International Geology Review ISSN: 0020-6814 (Print) 1938-2839 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tigr20 The geologic settings of Chinese coal deposits Zengxue Li, Dongdong Wang, Dawei Lv, Ying Li, Haiyan Liu, Pingli Wang, Ying Liu, Jianqiang Liu & Dandan Li To cite this article: Zengxue Li, Dongdong Wang, Dawei Lv, Ying Li, Haiyan Liu, Pingli Wang, Ying Liu, Jianqiang Liu & Dandan Li (2018) The geologic settings of Chinese coal deposits, International Geology Review, 60:5-6, 548-578, DOI: 10.1080/00206814.2017.1324327 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2017.1324327 Published online: 12 May 2017. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 80 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 4 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tigr20 INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGY REVIEW, 2018 VOL. 60, NOS. 5–6, 548–578 https://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2017.1324327 REVIEW ARTICLE The geologic settings of Chinese coal deposits Zengxue Lia, Dongdong Wanga, Dawei Lva, Ying Lib, Haiyan Liua, Pingli Wanga, Ying Liua, Jianqiang Liua and Dandan Lia aCollege of Earth Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, Shandong, China; bShandong Coalfield Geological Planning Institute, Shandong Bureau of Coal Geology, Ji’nan, Shandong, China ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY China has abundant coal resources, which are extensively developed in marine-influenced, con- Received 19 September 2016 tinental, and transitional environments. The coal-bearing strata in China have complicated gen- Accepted 25 April 2017 eses and distributions. There were eight major coal-forming periods in China, namely the KEYWORDS – – Terreneuvian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian Cisuralian Guadalupian, Lopingian, Late Triassic, Coal-forming sedimentary Early–Middle Jurassic, and Early Cretaceous Epochs, as well as the Palaeogene–Neogene Periods. environments; coal-forming The distributions of the coal-bearing strata formed during these different coal-forming periods processes; coal-bearing displayed obvious regional and regularity characteristics. In accordance with their plate-tectonic strata; coal-forming periods; settings and coal-bearing characteristics, the coal-bearing basins in China can be divided into six China types. The coal-bearing basins that were formed during the Palaeozoic Era were mainly large epicontinental sea basins. During the early Palaeozoic Era, the shallow sea was the most important coal-forming sedimentary environment. In addition, coastal delta and delta-detrital coast systems were the most important coal-forming sedimentary environments in the late Palaeozoic Era. The coal-bearing basins that were formed during the Late Triassic Epoch were mainly offshore basins, and coastal, coast-delta, coastal alluvial, and coastal inter-mountainous plain environments domi- nated their coal-forming sedimentary environments. Coast–bay and lagoon–estuary systems comprised additional main coal-forming sedimentary environments. The coal-bearing basins that formed during the Early–Middle Jurassic Epochs were large- and medium-sized inland lake basins, in which alluvial-lake delta systems recorded the best coal formation processes, followed by lakeshore sedimentary environments. The coal-bearing basins that formed during the Early Cretaceous Epoch and Palaeogene–Neogene Periods were mainly small-sized continental basin groups. Coal-forming processes mainly occurred in the lake-delta swamp environments during lake siltation stages when the filling evolution of the lake basins occurred. In addition, this study proposed a new coal-forming process that occurs during transgression events. Finally, this study generally summarized the characteristics and evolution theories of coal-forming processes in China and especially focused on the characteristics of the evolution of coal-forming sedimentary environments. 1. Introduction with the main global coal-forming periods, although Coal geology in China is characterized by its rich and they differed in the sizes and intensity levels of their varied coal deposits, eight coal-forming periods, com- coal deposits. The coal-bearing basin types, basin back- plex tectonic framework, and various types of sedimen- grounds, peat accumulations, and coal-forming intensi- tary environments. In its geologic history, sediments in ties differed significantly between various periods of China have mainly formed within continental environ- coal formation, which led to differences in the spatial ments, followed by transitional environments, and then distribution and characteristics of coals formed in dif- marine-influenced environments. The coal resources ferent periods. In this study, the sedimentation types of formed in continental environments are the most abun- coal-bearing processes in China are divided into inter- dant, followed by those formed in marine-continental active marine and continental deposits within plates, transitional and marine-influenced environments. marine-continental transitional deposits on plate edges, Among the global coal geological systems, the char- inland depressed-basin deposits, and inland rifted-basin acteristics of coal geology in China are both globally deposits. comparable and unique. The formation periods of The differences in the characteristics and types of China’s coal-bearing processes were basically consistent coal-forming basins in China depended on the CONTACT Zengxue Li [email protected]; Dongdong Wang [email protected] Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, Shandong 266590, China © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGY REVIEW 549 background of the basins’ tectonic events during the land plants grew along the coast of a shallow epeiric different stages of crustal evolution, their tectonic- sea. In the Middle Devonian Epoch in China, coal-bear- palaeogeographic background, the tectonic events ing deposits were of littoral or neritic origin, and that occurred during the basin-forming period, and Devonian coals thus contain a great deal of cuticles the nature of the basins’ basements. Based on the and microspores; hence, they are called cutinitic lipto- degree of tectonic stability of the basins during the biolith or ‘Luquanite’ (Han 1989). These coals are classi- coal-forming period, these coal basins can be divided fied as cutinitic liptobiolith, sporinite-rich durain, into stable coal-forming basins, transitional coal-form- cutinite-rich durain, and sporinitic liptobiolith. Their ing basins, and active coal-forming basins. vitrinite content is very low, and they are dominated Coal-forming intensity varied greatly during different by collodetrinite, collotelinite, and corpogelinite (Dai periods in China due to differences in the types of coal- et al. 2006). forming basins, the tectonic activity that occurred dur- The coal-forming plants differed within each of the ing the coal-forming periods, the continuity of peat coal-forming periods following the Devonian Period swamp development, and palaeogeographic features due to plant evolution. In particular, when a historically during the peat accumulation periods. The strength of large crustal movement occurred, the terrain, climate, the coal-forming processes in different areas of China, and atmospheric CO2 and O2 contents, among others as well as the locations of the basins, also varied. (Beerling and Woodward 2001), continuously changed, This article describes the different aspects of China’s which not only promoted the evolution of plants in coal-forming periods and plant types, as well as its coal each stage, but also led to different degrees of accu- basin types, distribution and evolution, the spatial and mulation occurring during each period. Moreover, due temporal distribution of coal-bearing strata, its coal- to the influence of tectonic movements on land–sea forming geological background, sedimentary sources, distribution, the depositional effects and intensities of coal-forming processes, and some aspects of recent the coal-forming processes during each period were research progress, thus allowing readers to gain a bet- distinctly different (Figure 1) (Han and Yang 1980). ter understanding of China’s coal geological The coal-forming processes during each of the geo- characteristics. logic periods of China experienced significantly differ- ent development histories (Figure 1). There were eight periods with strong coal-forming processes in China. 2. Coal-forming periods in China These included the Terreneuvian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian–Cisuralian–Guadalupian, Lopingian, Late 2.1. Coal-forming plants and coal-forming periods Triassic, Early–Middle Jurassic, and Early Cretaceous in China Epochs, as well as the Palaeogene–Neogene Periods. Coal formation has occurred since multicellular organ- Among these periods, the four coal-forming periods of isms first appeared on the Earth. The coal that formed the Pennsylvanian–Cisuralian–Guadalupian Epochs, during the Proterozoic Era in China was mainly com- Lopingian Epoch, Late Triassic Epoch, and Early– posed of fungi and, in particular, algae. During the Middle Jurassic Epoch displayed the strongest coal- Cambrian Period, a large number of fungi and algal- forming processes. Coals formed during the eight geo- type plants bred rapidly in water, resulting in the coal in logical periods were mainly humic. The coals formed the Early Palaeozoic Era containing a large