Abstract
The structural relationship between the kerogen, humic acid and solvent extractable acid fractions in a Victorian brown coal pale lithotype have been examined by IR, solid state 13C-NMR, elemental analysis and pyrolysis-gas chromatography. The solvent extractable acids and the kerogen fractions are highly aliphatic which is somewhat unusual, whereas the humic acids are composed substantially of phenolic constituents of probable lignin origin. This coal lithotype is an unusual low rank coal because of its high humic acid content. Its repeated occurrence over the limited depth profile examined here precludes a variation in coalification effects. The data suggest independent biological origins for the humic acid and kerogen fractions, and at the current level of maturation, the humic acid to kerogen transformation is little advanced in the pale lithotype. The kerogen is surprisingly aliphatic which suggests a more open marine (or lacustrine) environment than previously supposed.
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