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NON-NUCLEAR COMPONENT STORES BUILDING 59 (demolished) –
The function of the non-nuclear component stores was to hold the high explosive part of the bomb and its outer casing. The casing could probably be split into two units, the tail and forward part containing the high explosive and electronics. The bombs, minus their fissile components, were housed in three almost identical stores buildings 59-61, known as Storage Building Type 'D-D'. These are arranged in an arrowhead pattern, and are accessed from the internal loop road, and are all surrounded by 14ft 6in high earth traverses, revetted by a reinforced concrete retaining wall against the roadway.
The western store, building 59 was gutted by a fire during the 1980's and has subsequently been demolished. Its floor plan remains visible on the remaining concrete floor slab. The two remaining stores, buildings 60 and 61 are rectangular in plan, and are constructed from reinforced concrete columns and beams. Internally there are two rows of columns, 13in², which support the roof beams, 2ft by 9in, which carry the 9in thick reinforced concrete roof slab which is covered with bituminous felt. The rainwater gutters and down pipes are cast asbestos.
The wall sections are filled with 18in by 9in by 9in precast concrete blocks, internally the main storage area measures 190ft 2½in by 60ft. It is divided longitudinally into eleven 17ft by 3ft bays and cross ways into three bays the outer bays measure 17ft 6in and the central bay is 25ft wide. The maximum clear internal height was 12ft from the floor to the underside of the roof beams. The floor is surfaced with a hard gritless asphalt with the patent name 'Ironite'. The walls are painted pale green colour and the ceiling cream. in store building 61 the bay letters 0, N, M, and L are visible on the rear columns on the eastern side, suggesting the store was divided into 22 bays along the outer walls.
Abutting on to the front of the stores, and flanking the entrances, are plant and switch rooms, which originally contained heating and air conditioning plant to maintain a stable environment within the stores. A raised air extract duct is placed asymmetrically on the roofs of the stores. Entry into the stores is through a 10ft wide door opening with 12ft high doors. In the rear wall of the stores is a single door width, outward opening emergency exit. The first nuclear weapon the store was designed to hold was relatively large, a ''Blue Danube'' bomb measured 24ft in length and weighed 10,000lbs.
The problems of handling such large objects are reflected in the provision of substantial lifting gantries at the entrance to each store. Two variants are found, the simplest, exemplified by the middle store building 60 comprises a straight gantry. Over the roadway the gantry is supported by four 24in by 18in reinforced concrete columns, which support two 51in by 24in reinforced concrete beams. The upper beams of the gantry taper towards the entrance to the store where they are suppurted by two reinforced concrete columns. On the underside of the gantry is attached a 20in by 6½in rolled steel joist runway beam which runs to the entrance to the building. This was originally fitted with a 10 ton hoist. The gantry is covered by asbestos sheeting to provide a dry working area.
On the eastern and western stores the gantries were set at 30° to the front of the stores. In this variant an extra set of columns was placed at the 30° dogleg. Internally there is no evidence for a runway beam, so it presumed the bombs were lifted off a road transporter and loaded onto a bomb trolley for storage. It is not known how many bombs were kept in each store, or if the tail units were separated from the front part of the bomb for storage. Subsequent to the site being relinquished by the RAF a central corridor has been created in the stores by the insertion of breeze block walls. Doors in these walls give access to workshops along either side of the buildings. External windows have also been inserted in some of the bays.
Information sourced from English Heritage.
Bituminous coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (bedding plane view)
Bituminous coal is one of the "soft coals" - it is a higher rank coal than lignite or sub-bituminous and lower rank than anthracite. It is relatively soft, weathers and breaks into blocks, is moderately sooty to the touch, and is finely laminated. This sample is from the Upper Freeport Coal at Linton, Ohio.
The shiny discoid structures at top and upper right are conchostracans - valves of "clam shrimp". They are preserved in fissile cannel coal that's adhering to the bituminous coal. The letter "C" indicates a bedding plane contact between cannel coal (below) and bituminous coal (above), both of which make up the Upper Freeport Coal interval in the Linton area.
Stratigraphy: upper part of the Upper Freeport Coal (= Number 7 Coal), Allegheny Group, Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: Diamond Coal Mine, Linton, far-eastern Jefferson County, far-eastern Ohio, USA
University of Southampton Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics,
School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, "Bituplaning: A Low Dry Friction Phenomenon of New Bituminous Road Surfaces" By John Charles Bullas BSc MSc MIAT MIHT FGS May 2007 Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
We were hanging out in Bonny Doon near Santa Cruz, CA and took a bit of a Christmas Day hike. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon in the low 60's. This old road is one of the oldest in Santa Cruz Co., made from tar quarried not far away.
Note the intricate flow structures in the asphalt: this is
one of the oldest paved roads in Santa Cruz County, utilizing locally quarried bituminous sandstone.
Majors Creek. The black-colored cliffs, are composed of bitumen-saturated sandstone that was injected into the overlying Santa Cruz Mudstone in a liquid state. Numerous sandstone dikes and sills, most of which contain some bituminous material, are exposed in the modern seacliff between Wilder Creek and Greyhound Rock. The Santa Margarita Sandstone, the source of these intrusions, contains varying amounts of bitumen throughout its outcrop area, from Santa Cruz to the vicinity of Big Basin State Park. The hydrocarbons are believed to have migrated into the Santa Margarita Sandstone from the underlying Monterey Formation.
The bituminous sandstones in this area have been mined since the late 1880’s for paving material. The asphaltic content of the sand ranges from about 4 percent to as much as 18 percent by weight. These oil-impregnated layers vary from 1 to 40 feet in thickness and range in character from dry and brittle to soft and gummy. In some outcrops, tar will drip or flow out of the bituminous sands when sufficiently warmed by the sun. San Francisco streets were reportedly paved in the 1890’s with bituminous sandstone mined near Majors Creek and transported to San Francisco by boat. An estimated 614,000 tons of asphaltic paving material, worth approximately $2,360,000, was produced from this area between 1888 and 1914 (Page and Holmes, 1945). Production was intermittent after the 1920’s, with the last of the quarries (Calrock Quarry) ceasing operations in the 1940’s. Page and Holmes (1945) estimated reserves of approximately 9.8 million cubic yards of asphaltic sand in the area west of Santa Cruz. This sand contains approximately 10 million barrels of asphalt. In oilfield terms, this is about 24 gallons of bitumen per ton, or equivalent to a tar sand with 38 percent porosity, 53 percent oil saturation, and a recovery factor of 1,562 barrels of oil per acre-foot.
Limestone over coal in the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.
This eastern Ohio exposure is in the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).
The Upper Mercer Limestone is a moderately laterally persistent chertified limestone horizon in the Pottsville Group. It is often composed of black-colored chert/flint but can be dark bluish to bluish-black colored as well (the latter colors are referred to as "Nellie Blue Flint"). Upper Mercer Flint has whitish-colored fossils and fossil fragments that include fusulinid foraminifera, crinoid ossicles, and other Late Paleozoic normal marine fossils. Apparent phylloidal algae can also be present as squiggly lines.
Non-chertified limestone is frequently present in the Upper Mercer horizon, although minor in volume. Limestone usually occurs along the outside portions of chert masses, but also in relatively small patches within the chert.
In places, the Upper Mercer Flint/Limestone horizon is missing, usually removed by paleoerosion.
American Indians sometimes used Upper Mercer Flint to make arrowheads and spear points and knife blades. "Flint Ridge Flint" (= Vanport Flint) was the most desirable source rock for these objects, but other chert horizons also attracted attention.
At this outcrop, limestone makes up most of the Upper Mercer, which is unusual. Black, irregularly-shaped flint nodules are present in the limestone.
The upper ledge is the Upper Mercer Limestone. Below it is the Bedford Coal, which at this site is composed of bituminous coal and cannel coal. Below the coal is an "underclay", which is composed of shale that has been subjected to chemical weathering from minor sulfuric acid percolating downward from the coal. The sulfuric acid was generated by oxidation of pyrite (in the presence of water) in the coal. Pyrite in the Bedford Coal occurs as small nodules, disseminated tiny crystals, and is in partially pyritized fossil charcoal.
Stratigraphy: Upper Mercer Limestone over Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)
FISSILE CORE STORAGE –
The fissile cores were stored in small buildings arranged around the large non-nuclear component stores. In total there are 57 of these buildings, which are divided into 48 Type 'A' and 9 Type 'B' stores. The fissile core stores are organised in four uneven groups around the non-nuclear stores. The two southerly groups of stores are arranged symmetrically to the south of the large non-nuclear stores, each group having sixteen small store buildings. The north-eastern group contains eleven stores and the north-west group fourteen. All but the south-east group contained a mixture of Type 'A' and Type 'B' stores.
The store buildings are linked together by pedestrian width walkways, fenced by tubular steel pipes 37in tall with strands of white between the horizontal members. The area was lit by pre-cast concrete lamp-posts, each of which had a red panic button at chest height. The Type 'A' storage buildings 1-48 are small kiosk-like structures. In plan they measure 8ft 4in by 7ft 10in and stand 9ft above ground level. The foundations of the building are constructed of 3ft thick mass concrete. The walls are of cavity wall construction and are formed of solid concrete blocks, while the roof is a flat over-hanging reinforced concrete slab with a drip mould, and is covered with bituminous felt. The design drawing (Drg. No. 3563B/52) shows a variety of irregular roof plans designed to disguise the structures from the air. These were never built, all the roofs being rectangular in plan.
Fittings on the walls indicate that they were all originally protected by copper earthing straps. On the front of many of the stores a stencilled notice records ''Date of last lightning conductor test April - 63''. Internally the walls are finished in unpainted, smooth gritless plaster. The side and rear walls are ventilated by four small controllable ventilators, two at the base of the wall and two at the top. In the floor of each of the Type 'A' stores is a single keyhole shaped cavity. Each hole is 1ft 5in in diameter and 1ft 9in deep. The shaft of the hole measures 10in wide and is 8in long and is shallower than the main hole at 3½in. A scar around the hole suggests it originally contained a vessel with the asphalt brought up around its lip. This is confirmed by the survival of the surrounding lip in similar stores at RAF Faldingworth, Lincolnshire, and by the rare survival of a number of stainless steel vessels at the bomb store at RAF Gaydon, Warwickshire.
The electrical system of each store was contained within small bore metal pipes; circular junction boxes led to other electrical fittings, which have in most cases been removed. In a number of the stores 'Walsall' Type 1174X flameproof switch boxes remained. On their covers is cast ''5 Amp 250 Volt Flameproof switchbox type Walsall 1174BX Group 2 FLP 302 Group 3 Test P60 Isolate supply elsewhere before removing this cover''. A small formica sign confirmed that ''The electrical installation in this building is standard 'A' in accordance with AP 2608A''. All the stores originally had external fuse boxes to the left of their doors.
The doors are wooden and open outwards, their outer faces being protected by a steel sheet. They are secured by a combination lock and internal vertical locking bar operated by an external handle. A metal fitting in the path allowed the door to be secured half ajar. Above the door, and attached to its frame, is a spring-loaded electrical contact, which probably recorded on the control board in building 63 whether or not the door was open or closed. Externally and internally the doors are painted light blue. On the door of building No. 1 is a 1ft diameter radiation symbol in yellow and out-lined in black, below it is a 11½in yellow square with a black star at its centre.
The Type 'B' store buildings 49-57 are slightly larger than the Type 'A' measuring 9ft 7in by 7ft 10n. Otherwise the details of the stores are identical to the smaller stores. The principle difference between the two types of structures is that the Type 'B ' had two storage holes in their floors. Each of these buildings was also equipped with a small wooden counter adjacent to the doors; the counters measure 2ft 6in by 1ft 6in and standing 4ft tall. They have been removed from stores 53 and 55. At some point during the operational life of the station the holes in the floors of all the Type 'B' stores were filled and covered by gritless asphalt. The asphalt surfaces in the stores are continuous, often with a slight depression marking the position of the holes, which implies that the original floor was lifted and new floors laid. The holes in store 52 have been reopened, as indicated by fragments of the asphalt surface thrown back into the holes. This is in contrast to RAF Faldingworth where the holes have been left open.
In total there were enough holes to store 66 fissile cores. One source states that the single hole stores contained plutonium cores, while the double-hole stores were, used for cobalt cores. Currently available documentation does not reveal if one fissile core may be equated with one bomb, or if a bomb contained more than one fissile core. Recent research has shown that Britain probably produced no more than twenty Blue Danube warheads, with this number on the active stockpile between 1957 and 1961. It is therefore likely that no more than a handful of weapons were stored at RAF Barnham at anyone time.
The significance of the filling of the holes in the Type 'B' stores is also unclear. It may coincide with the withdrawal of the first generation nuclear weapon, ''Blue Danube'', and the deployment second generation atomic bomb, ''Red Beard'' (from 1961), or it may be related to the introduction of first British hydrogen bomb, ''Yellow Sun'' (from 1958). Given the number of available nuclear warheads in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, it is unlikely that the RAF Barnham store was ever full. Part of RAF Barnham's function, along with other bomb stores, was to convince the Soviet Union that Britain had more nuclear weapons at her disposal than was in fact the case.
Information sourced from English Heritage.
The Meigs Creek Coal (a.k.a. Sewickley Coal) is a horizontally bedded bituminous coal horizon in the Upper Pennsylvanian Monongahela Group of eastern Ohio, USA.
Immediately underlying the coal bed is an "underclay", a silty shale that's been subjected to sulfuric acid alteration by the oxidation of pyrite in the coal bed and downward percolation of rainwater and groundwater.
Locality: Narrows Run North outcrop - roadcut on the western side of Rt. 7, just north of Narrows Run (an east-flowing tributary of the Ohio River), northeastern York Township, southeastern Belmont County, Ohio, USA
University of Southampton Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics,
School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, "Bituplaning: A Low Dry Friction Phenomenon of New Bituminous Road Surfaces" By John Charles Bullas BSc MSc MIAT MIHT FGS May 2007 Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
University of Southampton Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics,
School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, "Bituplaning: A Low Dry Friction Phenomenon of New Bituminous Road Surfaces" By John Charles Bullas BSc MSc MIAT MIHT FGS May 2007 Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Cannel coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (7.2 cm across at its widest)
Cannel coal is a scarce, fossil spore-rich variety of coal - it is hard and weathering-resistant, has a velvety to satiny luster, little to no stratification, and a conchoidal fracture. The differences in physical characterstics between cannel coal and other ranks of coal (lignite, bituminous, anthracite) are due to the organic matter content. Cannel coals are composed principally of fossil spores (sporinite phytoclasts). Garden-variety coals are composed principally of a mix of altered fragmented plant debris that was originally woody tissue, leaves, bark, fungi, and spores. Cannel coals are generally interpreted to have formed in pond, lagoon, or channel facies within a larger coal swamp setting.
This eastern Ohio sample is from the Bedford Coal in the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).
The Bedford Coal occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone, which is often a flint-dominated interval. Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.
The sample shown above is not high-quality cannel.
Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)
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For more info. on cannel coal in general, see:
Balmedie Quarry opened in 1919 just outside the village of Belhelvie in Aberdeenshire which is 7 miles to the North of the city of Aberdeen. Covering an area of betweenn 6.41-6.58 hectares it produces a large volume and range of Bituminous mixtures characterised as Asphalt concrete and Hot rolled asphalts. Some of which were used in the road between Ellon and the Bridge of Don.
Aberdeenshire Council have owned this since 1932.
Balmedie Quarry opened in 1919 just outside the village of Belhelvie in Aberdeenshire which is 7 miles to the North of the city of Aberdeen. Covering an area of betweenn 6.41-6.58 hectares it produces a large volume and range of Bituminous mixtures characterised as Asphalt concrete and Hot rolled asphalts. Some of which were used in the road between Ellon and the Bridge of Don.
Aberdeenshire Council have owned this since 1932.
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. Many coal ranks exist, such as lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and bituminous coal. Other varieties include cannel coal, canneloid coal, bone coal, and stone coal. Seen here is anthracite coal, which is a metamorphic variety, the result of very low grade metamorphism ("anchimetamorphism") of ordinary coal. The iridescent coating makes the coal quite colorful, resulting in the term "peacock coal". I have yet to see specific, convincing information about the identity of iridescent coatings on peacock coal, but I strongly suspect it's turgite (= hydrous iron oxide).
Provenance: unrecorded/undisclosed (purchased from a gift shop at the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine in Ashland, Pennsylvania, USA)
Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).
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Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):
Origin of Coal
Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.
Formation of Coal
The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.
Rank of Coal
The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.
Bituminous
Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.
In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.
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This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.
Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous
Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA
Charcoal debris horizon in bituminous coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.
This fossiliferous coal sample is from the Pottsville Group of eastern Ohio. The Pottsville Group is a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Limestone horizon (?).
This is a sample of weathered bituminous coal with abundant pieces of compressed fossil charcoal (= blackish-colored chunks). The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder.
Stratigraphy: float apparently derived from the Lower Mercer Coal (= Number 3 Coal), just below the Boggs Limestone, middle Pottsville Group, lower Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: loose piece near the base of Mt. Pleasant North Outcrop - roadcut on the eastern side of Rt. 93, just north of the town of Mt. Pleasant, southern Washington Township, southern Hocking County, southeastern Ohio, USA (39° 23' 51.35" North latitude, 82° 27' 14.15" West)
Pyritized charcoal in weathered coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (field of view: ~5.1 cm across)
This rock is from the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).
The sample is derived from the Bedford Coal, a horizon that occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone (or Upper Mercer Flint). Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.
At this locality, the Bedford Coal consists of cannel coal and bituminous coal. This specimen is weathered bituminous coal with pieces of compressed fossil charcoal. The dull brassy gold-colored piece of charcoal just below the center is pyritized. The lustrous black area at top is non-pyritized charcoal. The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder. Sometimes, the fossil charcoal is partially pyritized.
Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)
Destroyed 2004.
In preparation for the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme of the 1930s, this hut was built for the SEC in the summer of 1932-3 to accommodate the snow research program manager, the resident engineer for the scheme{ Lawrence: 25,32 states 1933-4 and 1932-3 as const. date?}. The cottage was sited next to a hydro-meteorological station, set on stilts above the snow in the same year{ Carlyon}. This was not a refuge hut but a permanent residence for all of the year. The hut was designed by WE Gower (later SEC Chief Architect) and built by Joe Holston and C Jassund{ Carlyon, other sources say builder was Bill Spargo and designer, GT Dyson}. The materials for the hut were carted on a sled or pack horse by High Plains cattleman, Wally Ryder, and his brother-in-law, George Hobbs, along what is now the Alpine Walking Track from Mt Hotham{ ibid.; Holth & Holth: 110; VOM: 25; Carlyon says only Hobbs}. They had successfully tendered for the job in 1932{ VOM}. The frame was of Oregon, the weatherboards stained, the roof clad with bituminous felt layers placed over timber T&G decking, the interior lined with `Caniete' or a similar composite board, and the timber casement windows were double-glazed{ ibid.}. A photograph by Weston taken in December 1932 shows the hut in construction with the stud frame visible, the chimney built and the felt going in over the roof with purlins placed on top appearing ready to receive corrugated iron{ copy held at hut; compare with above roof cladding description}. A large shed with a thatch and canvas roof was built about 20m from the hut, housing wood, stores and an earth-drying stove (reputedly done during the Trimble occupation, c1942-6){ ibid.}. The work was sanctioned in 1932 after pioneering SEC weatherman, Joe Holston, had been operating from Wallace's Hut and later, the Pretty Valley Hut, from c1928{ Napier: 36}. Federal money and Bureau of Meteorology assistance was won and these two early huts were a base for construction of this building. Snow pole lines were established from Pretty Valley to Mt Cope and from Wallace's down Fall's Creek to allow weather station construction. The work carried out there included operation of a meteorological station at the cottage, measuring the snow depth and density along two pole lines, and operating stream gauging stations in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. The engineers included TO Olsen (1933-4), a Swiss engineer Adrian Rufenacht (1934-6), a Norwegian Martin Romuld (1936-42) and Stan Trimble until the program ceased in 1946{ ibid.; Napier: 37}. Olsen was reputedly a `brilliant engineer', the co-builder of this hut and the instigator of the research programme{ see Napier: 37}. He was credited as being the one of the masterminds behind the Snowy Mountains hydro-electricity scheme{ Holth & Holth: 110-}. Romuld, on the other hand, was a champion skier, constructing a ski-jump and a grass tennis court near the hut during his residency{ ibid.; Carlyon states that the court is still apparent by the collapsed wire mesh and posts}. The tennis court was reputedly the venue for a tournament which attracted some 39 entrants, drawn from the SEC camps in the area{ Lawrence: 33}. SEC worker, Warrand Begg, described life at the weather station under Olsen in the 1930s, himself resident at Cope Hut: `A very comfortable, if somewhat compact house has been built in which lived the engineer, Mr Olsen, Mrs Olsen and their son, Lasse{ Napier: 38}…I had to ski to work each morning (1 mile). The scope of the work carried out at the station is very wide; in addition to standard meteorological work… it also covers a detailed study of the behaviour of the water (including snow) both on and in the ground and to take samples of the soil every foot. These samples were taken to the station where the moisture content was determined..'{ ibid.}. Begg would go with Olsen or alone to inspect the weather stations on the pole line, going down to Roper's Hut or Pretty Valley{ ibid.}. The pioneering alpine ecological research done by Maisie Fawcett was undertaken from this (staying with the Trimbles) and the Rover Scout hut in the early 1940s{ Gillbank: 224}. Special radio broadcasts (both in English and coded) from 3UZ to the battery powered wireless at the cottage were a feature of each night 6.45-7.00 pm{ Carlyon}. During Trimble's occupation, in 1946, the hut was covered by a snow drift and the family trapped. Only the chimney tops of the hut were visible but the arrival of Rover Scouts meant the family's rescue although it took some 5 days to dig them out, with cracked rafters and a leaning hut as one result{ Holth, COTHC: 116}. The drift was thought to be caused by the lack of trees on the hill near the hut, allowing drifts to build up{ Carlyon}. The store which had been erected at the Cottage, reputedly during Trimble's time, was to become a storeroom for the Rover Scouts{ ibid.}. Access to stores for the building's occupiers was made a little easier when the Fitzgeralds cut a pack track for the SEC from Shannonvale{ Carlyon}. In the Trimble era, the porch was removed and in its place a bunk room was built, with a long entry passage: this was connected via a covered way to the shed{ Carlyon}. Regarded as luxurious by the local cattlemen, the hut had an attic level and had hot and cold running water{ ibid.}. Nevertheless it was pictured in `The Alps at the Crossroads' as a typical gabled weatherboarded hut form (now clad with metal sheet), albeit with an attic window, and a skillion entry annexe in the place of the typical verandah. The corrugated iron cladding of the skillion vestibule has however remained. Two metal chimneys were visible; the one at the south end since replaced by the kitchen alcove{ Johnson: 118}. The south kitchen window shown has also been replaced. The hut was sold in 1948 to the Victorian Ski Club and renamed Wilkinson Lodge, Wilkinson Robert Wood Wilkinson, best known as 'Wilkie, was indisputably the 'Father figure' of Victorian skiing. He first visited the snow at Mount Buffalo in 1909, at the age of thirty-five years, and was fifty when he joined the Ski Club of Victoria as one of its earliest members, in 1924. He had an immense influence on the Club in its formative years and played a prominent part in some of the earliest trips of exploration "Robert Wood Wilkinson was born at Talbot (Victoria) in 1874, and was at the age of sixteen apprenticed to his father, who was at that time a chemist at Maryborough. Mr Wilkinson led the first party across the Bogong High Plains in the winter of 1926, pioneering Mt Nelse on the same trip. In 1927, with Jack Docherty, he was the first to climb Mt Fainter on ski. Again, in 1929, Mr Wilkinson, with a party from the Club, were the first to climb Mt McKay on ski. As a photographer, he was known far and wide. Cope Hut, on the Bogong High Plains, as well as the lines of snow poles were the outcome of his untiring efforts. As long as people ski in Victoria the name of Robert Wilkinson should be remembered, because of his devotion to the sport, and his untiring efforts to assist the Ski Club of Victoria in its growth and activities." Robert Wood Wilkinson died on May 22, 1939. The hut was resold some 12 years later to the Melbourne Bushwalkers club{ Lawrence: 25 says 1948; Lloyd: 294 says 1949 but shows cheque dated 1948}. Johnson, in `The Alps at the Crossroads' gives the purchase date as 1959, noting that club member Darrel Sullivan (and later Doug Pocock) organised and `..carried out extensive renovations' to the hut{ Johnson: 118}. Sullivan and Art Terry led club work parties who maintained the Long Hill-Crinoline and Gillio's Tracks{ ibid.}. In 1983, the National Parks Service described the building as an old SEC hut which had been purchased and, afterwards, maintained and occupied solely by the Melbourne Bushwalking Club (locked). It was in good condition but offered no public refuge: they recommended that some space in the hut be provided for refuge after negotiations with the club{ NPS (1983): 47}. ....'
Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).
----------------------------------
Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):
Origin of Coal
Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.
Formation of Coal
The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.
Rank of Coal
The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.
Bituminous
Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.
In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.
----------------------------------
This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.
Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous
Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA
Cannel coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (bedding plane view; ~11.8 centimeters across along the base)
Cannel coal is a scarce, fossil spore-rich variety of coal - it is hard and weathering-resistant, has a velvety to satiny luster, little to no stratification, and a conchoidal fracture. The differences in physical characterstics between cannel coal and other ranks of coal (lignite, bituminous, anthracite) are due to the organic matter content. Cannel coals are composed principally of fossil spores (sporinite phytoclasts). Garden-variety coals are composed principally of a mix of altered fragmented plant debris that was originally woody tissue, leaves, bark, fungi, and spores. Cannel coals are generally interpreted to have formed in pond, lagoon, or channel facies within a larger coal swamp setting.
This eastern Ohio sample is from the Bedford Coal in the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).
The Bedford Coal occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone, which is often a flint-dominated interval. Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.
Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)
---------------
For more info. on cannel coal in general, see:
Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).
----------------------------------
Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):
Origin of Coal
Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.
Formation of Coal
The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.
Rank of Coal
The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.
Bituminous
Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.
In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.
----------------------------------
This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.
Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous
Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA
Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).
----------------------------------
Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):
Origin of Coal
Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.
Formation of Coal
The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.
Rank of Coal
The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.
Bituminous
Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.
In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.
----------------------------------
This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.
Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous
Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. Many coal ranks exist, such as lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and bituminous coal. Other varieties include cannel coal, canneloid coal, bone coal, and stone coal. Seen here is anthracite coal, which is a metamorphic variety, the result of very low grade metamorphism ("anchimetamorphism") of ordinary coal. The iridescent coating makes the coal quite colorful, resulting in the term "peacock coal". I have yet to see specific, convincing information about the identity of iridescent coatings on peacock coal, but I strongly suspect it's turgite (= hydrous iron oxide).
Provenance: unrecorded/undisclosed (purchased from a gift shop at the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine in Ashland, Pennsylvania, USA)
The Meigs Creek Coal (a.k.a. Sewickley Coal) is a horizontally-bedded & laminated bituminous coal horizon in the Upper Pennsylvanian Monongahela Group of eastern Ohio, USA.
Locality: Narrows Run North outcrop - roadcut on the western side of Rt. 7, just north of Narrows Run (an east-flowing tributary of the Ohio River), northeastern York Township, southeastern Belmont County, Ohio, USA
Fossil charcoal in bituminous coal from the Pennsylvanian of Kentucky, USA. (bedding plane view; field of view 8.0 to 8.5 cm across)
This is a sample of bituminous coal from a large roadcut north of the town of Jackson, Kentucky. The outcrop has Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic sedimentary rocks of the Breathitt Group (formerly the Breathitt Formation). The succession is dominated by interbedded sandstones and shales, with some coal horizons. The latter include bituminous coal and cannel coal (see elsewhere in this photo album).
The striated, shiny silvery pieces seen on this coal bedding plane are fossil charcoal (= burned wood fragments). The Pennsylvanian was a time of low carbon dioxide (CO2) and high oxygen (O2) levels in Earth's atmosphere; forest fires were relatively common events. The source of oxygen was abundant photosynthesizing trees in widespread forests. Earth's first global forestation event occurred during the Pennsylvanian. (See: www.jsjgeology.net/Berner-talk.htm). Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder. At some localities & in some horizons, the fossil charcoal is partially pyritized.
Stratigraphy: float from the Pikeville Formation, Breathitt Group, lower Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: Jackson North outcrop - loose piece from coal bed exposed in the wall above the 1st bench on the southern side of a large roadcut on the eastern side of new Rt. 15, just south of the southbound old Rt. 15-new Rt. 15 split, north of the town of Jackson, north-central Breathitt County, eastern Kentucky, USA (~37° 34’ 51” North latitude, ~83° 23’ 09” West longitude)
In order to feed Big Boy's voracious appetite for coal, a large Stoker was used. This was like a cork screw, or auger, that pulled coal from the tender, broke it up, churned it through a large diameter pipe leading from the tender to the Fire Box and shot it into the fire. A fireman could never shovel fast enough to feed the engine. Big Boy ate an average of 122,500 lbs of water (12,500 gallons) and 22 tons (44,000 lbs) of semi-bituminous coal per hour!
The Meigs Creek Coal (a.k.a. Sewickley Coal) is a horizontally bedded bituminous coal horizon in the Upper Pennsylvanian Monongahela Group of eastern Ohio, USA.
Immediately underlying the coal bed is an "underclay", a silty shale that's been subjected to sulfuric acid alteration by the oxidation of pyrite in the coal bed and downward percolation of rainwater and groundwater. The beds above the coal horizon are part of the Benwood Limestone, a succession of interbedded nonmarine, lacustrine limestons and shales (mudshales and mudrocks).
Locality: Narrows Run North outcrop - roadcut on the western side of Rt. 7, just north of Narrows Run (an east-flowing tributary of the Ohio River), northeastern York Township, southeastern Belmont County, Ohio, USA
A print (1835).
5 3/4 x 9 in. (sheet)
Published with Samuel P. Hildreth's article Observations on the bituminous coal deposits of the valley of the Ohio, and the accompanying rock strata : with notices of the fossil organic remains and the relics of vegetable and animal bodies, in The American Journal of Science and Arts, volume 29, number 1.
Used courtesy of the Periodicals Department, Cleveland Public Library.
The article included 38 plates, mostly of fossils found in the coal. They represent a most interesting historical record.
Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).
----------------------------------
Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):
Origin of Coal
Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.
Formation of Coal
The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.
Rank of Coal
The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.
Bituminous
Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.
In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.
----------------------------------
This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.
Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous
Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA
University of Southampton Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics,
School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, "Bituplaning: A Low Dry Friction Phenomenon of New Bituminous Road Surfaces" By John Charles Bullas BSc MSc MIAT MIHT FGS May 2007 Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Fossil charcoal in weathered coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (~8.8 cm across at its widest)
This rock is from the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).
The sample is derived from the Bedford Coal, a horizon that occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone (or Upper Mercer Flint). Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.
At this locality, the Bedford Coal consists of cannel coal and bituminous coal. This specimen is weathered bituminous coal with pieces of compressed fossil charcoal (= striated structures). The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder. Sometimes, the fossil charcoal is partially pyritized.
Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)
This is a 30-foot (9.1 m) bridal veil waterfall on Cucumber Run, a small creek which flows into the Youghiogheny River.
Water cascades over a lip of coarse-grained sandstone of the Allegheny Formation at Ohiopyle State Park. Beneath the sandstone, finer-grained rocks including shale and a thin coal bed are visible. The Allegheny Formation is an important coal-bearing formation in western Pennsylvania.
The name of the stream, Cucumber Run, by the way, isn't because it is shaped like a cucumber, is the color of a cucumber, or has the smell of a cucumber. Actually the name has nothing to do with cucumbers at all. Cucumber Run is named for the abundance of one species of magnolia tree, the cucumber magnolia ( Magnolia acuminate ), that still is found in the watershed.
The rock formation that gives rises to Cucumber Falls is the Pottsville Sandstone or Pottsville Formation. The Pennsylvanian (323.2 million years ago to 298.9 million years ago) Pottsville Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio. The formation is also recognized in Alabama. It is a major ridge-former in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians of the eastern United States. The Pottsville Formation is conspicuous at many sites along the Allegheny Front, the eastern escarpment of the Allegheny or Appalachian Plateau.
The Pottsville Formation consists of a gray conglomerate, fine to coarse grained sandstone, and is known to contain limestone, siltstone and shale, as well as anthracite and bituminous coal. It is considered a classic orogenic molasse. The formation was first described from a railroad cut south of Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/field/pnhp/pnhpsites/cucumbe...
triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/focus/s_539295.html#axzz36v...
Cannel coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (8.5 cm across at its widest)
Cannel coal is a scarce, fossil spore-rich variety of coal - it is hard and weathering-resistant, has a velvety to satiny luster, little to no stratification, and a conchoidal fracture. The differences in physical characterstics between cannel coal and other ranks of coal (lignite, bituminous, anthracite) are due to the organic matter content. Cannel coals are composed principally of fossil spores (sporinite phytoclasts). Garden-variety coals are composed principally of a mix of altered fragmented plant debris that was originally woody tissue, leaves, bark, fungi, and spores. Cannel coals are generally interpreted to have formed in pond, lagoon, or channel facies within a larger coal swamp setting.
This eastern Ohio sample is from the Bedford Coal in the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).
The Bedford Coal occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone, which is often a flint-dominated interval. Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.
The sample shown above is not high-quality cannel. The nodule at lower right is pyrite. Since collection of the specimen, the nodule has been experiencing pyrite disease - white powder is forming (= iron sulfate).
Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)
---------------
For more info. on cannel coal in general, see:
The Meigs Creek Coal (a.k.a. Sewickley Coal) is a horizontally bedded bituminous coal horizon in the Upper Pennsylvanian Monongahela Group of eastern Ohio, USA.
Immediately underlying the coal bed is an "underclay", a silty shale that's been subjected to sulfuric acid alteration by the oxidation of pyrite in the coal bed and downward percolation of rainwater and groundwater.
Locality: Narrows Run North outcrop - roadcut on the western side of Rt. 7, just north of Narrows Run (an east-flowing tributary of the Ohio River), northeastern York Township, southeastern Belmont County, Ohio, USA
University of Southampton Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics,
School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, "Bituplaning: A Low Dry Friction Phenomenon of New Bituminous Road Surfaces" By John Charles Bullas BSc MSc MIAT MIHT FGS May 2007 Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Cannel coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (bedding plane view; ~8.8 centimeters along the base)
Cannel coal is a scarce, fossil spore-rich variety of coal - it is hard and weathering-resistant, has a velvety to satiny luster, little to no stratification, and a conchoidal fracture. The differences in physical characterstics between cannel coal and other ranks of coal (lignite, bituminous, anthracite) are due to the organic matter content. Cannel coals are composed principally of fossil spores (sporinite phytoclasts). Garden-variety coals are composed principally of a mix of altered fragmented plant debris that was originally woody tissue, leaves, bark, fungi, and spores. Cannel coals are generally interpreted to have formed in pond, lagoon, or channel facies within a larger coal swamp setting.
This eastern Ohio sample is from the Bedford Coal in the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).
The Bedford Coal occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone, which is often a flint-dominated interval. Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.
Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)
---------------
For more info. on cannel coal in general, see:
"First Mining of Pittsburgh coal:
This State's bituminous coal industry was born about 1760 on Coal Hill, now Mount Washington. Here the Pittsburgh coal bed was mined to supply Fort Pitt. This was eventually to be judged the most valuable individual mineral deposit in the U.S."
No wonder Pittsburgh became such a wealthy city.
My friends and I didn't spend much time in Pittsburgh at all. I hope to return to Pittsburgh for a proper visit in a few years.
If you like what you're seeing, I recommend you to take a look of my friend Brandon's photoset of the beautiful city via this link:
Anthracite coal from the Pennsylvanian of Pennsylvania, USA.
Anthracite coal is the highest-rank of coal. It forms by very low-grade metamorphism (anchimetamorphism) of bituminous coal. Anthracite is always black-colored, with a glassy texture, and is harder and heavier than other coals, although it is still relatively soft and lightweight for its size. In comparison with lignite and bituminous coal, anthracite is less sooty to the touch. Anthracite burns hotter than other coal types, due to its high carbon content (~90% C). It is also the cleanest-burning of all the coal ranks.
Anthracite is a scarce variety of coal. The highest concentration of anthracite on Earth is in the Pennsylvanian-aged coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania, USA. There is still some uncertainty in the details about the origin of Pennsylvania anthracite coal. In Colorado, an anthracite coal deposit occurs next to an igneous intrusion - the anthracite formed by heating from contact or hydrothermal metamorphism. It's been suggested that Pennsylvania anthracite was hydrothermally metamorphosed. The anthracite in Pennsylvania was originally deposited in coal swamps that were relatively high on ancient alluvial plains - those environments are usually not preserved in mountain belts (they get uplifted and eroded). In Pennsylvania, the high alluvial plain facies were downdropped and got preserved, resulting in anthracites representing different facies from those seen in bituminous coal fields.
Age: Pennsylvanian
Locality: unrecorded/undisclosed site at or near the town of Hazelton (probably a coal mine), eastern Pennsylvania, USA
Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).
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Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):
Origin of Coal
Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.
Formation of Coal
The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.
Rank of Coal
The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.
Bituminous
Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.
In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.
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This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.
Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous
Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA
Fossil charcoal in weathered coal from the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA. (~8.1 cm across at its widest)
This rock is from the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).
The sample is derived from the Bedford Coal, a horizon that occurs just below the Upper Mercer Limestone (or Upper Mercer Flint). Lithologically, the Bedford ranges from carbonaceous shale to argillaceous coal to bituminous coal to cannel coal. The cannel coal in the Bedford was targeted for mining in the 1800s as a source of fuel. It was particularly useful in the manufacture of kerosene, an illuminating fuel. After the petroleum industry started in the 1860s, production of kerosene from cannel coal essentially ceased.
At this locality, the Bedford Coal consists of cannel coal and bituminous coal. This specimen is weathered cannel coal with compressed fossil charcoal (= highly lustrous black areas). The Pennsylvanian was a time of relatively high atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels, and forest fires were relatively common events. Charcoalized fossil wood can be found in some abundance in Pennsylvanian sedimentary successions. The original wood microstructure is usually well preserved, but the charcoal fragments themselves are quite delicate. A gentle rub with a finger turns these fragments into black powder. Sometimes, the fossil charcoal is partially pyritized.
Stratigraphy: Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian
Locality: Tunnel Hill North Portal Outcrop (= Noland Tunnel's northern portal), ~1.75 air miles north-northeast of the town of Tunnel Hill, western Coshocton County, eastern Ohio, USA (~40° 16’ 33.27” North latitude, ~82° 01’ 53.04” West longitude)
Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).
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Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):
Origin of Coal
Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.
Formation of Coal
The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.
Rank of Coal
The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.
Bituminous
Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.
In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.
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This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.
Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous
Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA
Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).
----------------------------------
Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):
Origin of Coal
Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.
Formation of Coal
The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.
Rank of Coal
The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.
Bituminous
Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.
In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.
----------------------------------
This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.
Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous
Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA
Bituminous coal from the Cretaceous of Utah, USA.
Coal is a carbon-rich, biogenic sedimentary rock. It forms by the burial and alteration of organic matter from fossil land plants that lived in ancient swamps. Coal starts out as peat. With increasing burial and diagenetic alteration, peat becomes lignite coal, sub-bituminous coal, and then bituminous coal. Bituminous coals tend to break and weather in a blocky fashion, are relatively sooty to the touch, and are harder and heavier than lignite coal (but still relatively soft and lightweight). Discernible plant fossil fragments may be present on bituminous coal bedding planes - sometimes in abundance. Bituminous coals commonly have irregular patches of shiny, glassy-textured organic matter (vitrain).
----------------------------------
Info. from public signage at Wittenberg University's Geology Department (Springfield, Ohio, USA):
Origin of Coal
Coal is formed from accumulated vegetation that grew in peat-forming swamps on broad lowlands that were near sea level. Cyclothems indicate that the land must have been at a "critical level" since the change from marine to non-marine sediments shows that the seas periodically encroached upon the land.
Formation of Coal
The change from plant debris to coal involves biochemical action producing partial decay, preserval of this material from further decay, and later dynamochemical processes. The biochemical changes involve attack by bacteria which liberate volatile constituents, and the preserval of the residual waxes and resins in the bottom of the swamps where the water is too toxic for the decay-promoting bacteria to live. The accumulated material forms "peat bogs". The dynamochemical process involves further chemical reactions produced by the increased pressure and temperature brought about by the weight of sediment that is deposited on top of it. These reactions are also ones in which the volatile constituents are driven off.
Rank of Coal
The different types of coal are commonly referred to in terms of rank. From lowest upward, they are peat (actually not a coal), lignite, bituminous, and anthracite. The rank of the coal is the result of the different amounts of pressure and time involved in producing the coal.
Bituminous
Bituminous coal is a dense, dark, brittle, banded coal that is well jointed and breaks into cubical or prismatic blocks and does not disintegrate upon exposure to air. Dull and bright bands and smooth and hackly layers are evident. It ignites easily, burns with a smoky yellow flame, has low moisture contnet, medium volatile content, and fixed carbon and heating content is high. It is the most used and most desired coal in the world for industrial uses.
In the United States, the Northern Appalachian fields lead in production, followed by the interior fields of the Midwest.
----------------------------------
This sample comes from Utah's Bronco Mine, which reportedly started in the 1880s. The coal ranks as high-volatile C bituminous coal, which means it gives off less heat than high-volatile A or B bituminous coals. The former gives off about 11,500 British thermal units (Btu) of heat per pound of coal. The latter two give off about 14,000 and 13,000 Btu per pound, respectively.
Stratigraphy: coal horizon in the Ferron Sandstone Member, Mancos Shale, Upper Cretaceous
Locality: Bronco Mine (= Emery Deep Mine), Emery County, central Utah, USA