Lithofacies analysis of coal seams from the upper part of the coal-bearing measures of the Upper Silesia Coal Basin (Westphalian, Poland)

摘要

Two units compose the upper part of the coal-bearing measures of the Upper Silesia Coal Basin: Mudstone Series and Krakow Sandstone Series. Both series are composed of continental deposits. Sediments of the Mudstone Series were laid down on an extensive, subsiding alluvial plain, crossed by low-gradient, high-sinuosity, suspended load-dominated rivers. Fine-grained deposits - mudstone and subordinate claystones - are predominant. Coal seams are numerous, and usually thin. The Krakow Sandstone Series is interpreted as deposits of a fluvial system of the distal, sandy, braided rivers. The Krakow Sandstone Series deposits consist of thick sandstone bodies subordinately intercalated with thin, fine-grained packets of mudstones and coal. This series contains a few tens of coal seams thicker than 10 cm.