Sydney Coalfield Research Articles

Assessing water dynamics and net percolation rates within engineered cover systems for mine waste rock piles: A long-term field monitoring study

Mine waste rock piles (WRPs) typically contain trace sulfidic minerals that can react with the atmosphere and produce toxic acid mine drainage (AMD) leachate. Water flow through the waste rock affects both the chemistry and transport of the leachate, and a common remedial solution is the installation of engineered cover systems over the WRP to control net percolation (NP) into the waste rock. As NP is mainly controlled by meteorological conditions and the hydrological properties of cover materials, the water balance (WB) method can be employed to investigate NP and water dynamics within cover systems. However, studies on comprehensive WBs at full-scale WRPs have been limited, and most NP studies have relied on controlled, small-scale laboratory and field tests. This unique study contains the long-term field monitoring data at multiple WRPs needed to comprehensively assess NP rates within cover systems. Field monitoring data with high temporal resolution (hourly) was collected from 2012 to 2018 at four covered WRPs located within the Sydney Coalfield (Nova Scotia, Canada), consisting of one simple soil cover and three multi-layer covers lined with the same geomembrane but differing drainage layer materials. Each WB component – precipitation (PPT), evapotranspiration (ET), water/snow storage, surface runoff, and interflow – was determined, with the residual inferred to be NP into the waste rock. The simple soil cover was not very effective, only reducing NP from the pre-cover 34% PPT to 30% PPT. In contrast, the geomembrane-lined cover systems reduced NP to 4% PPT (no drainage layer), 1.6% PPT (thick gravel drainage), and 1.8% PPT (geocomposite drainage net). While ET and water/snow storage changes at all WRPs were similar, the biggest influence on NP was runoff and interflow. This study provides new field information on the performance of cover systems for controlling NP and water dynamics at full-scale WRPs.

“Lawless Coal Miners” and the Lingan Strike of 1882–1883

The Lingan strike of 1882–83 was the last in a series of strikes over a two-decade period on Cape Breton Island’s Sydney coalfield. With the use of untapped local sources, this article reconstructs the history of this understudied strike within a broader history of social relations on the coalfield. The migration of labourers from the island’s backland farms – predominantly from Highland enclave settlements – to the coal mines played a decisive role in shaping the era’s new coal mining villages and the character of social conflict. By the early 1880s, structural change associated with National Policy industrialism was eroding the old authority of the coal operators, and miners embraced the Provincial Workmen’s Association (pwa) to advance their claims in long-standing and highly localized contestations. Ultimately the coal communities themselves imposed the emergent trade unionism. The Lingan strike marked a transition to a new political order on the coalfield, structured by the place of the coal mines within the wider Cape Breton countryside and built upon a powerful localism and moral economy that recast the public sphere and the miners’ place in it.

Chemotaxonomy, biomechanics, and paleophysiology of Alethopteris ambigua and Neuropteris ovata var. simonii (Late Pennsylvanian, Canada). A chemometric approach

Medullosales was a highly diverse and ecologically differentiated group of plants that flourished in the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian tropical wetlands of Euramerica and China. Although the Medullosales have been extensively studied, some aspects of their life habits are still not fully understood. This study focuses on the relationships between chemical composition and biomechanical /physiological characteristics of the two largest-known frond segments of Alethopteris ambigua (45 cm long) and Neuropteris ovata var. simonii (65 cm long) from the Late Pennsylvanian of the Sydney Coalfield, Canada. Additionally, this study provides new data obtained from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis that, in conjunction with morphological features, could be used to efficiently distinguish species and genera of fossil plants. The density of the different frond parts is calculated using a 3D multivariate model derived from FTIR data. Tensile strength, tensile modulus of elasticity, flexural stiffness, and leaf mass per area for the different frond parts are estimated using trait relationships linking density and structural properties established for modern plant-leaf tissues. Key results include the cognition of continuous variation of geomacromolecular compounds throughout the different-order rachises and pinnules from proximal to distal frond sections. In the proposed, theoretical fronds, these diagenetically-modified biomacromolecules would represent tannin-, lignin-, and resin-related compounds. Overall, pinnules and rachises of A. ambigua are characterized by high contents of aliphatic-rich structures, whereas those of N. ovata are mostly aromatic in composition. The chemical composition of the two fronds is hierarchically partitioned, indicating density dependence on the frond parts. This is reflected in the metabolic construction costs that, in the two species, differ significantly among pinnules and rachises. These results indicate “flexibility” of resource allocation, resulting into two different, architectural frond designs. The costs of building harder, stiffer, and more expensive pinnules in the N. ovata frond are compensated for by the metabolically inexpensive rachises. The opposite holds for the A. ambigua frond, i.e., relatively cheaper pinnules and more expensive rachises. This reveals the complexity of the biomechanical and physiological strategies employed by these two taxa to construct mechanically resistant and physiologically efficient, longer-lived fronds. Results suggest that these plants were likely stress-tolerant and opportunistic colonizers that dominated eutrophic habitats, which were typical of some tropical ecosystems of the Late Pennsylvanian.

Assessing the importance of drainage layers over geomembrane liners within engineered cover systems: Seven years of field monitoring at three mine waste rock piles

Geomembrane liners are commonly subject to defects that can allow water leakage through these openings and significantly undermine their performance. While defects are difficult to prevent and characterize, minimization of potential leakage can still be attained with appropriate lateral drainage over the liner. The objective of this study is to assess the performance of different drainage layer materials within HDPE-lined cover systems at three mine waste rock piles (WRPs) in the Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada. Natural soil, clean gravel and a geocomposite net were employed at the Summit, Victoria Junction and Franklin WRPs, respectively. Extensive field monitoring of precipitation (PPT), moisture content within the cover materials, and head of water above the liner, was performed. The head of water and moisture was consistently high at Summit throughout the year, while consistently low at Victoria Junction and Franklin, with the geocomposite net being just as effective as the gravel layer. Using typical assumptions of defect size/number, leakage rates at Victoria Junction and Franklin remained very low due to limited water head and flow gradient. Therefore, while the prevention of defects is highly challenging at HDPE-lined cover systems, potential defect leakage can be proactively controlled during cover system design with the implementation of adequate drainage layers above the liner.

A new marattialean fern Diplazites campbellii sp. nov. and its in situ spores from the Pennsylvanian of the Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada

The eusporangiate fern order Marattiales are represented in the living flora by the family Marattiaceae but have an extensive fossil record stretching back to the Carboniferous. The family Psaroniaceae included important wetland plants in the Carboniferous and Permian. In this work we present a new member of the Psaroniaceae from the Lloyd Cove Seam of the Brogan's Mine, Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada dated to the Kasimovian Stage (lower Stephanian, Pennsylvanian) of the Carboniferous. The new fern is represented by a small specimen with distinctive fertile pinnules and reproductive organs including large synangia that possess a well-developed synangial sheath with a central parenchymatous filling. Small monolete in situ spores are compared to the dispersed miospore species Punctatosporites pygmaeus. Based on well preserved reproductive organs, we are proposing a new species Diplazites campbellii sp. nov. A new evolutionary model combining species that produced the smallest monolete spores and significant characters of their reproductive organs is suggested. Four following subgroups are suggested: the Unita, Hemitelioides, Multisporangiate and Crenulopteris.

Seminal Insights Concerning the Variety of Sidertic Structures and Variable Genesis and of Sideritic Occurrences: An Unexplored Source of Palaeontological Information (Sydney Coalfield, Middle Pennsylvanian, Canada)

Abstract Reported are descriptions of twelve samples representing a variety of sideritic structures, including nodules mostly from roof shale of the Middle Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield, Canada. The co-occurrence of fossiliferous nodules and compression fossils in the shaley roof rocks at Point Aconi enhance greatly palaeontological information. Newly discovered in a coal seam, and part of the sample, is a 40 mm thick continuous sheet-like layer of siderite with abundant permineralized-like-compressed small to micron-sized structures in a rather evenly-sized sideritic matrix, probably indicating a genetic origin different from that of the nodules. Methods include some thin-section, and two X-Ray analysis. However, large systematic sampling is a prerequisite to explore that situation, which additionally could provide faunal information for Euromerican correlation.

Seminal infrared-based chemometric analysis of oxygen-bearing structural groups in vitrain samples from ten successive coal seams (Sydney Coalfield, Canada)

Reported are seminal results of a systematic application of infrared spectrometry to a succession of coal seams in a Carboniferous basin from Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada. Fifty-four lithotypic vitrain samples from ten successive coal seams were analyzed by solid-state (potassium-bromide pellet method) Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and evaluated using principal-component analysis to explore chemical fingerprints of vitrain structural-group contents and distributions. At this level of sampling, the 3D principal-component analysis and ANOVA tests identified chemical structural-group changes related to relatively low contents of aliphatic and oxygen-bearing compounds. These probably confirm, for data represented by “younger” seams, the moderate thermal histories (0.75–0.90 Ro %) from which minimal diagenetic alterations are inferred in the preservation of fossils in the roof rocks of the coal seams. It is concluded that, throughout the lithostratigraphic column, the continual vertical changes in vitrain structural-group composition are related to some changes in the species diversity of the associated macroflora that filled niches in the peat-producing lower flood plains.

Assessing the long-term evolution of mine water quality in abandoned underground mine workings using first-flush based models

Coal mining activities can leave an extensive network of abandoned underground workings that gradually flood after operations cease. This rising mine water can eventually lead to uncontrolled releases of harmful acid mine drainage (AMD) to the environment. Treatment plants are used to extract and treat the mine water to maintain its elevation below suspected discharge points. Accurate predictions of long-term water quality, and treatment plant operations, are highly challenging due to the complexity and volume of the underground workings. As numerical models require considerable effort to effectively implement, empirical models that are based on the 'first-flush' phenomenon, where mine water concentrations peak shortly after flooding and then exponentially decline, may provide suitable long-term predictions. The objective of this study was to assess the robustness of first-flush based models for describing mine water behavior at large, complex mine pools in the Sydney Coalfield (Nova Scotia, Canada). Numerous mine pools across the coalfield flooded at various times over 100+ years, with extensive mine water quality data available in various pools of different ages. The historical evolution of mine water quality demonstrated first-flush behavior across key AMD indicator parameters (acidity, sulfate, iron), concentration ranges, and mine pool depths. Two ‘newer’ mine pools, which only flooded in the past 10–15 years, rely on an active treatment plant to manage mine water levels below environmental discharge points. Influent water quality from each mine pool was sampled bi-weekly between 2011 and 2022, and first-flush models were then applied to predict the future quality of mine water entering the treatment plant over the long-term. Knowledge on long-term influent quality can help to optimize treatment plant requirements and related expenses.

Note on the discovery of Carboniferous amber associated with the seed fern Linopteris obliqua, Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada

We report on a discovery of amber from the Carboniferous sedimentary rocks of the Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada. The amber occurs in the form of droplets and as a linear feature and ranges in colour from light brown to dark purple. The amber was found in situ in siltstone above the Middle Pennsylvanian Hub coal seam, where it was associated with abundantly abscised pinnules of the seed fern Linopteris obliqua. The amber specimens were analyzed by infrared spectrometry and their spectrochemical characteristics were compared with those of other fossil ambers. This discovery not only expands the inventory of amber to as old as ~300 million years, but also documents that Carboniferous seed ferns were able to utilize biosynthetic mechanisms to produce resinous exudates.

3D Chemometric Model Simulating the Acitheca Polymorpha Frond: Implications for Reconstructing Carboniferous Ferns (Marattiales, Canada)

Abstract Reported are results of an initial approximate imitation of a Carboniferous fern frond, i.e., marattialean Acitheca polymorpha (Schimper), Middle Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield, Canada. The simulation experiment is based on the analysis of 14 infrared spectra obtained by means of Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy from four detached fragments of sterile polymorphic penultimate-pinna compressions. The calculated relative, semi-quantitative, chemical data from the infrared spectra are the input for principal component analysis deriving a 3D (three-dimensional) chemometric model. To interpret it, the four specimens are placed in hypothetical-frond positions simulating a tripinnate frond, based on diminishing penultimate-rachial widths from 1-mm (distal) to 10-mm (proximal). Hypothetical conclusions include position-dependent chemistries, specifically that of opposing trends of aromaticity vs. aliphaticity in pinnules-rachises. This, in turn, would suggest potential for (i) fern-frond reconstruction, and (ii) for determination of a most likely frond position of fragmentary specimens by “chemical classification”; the predictive aspect. However, further experimental refinement is necessary particularly based on larger frond segments to confirm or disconfirm the overall hypothetical results.

Note on the only known record of a cupulate seed from the Middle Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada

The only known lyginopterid cupulate seed collected from the Middle Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield in Nova Scotia, Canada, comprises a coalified cupule surrounding an ovate structure 3×2 mm in size that is interpreted as an ovule. The ovule is white, reflecting its calcitic mode of preservation, and lacks cellular remains. As the specimen is incomplete, a detailed taxonomic determination is not possible, but its affinities lie within the lyginopterid (or hydrasperman) pteridosperms. This significant discovery of a lyginopterid pteridosperm aug-ments previous accounts of medullosalean pteridosperms from the flora of Sydney Coalfield.

Five dispersed medullosalean male organs, one species? Late Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield, Canada

Five dispersed medullosalean male organs, one species? Late Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield, Canada

Reproductive Biology of the Arborescent Seed-Fern Linopteris obliqua: Implications for Taxonomy (Medullosales, Late Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield, Canada)

Abstract A shaley slab (65 x 45 x 7 cm) from the Sydney Coalfield, Canada, Cantabrian age, on splitting apart revealed 2 – 3 layers each entombing thousands of abscised pinnules of Linopteris obliqua and eight dispersed compound-synangial structures. The campanulary-ventral-sporal micromorphology of the best preserved structure of these compares sufficiently well with previously reported structures from the Sydney Coalfield named Potoniea krisiae. Earlier studies involving larger sampling suites furthermore contributed to the observation that Hexagonocarpus sp. (female organ) and P. krisiae (male organ) usually co-occur with abscised L. obliqua pinnules; however, these two organs do not co-occur on isochronous bedding planes. In the absence of confirmatory organic attachments, the presented data provide as yet the strongest support for the hypothesis of the organs’ connectivity, but whether female-male trees existed or not, and the mode of attachment of the organs remain unknown. Hypothesized for the latter is pinnate attachment.

PRESERVATION OF NEUROPTERIS OVATA IN ROOF SHALE AND IN FLUVIAL CREVASSE-SPLAY FACIES (LATE PENNSYLVANIAN, SYDNEY COALFIELD, CANADA). PART I: AN INFRARED-BASED CHEMOMETRIC MODEL

ABSTRACTAnalytical questions relating to the influence of sedimentation on the preservation states of Carboniferous plant fossils are seldom addressed in the literature. Here we address specifically the influence facies differences have on preservation states and suggest how they can be analyzed. The case study involves the seed fern Neuropteris ovata (Hoffmann) that occurs as opaque pinnules in the roof shale and as transparent pinnules in an associated crevasse-splay of the basal Cantabrian in age, Point Aconi Coal Seam, Sydney Coalfield, Canada. The color differences imply different molecular pathways for organic matter transformation over geological time, which resulted in production of compression fossils in the roof shale and fossilized-cuticle in the crevasse-splay, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy methods are used to quantify functional groups, and the derived data are chemometrically evaluated. Results indicate that the compressions are, as anticipated, characterized in the crevasse-splay facies by a predominantly aromatic composition. The fossilized-cuticles, however, are mainly characterized by oxygen-containing aliphatics, confirming the influence of facies changes on preservation states of the species studied. Implications for preservation, taxonomy, and paleoecology are emphasized.

Complex trichomes associated with foliar Odontopteris schlotheimii Brongniart, Manebach type locality, Germany: Implication for taxonomy

Reported for the first time is a physical association of complex-structured trichomes with foliar Odontopteris schlotheimii Brongniart, 1831 from the type Manebach Formation, Germany. This is based on examining rock matrices dissolved by hydrofluoric acid of bipinnate and pinnate material. These trichomes and their inferred dense distribution, most significantly, are directly comparable with those of specimens of Odontopteris cantabrica Wagner, 1969 from the Canadian Sydney Coalfield used as index fossil to establish the Cantabrian Substage. This result is one strong argument that invites comparison with O. schlotheimii, in addition to the acknowledged common pinnule morphologies of O. cantabrica and O. schlotheimii.Additionally, trichomes are not observed in samples of the rock matrix of a fragmentary axis associated with Lesquereux’ specimen of O. schlotheimii (Southern Anthracite Field, eastern Pennsylvania, USA). Results of the trichomic comparison and taxonomic implication thereof will be discussed in a future paper.

Novel preservation state of Dolerotheca (medullosalean male organ) from the Late Pennsylvanian of the Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada

A new preservation state for the medullosalean male organ Dolerotheca is exemplified by a detached 31-mm sideritic mold with intact coalified compression from shale from the roof of a coal seam in the Sydney Coalfield, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Clearly recognizable in the specimen is the quadripartite campanulum. Furthermore, maceration yielded significant internal information on acellular, cuticular, stomatiferous and pubescent surfaces, and prepollen sacs with grains. Stomata are rare and of the cyclocytic type. The rectangular prepollen sacs occur as doubly paired rows of sporangia that are radially arranged, and contain ellipsoidal prepollen grains 400−520 μm long and circular prepollen grains 330−460 μm in diameter. The approximate ratio of circular to ellipsoidal grains is 1:2. Regardless of shape, the prepollen grains are attributable to the genus Monoletes. The circular grains bear vestigial trilete marks. Infrared-based functional-group chemistry distinguishes between the cover-type compression state and prepollen grains on the basis of higher aliphatic and oxygenated group contents in the grains. In summary, the specimen represents a novel state of nodular preservation with intact compression. Although the specimen is attributed to the genus Dolerotheca, specific assignment is not possible because of limited preservation and material.

The compound synangial organ Potoniea krisiae sp. nov. and its plausible relationship with linopterids based on cuticles from the Late Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield, Canada

Seven compression fossils of the compound synangial organ Potoniea sensu stricto are reported for the first time from Cantabrian-aged (late Moscovian) strata in the Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada. They occurred at a single locality, mostly in the proximo-distal repose position clearly showing sporangia overextending the distal-proximal surfaces, and with one specimen laterally compressed. Specimens were studied under SEM and sporangia were macerated to reveal in situ microspores. The organs are characterized as a compound synangial organs consisting a very narrow stalk, vascularized proximal cap and an outer cover of sporangial parts. Long, cylindrical sporangia are grouped with synangia, terminating as free sporangial tips that extend from the distal surface of the compound synangial organ. Sporangia are densely filled with trilete, verrucate to rugulate microspores of the Verrucosisporites type. Taxonomically significant is the potential of using the cuticles from the cap of the compound synangial organ that have continuously thick bifurcating veins and stomata to link with the associated linopterid foliar taxa Linopteris and Alethopteris occurring within the Sydney Coalfield. Problems are encountered from the non-availability of linopterid cuticles and the poor preservation of Potoniea cuticles. Considering the newly discovered features, the new species Potoniea krisiae sp. nov. is proposed.

Chemometric-based, 3D chemical-architectural model of Odontopteris cantabrica Wagner (Medullosales, Pennsylvanian, Canada): Implications for natural classification and taxonomy

The largest known (365 mm-long) specimen of Odontopteris cantabrica Wagner from the Late Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield in Canada was re-examined as part of the on-going research project “Chemistry and Architecture of Carboniferous Seed Ferns” to refine the 3D plant-reconstruction concept further in the framework of natural classification. The micromorphology and functional-group content and distribution of O. cantabrica are investigated by methods of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Results demonstrate that the specimen is naturally macerated, showing little or no cellular features. Two types of stomatal structures occurred, however: anomocytic on abaxial pinnule surfaces, and cyclocytic amphistomatically on the rachises. Hence, the frond was entirely photosynthetic. Chemometric analysis of the infrared data resulted not only in a 3D chemical model, but also confirmed the hypothesis of the chemical-architectural relationship in extinct medullosalean fronds. Further demonstrated is the predictive power of chemometrics for reconstruction, hence frond interpretation, in the absence of certain frond parts. Inferred from the collective data is a basally bifurcate and larger frond, of larger size than previously believed, which could indicate a self-supporting (arborescent) or semi self-supporting habit for the O. cantabrica plant. The concept of natural classification for plant fossils, underpinned by a holistic data approach, is proposed based on data from Neuropteris ovata var. simonii, Alethopteris ambigua, and O. cantabrica.

Density and biomechanical properties of fossil fronds. A case study of Neuropteris ovata (seed fern, Late Pennsylvanian, Canada)

A theoretical biomechanical model is proposed for the largest known 650 mm-long frond segment Neuropteris ovata var. simonii (Medullosales, Pennsylvanian, Sydney Coalfield, Canada). The study procedure includes, amongst others, a novel methodology for calculating density of fossil pinnules and rachides. This, in conjunction with the trait relationships and mathematical models that linked density and material/structural properties established for modern plant-leaf tissues, permits the estimation of tensile strength, tensile modulus of elasticity, flexural stiffness, and leaf mass per area. Results suggest that, theoretically, (a) the living frond invested a considerable amount of resources for the construction of metabolically expensive, hard, tough, and resistant pinnule and rachial tissues, which were “made to last”, and (b) were used as part of a combination of strategies that increased the plant's biomechanical stability. This translated in resistance to damage during the application of external loads such as those exerted by strong winds or tropical storms. High leaf mass per area (dry-mass investment) of pinnules and rachial tissues points to a slow photosynthetic return that was sustained for long periods of time (long leaf lifespan). The latter possibly indicates a plant adaptation to wet, levee-top habitats, which were characterized by nutrient-deficient soils exposed to intensive solar irradiation. The 3D, chemistry-based model of the N. ovata specimen provided new insights into the hitherto poorly-known biomechanical and related traits of this iconic medullosalean plant that inhabited Pennsylvanian wetlands. Other implications of using our chemistry-based methodology include the estimation of (i) frond size and shape (plant reconstructions), (ii) plant ecophysiological adaptations to different wetland environments, and (iii) plant phylogenetic and ontogenetic adaptations.

Empire, Colonial Enterprise, and Speculation: Cape Breton’s Coal Boom of the 1860s

ABSTRACTDuring the 1860s Cape Breton Island’s Sydney coalfield, at the northeastern tip of Nova Scotia, experienced dramatic economic expansion. Historical interpretation of this understudied coal boom has emphasised the transition towards a liberal era of competition and growing dependence upon American capital and markets. This article presents a revised interpretation, and reflects a renewed engagement with empire in the writing of the history of Canadian capitalism. Drawing upon the work of James Belich and John Darwin, it locates this coal boom in an evolving and expanding ‘Angloworld’ and ‘British world-system,’ and demonstrates how the Sydney coalfield was shaped by the social and economic configurations that developed in the region under the British Empire. During this period, established colonial elites captured coal property and sought to integrate Cape Breton coal into the Atlantic economy in which their region had historically operated. They treated coal as a new commodity to trade and profit from, but coal mining required the mobilisation of credit and infrastructure expenditures that exceeded what was typically required to participate in the region’s traditional staples trades. Large fixed investments engendered economic and political commitments that spurred growth even under highly volatile circumstances, as promotion and speculation drove growth from the supply side and attracted London capital. Overcapacity, ruinous competition, and social crisis eventually resulted, as the Atlantic economy that gave rise to the boom fell apart. This episode reveals the operation of colonial networks and an ‘empire effect’ that produced a distinctive pattern of development on the Sydney coalfield whose legacy would be lasting.