Re: Canadian Coal - depositional setting

>I would expect bioturbation by critters unless this is an oxygen-deficient environment...Are modern drowned swamps oxygen deficient?<

Yes; otherwise the plant material generally decays and there would be no coal. This is also a reason why roots are generally not very deep in swampy habitats-roots need oxygen. Therefore, you would expect to see a lot of roots going relatively horizontal or even back up rather than a lot of deep roots.

>If the swamp does reestablish, I assume we are past the shrub phase and trees will resume growing.<

If it re-establishes, it will probably be starting over. Back to the small plant stage.

>You admit that "there are no river channels cutting the basal coal" in the area most likely to see them - "the intensively explored and mined area."<

Although channels would be easiest to see there, it's likely that intensively explored and mined areas are not a random sample. Rather, they tend to coincide with the areas that seem (or seam?) to have the thickest coal. I'm not sure that channels are especially expected to cut through the coal; there should be channels inland from the swamp, but not necessarily going through it.

    Dr. David Campbell
    Old Seashells
    University of Alabama
    Biodiversity & Systematics
    Dept. Biological Sciences
    Box 870345
    Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0345 USA
    bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com

That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa
                 
Received on Wed Jan 28 11:44:26 2004