Lacustrine delta deposits and their effects on coal mining in a surface mine in Derbyshire, England

Abstract

Five late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) coal seams and associated inter-seam strata have been examined at Lodge House surface mine in the East Midlands Coalfield of England. Deposition of these coal seams and their accompanying inter-seam intervals occurred in an equatorial fluvio-lacustrine environment in an area approximately halfway between the depocentre and the southern margins of the Pennine Basin. Controls on the onset of inter-seam sedimentation and cessation of peat formation appear to have operated at two scales. Fourth order glacio-eustatic rises exerted the dominant control over formation of peats in laterally extensive mires. However, fifth order and smaller scale autocyclic mechanisms (specifically avulsion) are believed to have accompanied splitting of other seams close to, but beyond the confines of the mine.