Compositional variability of Middle Pennsylvanian coal beds near the north-west margin of the Eastern Kentucky coal field, central Appalachian Basin, USA

Middle Pennsylvanian age coal beds from new outcrop exposures located along the northwest margin of the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field were sampled and analysed geochemically, petrographically and palynologically. Coal beds in the study section are bounded by two major marine shale members, the Betsie Shale Member near the base of the section, and the Magoffin Shale Member at the top. Analyses indicate that geochemical, petrographic and palynologic parameters of the coal beds are highly variable, and probably of peat accumulation in mires that were planar and topogenous with high periphery to area ratios. Palynologic analysis of the coal beds indicates they are all Middle Pennsylvanian in age, and correlative with Duckmantian (Westphalian B) age strata of western Europe, and Atokan age strata of the mid-continent, USA.