Peat Accumulation and Early Carboniferous Environments of the Kizel Coal Basin, the Urals, Russia

Abstract

AbstractThe lithological and geochemical composition and conditions of formation of the coal‐bearing deposits of the Kizel Coal Basin in the Perm region of the Urals (central Russia) are described using the two most representative sections, Gubakha–Stary Most and Krestovaya Mountain, based on a detailed “layer‐by‐layer” technique. Brief characteristics of the Lower Carboniferous paleosols from fossil paleosol (FPS‐) profiles of the studied region are given. Special attention is paid to the parent vegetation of the coal‐forming processes, based on an analysis of both plant macrofossils and palynoflora. The peat accumulation in conditions of permanent incoming of clastic material from the Paleo‐Urals to the Kizel Basin was probably effective only in more or less stable environments, when the accumulated organic matter produced by plant mortmass was not dissolved by clastic particles. Thus, the conditions of coal‐forming are reconstructed as a forest swamp, where the main dominants are represented by lycopodiopsids of the order Lepidodendrales, predominantly Lepidodendron veltheimii. These plants in particular were the source of the initial organic matter for the peat (and later coal) of the Kizel Coal Basin.