The author presents examples of coal deposits two different continents: from the European Carboniferous and the Permian Gondwana sequence of Australia. The organic and petrographic composition of the coal content of palaeo-environmentally well defined groups of sediments allow the discrimination of two coal facies indices as suitable indicators for distinct settings. Combining the analytical methods of coal petrography, sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy an integrated view of coal formation is attained.

1 Introduction

2 The Conditions of Peat Formation
2.1 Peatland Ecology
2.2 Peat Composition and Peat-Forming Plants
2.3 Climate and Peat Accretion
2.4 Evolutionary Trends in Peat and Coal Formation
3 The Coalification Process
3.1 Biochemical Coalification
3.2 Physico-Chemical Coalification
4 Coal Petrographic Entities
4.1 Macerals
4.2 Microlithotypes
4.3 Lithotypes
4.4 Minerals
5 Coal Facies and Depositional Environment
5.1 Phyterals and Macerals in Palaeo-Environmental Analysis
5.2 Microlithotypes as Tools in Palaeo-Environmental Analysis
5.3 Lithotypes as Palaeo-Environmental Indicators
5.4 Optical Properties as Palaeo-Environmental Indicators
5.5 Geochemical Palaeo-Environmental Signatures
5.6 Epiclastic Minerals and Palaeo-Environments
5.7 Summary of Palaeo-Environmental Indicators
6 The Relationship Between Coal and Interseam Sediments
6.1 Some Characteristics and Properties of Interseam Sediments
6.2 Coal Seams and Their Floor Rocks
6.3 Coal Seams and Their Roof Rocks
6.4 Coal Seam Splitting
7 Coal-Producing Sedimentary Environments
7.1 The Braid Plain
7.2 The Alluvial Valley and Upper Delta Plain
7.3 The Lower Delta Plain
7.4 The Barrier Beach/Strand-Plain System
7.5 The Estuary
8 Coal Formation and Sequence Stratigraphy
8.1 Basic Concepts of Sequence Stratigraphy
8.2 Sequence-Stratigraphic Time and Space Constraints on Coal Formation
8.3 The Influence of Sequence-Stratigraphic Settings on Coal Formation
8.4 Sequence Stratigraphic Interpretation of Coal Seam Settings
9 Coal-Producing Tectonic Environments
9.1 Early Examples of a Tectonic Classification of Coalfields
9.2 Basin Formation as Part of Plate Tectonics
9.3 Coalfields Situated Near Convergent Plate Edges
9.4 Coalfields Situated Near Divergent Plate Edges
9.5 Coalfields on Midplate Continental Margins
9.6 Coalfields of the Continental Interior
10 Concluding Remarks
References
Author Index.