International Journal of Coal Geology 58 (2004) 125 130

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijcoalgeo

Coal facies studies in Australia

Peter J. Crosdale *
Coalseam Gas Research Institute, School of Earth Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4814, Australia
Received 1 January 2003; accepted 12 October 2003

Abstract
Despite the economic importance of coal to the Australian economy, detailed studies of controls on variation in coal type are
remarkably few. However, important contributions have been made in the understanding of coal facies development. Tertiary
lignite deposits of the Gippsland Basin provide key insights into the development of lithotype cyclicity and its relationship to
relative sea-level changes, with individual paling-up cycles being correlated to parasequences. Studies of Permian hard coals
have identified relationships between coal type and surrounding sediments. Unfortunately, these relationships have been widely
over-interpreted in a manner that has diminished their real value.
D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Depositional environment; Lignite; Black coal; Lithotype; Maceral

1. Coal in Australia
Extraction, utilization and export of coal is well
recognized as a major contributor to the Australian
economy. According to the Australian Bureau of
Statistics, in 2001 2002 coal and associated products
accounted for AUD$13.4 billion, or almost 9%, of all
goods and services exported. Coal production in
1999 2000 was 254 million t of black coal and 66
million t of brown coal, making Australia the 4th
largest black coal producing country (behind PR
China, USA and India) and the worlds largest exporter of both steaming and coking coals.

* Tel.: +61-7-3394-3011; fax: +61-7-3394-3088.

E-mail address: peter.crosdale@energyrc.com.au
(P.J. Crosdale).
0166-5162/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.coal.2003.10.004

Australian coals are widely distributed both spatially and temporally, with mineable coals found in
most coal-forming periods represented except those
of the Carboniferous (Ward et al., 1995). Economically, the most important coals are those of the
Permian Sydney Gunnedah Bowen Basin of New
South Wales and Queensland and the Late Eocene to
Middle Miocene deposits of the Gippsland Basin in
Victoria. Petroleum products have also been identified as being sourced from many of these coals, e.g.
the gas resources of the Permian Cooper Basin and
the oil and gas resources in Bass Straight (Gippsland
Basin).
The Permian coals are generally hard coals between high volatile bituminous and anthracite rank,
producing a wide variety of commercial products
including thermal, hard and soft coking, PCI, etc.
The Tertiary coals of Victoria are lignite in rank and
are used predominantly for power generation although

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P.J. Crosdale / International Journal of Coal Geology 58 (2004) 125130

Table 1
Author

Method

Depositional environment/
other comments

Paleozoic coal basins

Diessel, 1975

Age; Area

Carboniferous,
Hunter Valley
Permian, Sydney
Basin

Diessel, 1965, 1970,

1982, 1985, 1986a,b,
1996; Diessel et al.,
1967; Glasspool, 2000

coal petrology, TPI/GI,

sedimentology, vitrinite
reflectance, fluorescence,
mesofossils

first paper on TPI/GI

technique 1982, source
paper for this technique,
relates coal petrography
to sedimentology 1986a;
vertical trends suggesting
overlying marine influence
with some sequence
stratigraphic significance;
explanation to the origin
of inertinites by charring

Tadros, 1988a,b, 1993

maceral

Shibaoka and Smyth, 1975;

Smyth and Cook, 1976
Diessel, 1982

microlithotype, lithotype

Permian, Gunnedah
Basin
explanation of dulling up
Permian, Sydney and
sequences
Gunnedah Basins
first paper on TPI/GI
Permian, Sydney and
technique
Gunnedah Basins
relates microlithotypes to a Permian, Sydney and
variety of sedimentary
Gunnedah Basins
environments
terrestrial/telmatic/limnic Permian, Liddell Seam,
upper Hunter Valley,
using Hacquebard and
New South Wales
Donaldson 1969. facies
diagram
relates microlithotypes to a Permian, Cooper Basin
variety of sedimentary
environments
Permian, Queensland
combines a variety of
techniques to produce a
facies model for coal
deposition
from Permian to
Cenozoic, Australia
ternary microlithotype
mostly Permian
diagrams with
of Australia
superimposed clastic
environments
relates microlithotypes to
Permian, Australia
a variety of sedimentary
environments

TPI/GI
microlithotype, maceral,
sulphur

Hunt, 1982, 1989; Hunt

and Hobday, 1984; Smyth,
1989
Marchioni, 1980

maceral, microlithotype

Smyth, 1984

microlithotype

Beeston, 1991; Beeston

and Draper, 1991

maceral, palynology,
botany

Cook, 1981
Diessel and Smyth, 1995

coal petrology, coal

geology
maceral, microlithotype

Hunt and Brakel, 1989

microlithotype

Mesozoic coal basins

Smyth et al., 1992

Gould, 1980

dispersed organic
matter
plant megafossils

Triassic, Gunnedah
Basin New
South Wales
dominantly conifer derived Middle Jurassic,
coals in a moist temperate Surat Basin
climate

ASTM rank

Ro%

bituminous

0.6 1.2

bituminous
bituminous
bituminous
bituminous

hvb

bituminous

bituminous

bituminous
and lignite

bituminous

lacustrine environments

sub-bituminous

P.J. Crosdale / International Journal of Coal Geology 58 (2004) 125130

127

Table 1 (continued)
Author

Method

Cenozoic coal basins

Meakin, 1985

palynology

Baillie, 1992; Baillie and

Bacon, 1989
George, 1975; Blackburn,
1980, 1985; Lully et al.,
1980; George, 1982; Sluiter,
1984; Kershaw and Sluiter,
1982; Holdgate, 1985,
1996; Holdgate et al.,
1995; Khandekar, 1985;
Mackay et al., 1985;
Kershaw et al., 1987;
Sluiter et al., 1995
Partridge, 1982; Smith, 1982

lithotypes, plant
megafossils,
lithotypes, palynology,
macerals, proximate
and ultimate analysis,
sequence stratigraphy,
sea level change

explanation of lightening
up of lithotypes using
sequence stratigraphy
and climatic changes

palynology

relates sea level change to

coal formation

Anderson and Mackay,

lithotype, maceral,
1991; Holdgate, 1992;
palynology, sea level
Blackburn and Sluiter, 1994 change, plant
megafossils

Partridge, 1997

palynology

Harris, 1980; Holdgate, 1997;

Holdgate and Clarke, 2000

sea level change

Murray et al., 1997

geochemistry

General models
Diessel, 1998; Diessel et al.,
1995, 2000
Diessel and Gammidge, 1998

Depositional environment/
other comments

review paper, details of

peat-forming plant
communities, ombrogenous
peats; many references to
unpublished and difficult
to access reports

Age; Area

ASTM rank

Eocene, St Vincent
Basin, South Australia
Eocene, Bass Basin,
Victoria
Oligocene/Miocene,
Latrobe Valley,
Victoria

lignite

Oligocene/Miocene,
Gippsland Basin,
Victoria
Oligocene/Miocene,
Victoria

lignite

Ro%

lignite

lignite

Miocene, Port Phillip

lignite
Basin, Victoria
South Australia;
lignite
Australia, New Zealand,
Germany; Australia
Otway Basin,
Victoria/South Australia

sequence stratigraphy
vitrinite reflectance

extensive research has been done on their liquefaction

possibilities.

2. Facies studies
Given the economic importance of coal to the
Australian economy, surprisingly little detailed work
as been done on coal facies, especially on a regional
scale. There are a number of interesting problems
which detailed facies studies would help resolve,

including the large percentage of inertinite in many

of the Permian coals; the development of very thick
(up to 30 m), clean, inertinite-rich coals; the relationship of coal type to sedimentary environment; the
development of lithotype cyclicity; controls on the
distribution of authigenic minerals. While some
aspects of these problems have been dealt with extensively by some authors, many questions remain.
Facies studies of Australian coals reported here
(Table 1) deal predominantly with depositional environments and utilize the full range of standard and

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P.J. Crosdale / International Journal of Coal Geology 58 (2004) 125130

more novel techniques, e.g. fluorescence and reflectance studies.

Particularly influential in black coal depositional
environment studies have been microlithotype (e.g.
Shibaoka and Smyth, 1975; Smyth and Cook, 1976;
Hunt, 1982, 1989; Hunt and Brakel, 1989; Hunt and
Hobday, 1984; Smyth, 1984, 1989; Marchioni, 1980;
Diessel and Smyth, 1995) and maceral (e.g. Diessel,
1982, 1985, 1986a,b, 1996) analyses. These studies
have shown clear relationships exist between petrographic composition of the coal and its enclosing
sedimentary environment. However, these relationships are widely misinterpreted to infer conditions of
the peat-forming mire (see discussions in Crosdale,
1993; Wust et al., 2001).
It is unfortunate that over-interpretation of petrographic data, especially the maceral facies diagram
(Diessel, 1982), has occurred since these techniques
have a number of potential uses. Foremost is the
grouping and classification of coals based on their
complete and detailed petrography. Following this
classification it is possible to investigate vertical and
lateral changes of individual seams and sequences of
seams within a basin. The maceral and microlithotype
facies diagrams provide us with an easy way to
represent petrographic variability but challenge us to
correctly interpret the meaning.
Lignite deposits of the Gippsland Basin have been
of particular interest since very thick coals occur (up
to 200 m) which are characterized by cycles of
paling-up lithotypes. These lithotype cycles have
been investigated by a variety of techniques including the study of plant megafossils, palynology,
macerals, proximate and ultimate analysis, other
geochemistry and sequence stratigraphy. These techniques, coupled with regional studies and correlations with off-shore petroleum provinces, have
shown that each lithotype cycle represents a parasequence (e.g. Anderson and Mackay, 1991; Holdgate et al., 1995). Coupled with detailed restorations
of plant communities, a comprehensive picture of
lithotype development emerges. However, it is still
unclear how these systems work in detail. It is
simply not sufficient to say that rising sea-level
results in a rising water table due to ponding, or
that falling sea level has the opposite effect. Peatforming environments also respond strongly to local
climate and local ground water hydrology.

3. Conclusions
Despite some very detailed work in selected deposits, coal facies studies are generally poorly represented
in Australia. This is especially significant given the
value of coal to the Australian economy and the value
of coal facies studies into understanding the geological variability of deposits. However, important studies on Tertiary lignites and new ways of thinking
about coal development based on standard maceral
analysis have had large impacts.

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