DISCOVERY OF TERTIARY SPHAGNUM COAL IN JINSUO BASIN, YUNNAN PROVINCE AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

<正> Sphagnum, a kind of moss, is a characteristic plant of raised bogs in temperate or cool climate. Modern sphagnum peat is distributed extensively over many districts of the whole world. It is very difficult to distinguish sphagnum remains from the coal after transformation owing to its limited distribution and minute body. It is well known so far that coal deposits mainly derived from sphagnum have not yet been reported in literature. Recently, a lot of unprecedented and bedded coal layers (named the 'white-light coal' by local people) were discovered in a section of thick coal seam located in Jinsuo brown coal basin in Yunnan Province. In a profile of 26-m thick coal seam, there are 19 layers of thick-