the
Carboniferous of Europe, Nova Scotia, Ohio, and Illinois (among others)
were important for expanding scientists conceptual ideas of 1) prehistoric
amphibians and reptiles, 2) the great diversity and radiation of tetrapods
during the Carboniferous, and 3) vertebrate terrestrialization among the
tetrapods.
Much larger vertebrate fossils have also been found as a result of
coal mining. In 1878, miners encountered the skeletons of at least 39
Iguanodon skeletons in a clay-filled fissure in a deep mine of the
Luronne seam (Cretaceous), Belgium (Fig. 17, Moseley, 1883). These
were the first complete dinosaur skeletons ever found and the first
evidence that dinosaurs traveled in groups, or herds (Norman, 1980).
Partial skeletons of Iguanodon had been discovered previously, but the
whole skeletons found in the Luronne seam helped scientists correctly
fit the previously-found remains into a whole skeleton. Iguanodon's
reconstruction has changed through the years with new finds and
new understanding of what dinosaur's looked like, but the fossils from
the Luronne seam have continued to provide details and insight into
the lives of these fascinating creatures.
5.5. Ichnology
A variety of invertebrate tracks, trails, and burrows have been found
in coal basins around the world (e.g., Pollard, 1988). Invertebrate tracks
and trails were identified from coal-mining areas in England, and east-
ern Canada by the mid-1800s (Binney, 1852; Dawson, 1868). In eastern
North America, diverse invertebrate ichnotaxa have been recorded in
the Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian coal-bearing strata of the Illinois
Basin (e.g., Archer and Maples, 1984), central Appalachian Basin
(e.g., Miller and Knox, 1985), and Midcontinent (Western Interior)
Basin (e.g., Hakes, 1985). These invertebrate traces have provided
critical data for the interpretation of depositional environments, paleo-
salinities, and paleobathymetries of the rocks in which they occur, espe-
cially in strata where body fossils are scarce to absent.
Vertebrate tracks have also been found in association with mined
strata. Exceptional tetrapod trackways have been found in the Lower
Pennsylvanian (Langsettian) coal-bearing strata at Joggins, Nova Scotia
(e.g., Calder, 1998, Fig. 1) and the Union Chapel mine, Pottsville

Fig. 15. Tetrapods in coal-bearing rocks. Fossils from Joggins, Nova Scotia: A) Wood cut illustration of coal bed and in situ lycopod trunk from which remains of the tetrapod Dendrerpreton
were discovered. Bar scale = 1 cm. B) Dendrerpeton skull from Joggins, Nova Scotia. C) Hylonomus fossil, the oldest known reptile, also collected from an in situ lycopod trunk at Joggins,
and D) with bones highlighted. Bar scale = 1 cm. E) Reconstruction of Hylonomus from Lyell. F) Painting of Hylonomus trapped in lycopod stump during a Carboniferous fire. Evidence
from the fossil tree trunks suggests they were charred before burial.
Panel A is from Dawson (1868), Fig. 34. Panel B courtesy of Atlantic Geoscience Society. Panel C courtesy of John Calder. Panel D is modified from Moodie (1916), plate 9, with permission of
the Carnegie Institute. Panel E courtesy of John Calder.
 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32 27

Fig. 16. Vertebrates from coal mines near Linton, Ohio (see location Fig. 1). A) Fish such as Eurylepis tuberculatus are common, but tetrapods were also uncovered, including B) Diceratosaurus
punctolineatus and C) Pelion lyelli. Bar scales = 1 cm.
Panel A is from Newberry (1873), v. 1, plate 38. Panel B is from Moodie (1916), plate 15. Panel C is from Newberry (1875), v. 2, plate 26.

Formation of the Black Warrior Basin (e.g., Buta et al., 2005, see location
Fig. 1), among others. These taxa provide evidence of vertebrates in the
absence of body fossils, as well as for the early diversification of tetra-
pods in the Carboniferous. In Upper Cretaceous coal mines of Utah and
Colorado (e.g., Parker and Balsley, 1989), as well as in other mine
areas around the world (McCrea and Currie, 1998), trackways have
also been found of dinosaurs. Dinosaur trackways provide data which
can help identify the type of dinosaurs living in the area following coal
(peat) accumulation, as well as aspects of dinosaur locomotion and
herding behavior (e.g., Lockley et al., 1983).
5.6. Extinctions
Because paleontological data compiled from mining areas provides
information on floral and faunal changes through time, it has also con-
tributed to our understanding of past extinction events. “Any change,
therefore, in the climatic, terrestrial, or water conditions of its environ-
ment, directly affects the plant and causes morphological changes to a
greater or less degree, the greater plant variations corresponding usually
to the greater environmental changes. The great floral revolutions of
geologic history are connected with the great diastrophic movements
(White, 1909, p. 320).”
Several Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–P) coal beds directly overlie or
contain layers with high concentrations of iridium, which is thought
to represent the fallout from a catastrophic meteor or comet impact.
Sanidines from tonsteins within coal beds of the Hell Creek Formation,
Montana, at the K–P boundary have recently been used to confirm the
synchronity of the impact with the K–P extinctions (Renne et al.,
2013). Because coal beds represent slowly-deposited, but relatively
short-term geologic deposits, petrographic analyses of coal beds and
overburden containing the iridium anomaly can provide a very detailed
temporal and spatial record of the immediate, short-term effects of the
impact, interpreted to include global deforestation and wildfires, fungal
increases corresponding to the die off of photosynthetic vegetation, and
a “fern spike” recovery after the extinction event (Sweet, 2001; Tschudy
et al., 1984; Vajda et al., 2001). Stomatal indices from leaf cuticles in coal
beds across the K–P boundary have also been used to help support nu-
merical simulations of sudden atmospheric CO2 increases resulting from
the impact (Beerling et al., 2002).
The extinction of coal-forming swamp flora at the end of the Permian
has been used to explain the lack of Early Triassic coals (a “coal gap”)
worldwide (Retallack et al., 1996). Igneous intrusions into coal beds
during Deccan traps volcanism at the end of the Permian, may also
have caused significant methane outbursts which could have contribut-
ed to the carbon isotope excursion at the end of the Permian and the
mass extinction (Retallack and Jahren (2008).
Many smaller scale, but still major extinctions in the geologic past
have also been examined using coal data. In the Middle to Late Pennsylva-
nian (Westphalian to Stephanian) transition (Fig. 2), for example, palyno-
logic and megaflora data from Euramerican coal fields record a dramatic
extinction of the lycopod-dominant wetland flora. Analyses provides
evidence of the duration of the change, nature of the extinction, and dy-
namics of floral recovery in wetland ecosystems (e.g., DiMichele and
Phillips, 1996), and provides useful data for understanding potential in-
fluences of climate and other factors on vegetation at different temporal
scales.
6. Biogeochemical cycles through time
Worldwide mapping and estimation of coal resources has been part
of the data used to estimate the total carbon in the Earth's crust today
(e.g. Hunt, 1972). These same data have been used for mathematical

Fig. 17. Dinosaurs from a coal mine at Bernissart, Belgium. A) Illustration of one of the 29 Iguanodon bernissart skeletons uncovered from a coal mine. Drawing by G. Lavalette (1883). B)
Painting of the initial construction of one of the skeletons and mounted skeleton in the Institut Royal Muséum des Sciences naturelles de Belgique. C) Illustration of Iguanodon herd in a
Cretaceous swamp.
Panel B images courtesy of the Institut Royal Muséum des Sciences naturelles de Belgique. Panel C is from Greb et al. (2006), Fig. 17.
28 S.F. Greb / International Journal of Coal Geology 118 (2013) 15–32
models of atmospheric oxygen and carbon through time and for sensi-
tivity studies of those models (e.g., Berner and Canfield, 1989). Times
of widespread coal distribution have been tied to periods of increased
terrestrial carbon sinks (Spicer, 1993) and changes to the global carbon
cycle and climate (Beerling and Woodward, 2001; Gastaldo et al., 1996).
The absence of widespread coals in time, inversely, has also influenced
the terrestrial carbon cycle and, likely, global climate (Kidder and
Worsley, 2004; Retallack et al, 1996). Similarly, fusinites and semifusinites
in coals and in non-coal-bearing strata, have been used to reconstruct the
history of fires (e.g., Scott, 2000), which have been used to test models of
Phanerozoic atmospheric oxygen concentrations (e.g., Robinson, 1991).
Paleobotanical data collected from Carboniferous coal fields, provides
some of the best analogs for calibrating potential future vegetational
change related to modern increasing atmospheric CO2 and climate
change, caused in part by the fuel that was mined (Cleal and Thomas,
2005; DiMichele et al, 2001; Gastaldo et al., 1996).
7. Conclusions
This review was not meant to be comprehensive, but rather to dem-
onstrate some of the ways coal data have been used in ways which were
not directly tied to economic benefits of the resource or its byproducts.
The review concentrates on examples from coal fields of eastern North
America, but similar examples can be found in coal fields around the
world. A review of the history of any of the afore-mentioned earth-
science disciplines shows that in many cases, coal data was used in
ways for which it was not originally gathered or discoveries were
made by accident. This underscores not only the importance of coal-
derived data, but also the importance of data integrity and preservation.
The importance of data preservation is not unique to coal geology, but in
coal mining areas, where data is generally collected for an immediate
need and data locations may be removed by the mining or reclamation
process, it is particularly important. Similarly, it is important that histori-
cal reports be scanned and archived or made accessible through databases
and the internet. This includes subsurface borehole and mine map data.
Scanning mine maps not only provides critical data for mine planning,
safety, and environmental concerns, but can also provide data for accurate
delineation of geologic structures and many other aspects of geology, as
discussed in the text.
Finally, reviewing the history of some of the afore-mentioned uses of
coal data shows that perhaps the greatest importance of coal data in the
earth sciences has been in the fostering and testing of geologic hypothe-
ses and theories, as well as fostering inter-disciplinary cooperation during
the development and testing of those ideas. Whether debating the origin
of coal, the meaning of plant fossils, regional changes in coal rank or qual-
ity, or the stratal stacking of coal, the data collected during coal explora-
tion, mining, processing, and utilization has fostered a breeding ground
for ideas that have aided our understanding of earth processes and histo-
ry and will continue to do so in the future; many times in ways that could
not have been conceived by the original collectors of the data.
Acknowledgments
I want to thank Joan Esterle for inviting me to give a talk on this sub-
ject at the International Geological Congress in Brisbane. That talk was
the basis of this manuscript. Thanks to Jim Hower and an anonymous
reviewer for their helpful reviews. Thanks to Tim Horscroft for his pa-
tience during the time it took me to get this paper completed. Thanks
to Scott Elrick and John Nelson of the Illinois State Geological Survey
for the picture of the Galatia channel sandstone; Blaine Cecil, U.S. Geo-
logical Survey, for review of paleoclimate curves; Kris Carter and John
Harper of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey for loaning me a copy of
Lesquereux's coal flora book; Scott Lidgard and Paul Mayer of the Field
Museum of Natural History for supplying me with scanned images of
Mazon Creek fossils and for help during my visit in gathering samples
for photographing; Jeff Saunders and Chris Widga from the Illinois
State Museum for supplying an image of a Mazon Creek tully monster;
John Calder of the Nova Scotia Geological Survey for the image of the
Hylonomus fossil, Dawson's reconstructions of Hylonomus, and review
of Nova Scotia stratigraphic column; Graham Williams and the Atlantic
Geoscience Society for the Denderpreton skull image; Mike Solis of the
Ohio Geological Survey for supplying scanned images of plates
from Newberry's fish and amphibian fossils from Linton, Ohio; and
Donatienne Boland, Belgium Museum of Natural Science, for images of
the Bernissart dinosaurs. My sincere thanks for all of your contributions.
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