New Find of Cuticular Coal in the Franz Josef Land

Coal pebbles found in 1994 in the Greham Bell Island (Franz Josef Land Archipelago) are made up of the Barzas-type cuticular liptobiolith. The coal belongs to the initial stage of catagenesis and is characterized by high content of cutinite (up to 70%) with very low reflectance (R_o= 0.1%). Maceration products show some tegillate elements of Arthropodaand individual Devonian spores. It is supposed that plant cuticle and Arthropoda exocuticle are present in this coal. The obtained data suggest the presence of Paleozoic rocks in the sedimentary sequence, although they are not yet recovered. These data complement the available information on the distribution of specific Devonian coals and allow us to have a new insight into the zoogenic material involved in the coal formation.