Depositional aspects and a guide to Paleocene coal-bearing sequences, Powder River Basin

Abstract

The Paleocene coal-bearing sequences in the northern Powder River Basin are contained in the Tongue River Member of the Fort Union Formation and include anomalously thick (54 m) subbituminous coals. These thick coals have been the target of exploration and development for the past few decades. For the past decade, these coals have also been the object of depositional modeling studies [Law, 1976; Galloway, 1979; Flores, 1981, 1983, 1986; Ethridge and others, 1981; Ayers and Kaiser, 1984; Warwick, 1985; Ayers, 1986; Moore, 1986; Warwick and Stanton, 1988]. Intensive modeling of these coals has resulted in two major schools of thought. Firstly, Galloway [1979], Flores [1981, 1983, 1986], Ethridge and others [1981], Warwick [1985], Moore [1986], and Warwick and Stanton [1988] believe that the coals formed from peat that accumulated in swamps of fluvial systems. The fluvial systems are interpreted as a basin axis trunktributary complex that drained to the north-northeast into the Williston Basin. Secondly, Ayers and Kaiser [1984] and Ayers [1986] believe that the coals formed from peat swamps of deltaic systems. These deltas are envisioned to have prograded east to west from the Black Hills and infilled Lebo lake that was centrally located along the basin axis. In order to explain the low ash content of the thick coals, Flores [1981] proposed that they are formed as domed peats, similar in geomorphology to swamps associated with the modern fluvial systems in Borneo as described by Anderson [1964]. Ethridge and others [1981] suggested that these fluvial-related swamps are platforms well above drainage systems and are fed by ground water that is recharged from surrounding highlands. Warwick [1985], Warwick and Stanton [1988], Satchell [1984], and Pocknall and Flores [1987] confirmed the domed peat hypothesis by investigating the petrology and palynology of the thick coals. The purpose of this paper is to provide a guide to the depositional aspects of the thick coals in the Tongue River Member of the Fort Union Formation and, because of the biases of the field trip leaders, it elaborates on the fluvial origin of the swamps in which the thick coals formed. Case histories of these thick coals and associated sediments in the Gillette, Powder River, and Kaycee-Linch areas of Wyoming and in the Decker-Tongue River area of Montana (fig. 1) are highlighted on this field trip.