| Abstract: | Two coal-bearing units from the Lower Carboniferous succession in Central Spitsbergen, Svalbard, have been investigated using coal petrographic and geochemical techniques. The upper member consists mainly of algal cannels, dominated by Botryococcus-type algae. The coals from the lower member are a mixture of durite-type coals with sporinite and inertinite and coals containing prdominantly vitrinite. The Rock-Eval and pyrolysis-GC also show a clear distinction in the composition of the organic matter in the two coal-bearing units investigated. These results, together with detailed sedimentological analyses, are used to reconstruct the depositional environments for the two coal-bearing sequences. |
