Petrology of a suite of sedimentary rocks associated with some cole-bearing basins in northwestern Thailand

Abstract

A number of basins in northwestern Thailand contain thick sequences of Cenozoic sedimentary rocks. Oil shales and coals are prominent lithologies within these sequences and occur together in some basins. Most of the sequences are, however, dominated by either oil shales or coals. The major oil shale deposit is in the Mae Sot Basin but oil shales also occur in the Ban Huay Dua, Mae Moh, Ban Pa Ka Li, Mae Teep, Ban Na Hong and Jae Hom Basins. Drilling and detailed mapping, in the Mae Sot Basin indicate thick sequences of oil shales and organic petrological studies show that they contain abundant lamalginite. Trace amounts of telalginite, liptodetrinite, bitumen/resinite and huminite/inertinite are also present in some of the rocks. The parts of the sequences rich in authigenic minerals are, in general, petrographically similar to Green River Formation lamosites. Where clay/silt-sized epiclastics are more abundant, similarities exist to Australian Tertiary lamosites. Vitrinite reflectance date from the oil shales and associated coals indicate a low level of maturity. Oil shales from the other basins are, petrographically similar to the Mae Sot lamosites, however some differences do exist. The Mae Sot and other lamosites were deposited in lacustrine environments that probably had highly variable water depths.