The Pennsylvanian Fire Clay tonstein of the Appalachian basin—Its distribution, biostratigraphy, and mineralogy
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Abstract
The Middle Pennsylvanian Fire Clay tonstein, mostly kaolinite and minor accessory minerals, is an altered and lithified volcanic ash preserved as a thin, isochronous layer associated with the Fire Clay coal bed. Seven samples of the tonstein, taken along a 300-km traverse of the central Appalachian basin, contain cogenetic phenocrysts and trapped silicate-melt inclusions of a rhyolitic magma. The phenocrysts include beta-form quartz, apatite, zircon, sanidine, pyroxene, amphibole, monazite, garnet, biotite, and various sulfides. An inherited component of the zircons (determined from U-Pb isotope analyses) provides evidence that the source of the Fire Clay ash was Middle Proterozoic (Grenvillian) continental crust inboard of the active North American margin. 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages of seven sanidine samples from the tonstein have a mean age of 310.9 ± 0.8 Ma, which suggests that it is the product of a single, large-volume, high-silica, rhyolitic eruption possibly associated with one of the Hercynian granitic plutons in the Piedmont. Biostratigraphic analyses correlate the Fire Clay coal bed with a position just below the top of the Trace Creek Member of the Atoka Formation in the North American Midcontinent and near the Westphalian B-C boundary in western Europe.
Suggested Citation
Rice, C.L., Belkin, H.E., Henry, T., Zartman, R., and Kunk, M.J., 1994, The Pennsylvanian Fire Clay tonstein of the Appalachian basin—Its distribution, biostratigraphy, and mineralogy: GSA Special Papers, v. 294, p. 87-104, https://doi.org/10.1130/SPE294-p87.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | The Pennsylvanian Fire Clay tonstein of the Appalachian basin—Its distribution, biostratigraphy, and mineralogy |
| Series title | GSA Special Papers |
| DOI | 10.1130/SPE294-p87 |
| Volume | 294 |
| Publication Date | January 01, 1994 |
| Year Published | 1994 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | GSA |
| Contributing office(s) | Eastern Energy Resources Science Center, Eastern Geology and Paleoclimate Science Center |
| Description | 18 p. |
| First page | 87 |
| Last page | 104 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia |
| Other Geospatial | Appalachian Basin |