Palynological Analyses of Several Pennsylvanian Coal Beds from Santa Fe County, New Mexico

Palynological Analyses of Several Pennsylvanian Coal Beds from Santa Fe County, New Mexico

Palynologicalanalyses ol several Pennsylvanian coalbeds lromSanta Fe Gounty, New Mexico byBobert M. Kosankeand Donald A Myers,U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, C0 80225 Introduction erallv offsetbv manv northwest-strikinemi which resulted in a soluble portion (saltsof Samplesof two Pennsylvaniancoal beds nor iaults whbse diiplacement, ,ur,guYro- humic acids)and an insoluble portion (pre- were collectedfrom the Sandia Formation, a few inches to less than 5 ft. The coal bed served botanic ingredients). The second Glorieta quadrangle, Santa Fe County, for is badly shearedand occursin a fault block sample(696-8) was treatedin a similar man- palynologicalanalysis to ascertainwhether in which the bedding is nearly vertical. The ner, but did not yield a satisfactorvassem- they were of Morrowan or Atokan age. The sample was assigned to maceration 696-8 blage of palynbmorphs initiaily. The first samplewas collected1,320 ft due north and USGSPaleobotanical loc. no. D6663,and macerationprocess was repeatedseveral times of BM 6610,on the south side of a ravine, it was subsequentlvreassisned to D6663-E on this sample. Ultimately, palynomorphs approtmately 500 ft west of the Atchison, when additional productive"sampleshad been were freed from the matrix. and an oilv sub- Topekaand SantaFe railroad tracks. It was collected.To the west of the above locality, stancethat covered the surface of th-ema- taken from Sutherland and Harlow's (1.973) the SandiaFormation is in fault contactwith ceration beaker was released. Both section93, bed 19,and was assignedto ma- Precambriangranite (granite gneiss of Booth, macerationswere screenedusing a 210-mesh ceration696-A, USGSPaleobotanical loc. no. 1977;Embudogranite of Budding, 7972)along Tyler screen.The fine fraction containing the D6662.The sample consists of 6 inches of Booth's (7977) Apache Canyon fault, which smallspores and pollen grainswas mounted bone coalat the baseof a brown fissileshale is an extension of Budding's (1972)Garcia in balsam. sequencethat overliesa thin seatrock and a Ranchfault. To the eastand south, the San- brown micaceousshale. dia Formationis in fault contactwith the San- The secondsample was takenfrom an area gre de Cristo Formation (Wolfcampian) and Palynology and coal petrology northeastof section93 (describedabove) on the Yeso(?)Formation. We concluded that, palynologically, these the south sideof GalisteoCreek, east of the two coal beds are Atokan, or close to the railroadtracks. This localityis approximately Atokan-Desmoinesianboundary. We based 2.5 mi northeastof Lamv. 3 mi southwestof Sample preparation this conclusion on the presenceof several Canoncito,and 13mi souih-southeastof Santa Maceration696-A (D6662)readily yielded speciesof Laeaigatosporites(Table 1) in both Fe (Fig. 1). The sample was collected2,493 palynomorphs,but becauseof the high non- macerations596-Aand 596-8. The genus first ft N30'E from BM 6610in the abandonedbed coalcontent, it was treatedwith HCI and HF occurs in the Reynoldsburg Coal Member of an old wagon trail, at approximately6,780 to remove carbonatesand silicates.This (Pennsylvanian)of Illinois (basalAbbott For- ft elevation,in a southwest-drainingravine treatment was followed with Schulze'sso- mation : Atokan) and in the upper part of that drains into GalisteoCreek. At this lo- lution, which contains one part of a satu- the New River Formation in the proposed cality, the entire outcrop of the Sandia For- rated aqueoussolution of KCIO. and three Pennsylvanian System stratotype of West mation lies in an area approximately 700 ft partsof cold HNO3 (90%),to partially oxidize Virginia. However, the presenceof L. medius Iong from north to south and 100 ft wide the coaly material. This partially oxidized Kosanke in both sets of New Mexico coal from west to east. These rocks were origi- samplewas washed with H,O until a pH of samplessuggests a slightly younger age be- nally assignedto the YesoFormation by Booth approximately7 was obtained. The sample cause the first occurrenceof this taxon in (1977).Beds within the outcrop area are lat- was then treatedwith a 10%solution of KOH. West Virginia is in the basal part of the Kan- -x- l\ O Lomyl 1 O 4okm O 30mi FIGURE 2-Three coalescingcolonies of Botryococcuscf. B. brauniiKritzing from FIGURF,l-Geographic areawhere samplesfor this investigation were maceration 696-8rr (D6663-E), slide 6, and microscope coordinates 98.5 x 7.7. collected;X refers to approximate sample locations. The maximum overall diameter is 63 mlcrons. August 1986 New MexicoCeology awha Formation. Differences between paly- TABLE 1-Comparison of palynomorphs ex- nomorph assemblages in macerations 696-A tracted from the two coal beds from the Sandia and 696-8 may be the result of better recov- Formation, Glorieta quadrangle, Santa Fe County. erv and preservation in maceration 696-A. These samples were assigned laboratory macera- c and USGS Paleo- o Wi: do not believe the two samples are widelv tion numbers 696-Aand 696-8 botanical loc. nos. D6662 and D6663-8, respectively. ; separated stratigraphically. The taxa identi- o X indicates presence of taxon; 696-Ais 6 inches of E fied from macerations 696-A and 696-8 are bonv coal; 6Se-S is badlv sheared coal in a fault given in Table 1. o blocl in which the bedding is nearly vertical. L The reason for the release of the oily sub- f t m stance in maceration 696-8 is the common Taxon 696-A 696-8 (r. occurrence of the alga Botryococcuscf . B. brau- o nii Kitzing, which produces large amounts Acnnthotriletes triquetrus Smilh o of oil. The bodv of Botraococcusis a free-float- and Butterworth o (Horst) ing colony thai is encloied by a cartilaginous Ahrensisporitesguerickei Potoni6and Kremp (Fig. and hyaline envelope 2). Apiculatisporisabditus (Loose) Sample 696-8 can be considered a sapro- Potoni6and Kremp pelic coal because it is composed of finely Botryococcuscf. B. braunii 06663-E degraded plant residue with a low anthrax- Kiitzing (6s6-B) ylon (wood) content. Such coals are formed Calamosporabreztiradiata Kosanke c D6663-D .9 (8to-A) under stagnant anaerobic conditions and C. mutabilis(Loose) Schopf, ts contain abundant spores, pollen grains, or Wilson, and Bentall Y o D6663-C Y (8ro-B) algae. There are three primary types of sap- C. paraaGuennel E ropelic coals: cannel, boghead, and torban- C. rP' o )-oeess-s Cyclo gr anisporites aureus (Loose) \ (8lo-c) ite. Cannel coal is characterized LL by an Potoni6and Kremp D6663-A abundance of spores and a small amount of C. multigranusSmith and (8ro-D) anthraxylon; megascopically it has a dull lus- .9 Butterworth E ter and conchoidal fracture. Boghead coal is Densosporit esannulatus (Loose) c similar in physical appearance to cannel coal, Schopf,Wilson, and Bentall o @ but it contains an abundance of algae. Tor- Dic tyot r ileI es casl a neacfor m is banite coal is equivalent to boghead coal be- (Horst) Sullivan cause it contains abundant algal remains, but Endosporitessp. Florinitesantiquus Schopf in it is actually a highly carbonaceous shale. Its Precombrion Schopf,Wilson, and Bentall XX name was derived from Torbane Hill in Scot- foult Florinitessp. land. Gr anulat ispor it es pallidus The coal sample maceration 696-8, which Kosanke contains abundant specimens of Botryococ- Laeuigatospor it es d esmo i nensis ==: I cils, cannot be classified as a true boghead (Wilsonand Coe) Schopf, Srllstone Limestone Cool coal becauseit contains eouallv abundant Wilson, and Bentall x sporesand pollen grains. Kosanke (1951)de- l. lafasKosanke l-H4 L. mediusKosanke Seol Sondv Bone scribed a fype of boghead coal from the Tarter rock limestbne cool Coal Member of the Abbott Formation (lower L. oztalisKosanke Leiot r iletes pr idrly i (Berr y) half of the Atokan Series) in Illinois that mav Potoni6and Kremp FIGURE 3-Stratigraphic section showing posi- be similar to the New Mexico Botryococcus-beartngbeds, USGS paleobo- coal sample. A Lophotril etes gibbosus (Ibrahim ) lion of 40-inch-thick sample of this coal from west- Potoni6and Kremp tanicalloc. nos. D6663-A-E. Macerationsamples ern Illinois contained abundant specimens of Lycospora granulata Kosanke 810A-C are impure,bony coal. Botryococcusin the top 2-2.5 inches of the coal L. sp. 1 bed and a normal complement of spores and L sPp. botanic ingredients in the remainder of the Raistrickincf . R. priscaKosanke coal. The coal bed from New Mexico is sheared R. sp. 1 product of extreme variation in colony-form R. sp. 2 and distorted so that thickness and orien- of Botryococcus. Reticula tisp or it es reticula tus tation of the bed are obscured. Because both Because the occurrence of Botryococcusis (Ibrahim)Ibrahim XX spores and algal remains are reasonably rather unusual, we decided to collect addi- Vestisporaf enestrata (Kosanke) abundant, perhaps this New Mexico coal Spodeln Smith and tional coal samples below the original ma- (maceration 696-8) is partly normal coal and Butterworth ceration (696-8). These additional samples partly sapropelic coal. Stach et al. (1975, p. V. tortuosa(Baime) Spode rn were assigned to maceration series 810 as 236) reported that "It is assumed that bog- Smith and Butterworth shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Two other samples heads were deposited mainly towards the z sP. were collected approximately 1,580 ft south- centers of small swamp lakes, the cannels Monosaccate x west of the boghead deposits from Suther- more toward the lake margins." Unassigned land and Harlow's (1973) units 31 and 39 in Botryococcusis an extant alga and, as such, the Glorieta quadrangle. All samples as- is a living fossil. B. braunii Kutzing is a plank- signed to the 810 maceration series yielded tonic alga that is widely distributed, al- Botryococcusas well as spores and pollen though rarely abundant, in lakes of the United land, South Africa, Alaska, and other parts grains. The assignment of paleobotanical col- States and is sometimes found in Dermanent of the U.S., and Pennsylvanian boghead de- lecting numbers and maceration numbers is or semipermanentpools (Smith, 1933).The posits or tlpes of boghead deposits are known shown in Fig.

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