Abstract
A combined petrographical and geochemical study has been made on a per‐ sistent carbonate horizon from the Mansfield Marine Band, an important marker horizon in the Westphalian Coal Measures of the east Pennines. The composition of this carbonate is unusual for it normally consists of ankerite, but in some localities the carbonate is siderite and not ankerite. The position of the carbonate in the sedimentary cycle is discussed and the conclusion drawn that physicochemical conditions were suitable for the precipitation of CaC03 to occur. Furthermore the detrital material in the carbonate band continued to accumulate at a similar rate to the shales above and below the carbonate. The alteration of the CaC03 is thought to have been a diagenetic effect and the result of a change in the physicochemical environment. Variations in the concentration of dissolved sulphur species and their effect on the solubilities of iron and manganese provide an adequate mechanism to explain how CaC03 may alter to siderite on the one hand or ankerite on the other.
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