Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-17T12:43:27.828Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Coal—magma interaction: an integrated model for the emplacement of cylindrical intrusions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

R. W. Kent ,
N. C. Ghose ,
P. R. Paul ,
M. J. Hassan  and
A. D. Saunders
R. W. Kent
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, U.K.
N. C. Ghose
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Patna University, Patna 800 005, Bihar, India
P. R. Paul
Affiliation:
Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, Regional Institute II, Dhanbad 834 008, Bihar, India
M. J. Hassan
Affiliation:
Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad 826 004, Bihar, India
A. D. Saunders
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Olivine-bearing lamproite magmas intruded into Permian coal seams in northeast India occur as root-like cylinder stockworks, extending for up to several kilometres up-dip along the bedding planes of their sedimentary host. Clusters of eight or more conduits are typical, linked by thin tubular cross-branches. Cylindrical geometry may arise by injection of hot, low-viscosity fluid through a slot, with the development of multiple tube-like instabilities at the interface between the moving fluid and a higher-viscosity host. This behaviour appears more complex than the models of Chouke, van Meurs & van der Pod, and Saffman & Taylor, which predict the development of a single dominant tube in porous or layered flow. Cylinder emplacement may be an essentially passive process, in which the sediment column is reduced by expulsion of heated pore fluids at the head of the moving intrusion, creating a space into which the melt can propagate. Generation of a superheated vapour envelope by non-nucleated film boiling of these fluids around the hot lamproite magma (the Leidenfrost effect) allows melt flow to be maintained in a lengthening tube thermally insulated from the surrounding coal, in a manner analogous to submarine lava tubes. Cooling of the magma through the Nukiyama temperature (the temperature at which maximum evaporation of the heated fluid occurs) may give rise to violent surface boiling and the formation of large vapour bubbles at the magma–coal interface. Implosion of these bubbles could then result in the formation of shock breccias, comparable to hyaloclastites produced by bubble or surface film collapse in the vicinity of pillow lava tubes. The operation of such a process around lamproite magma is suggested by the presence of complex breccias composed of highly fragmented coal, sandstone, and lamproite, at the termini of certain cylinders.

Surface and subsurface exposures of the cylinders reveal the presence of a carbonate–chlorite–clay halo surrounding each intrusion, resulting from the alteration of mafic mineral phases by fugitive volatiles released from the protective vapour jacket. The coal seams proximal to intrusion clusters are relatively undeformed, with no evidence of assimilation by the invading melts. The coals have experienced extensive carbonization, probably as a result of slow conductive heating from the cooling lamproite bodies, or fluids derived therefrom. Field observations indicate that these thermal effects are not merely confined to the coal–melt interface, but occur for some considerable distance away from the intrusions, producing large areas of naturally coked coal.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 129 , Issue 6 , November 1992 , pp. 753 - 762
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acharyya, S. K. 1969. A note on the geology of Darjeeling coalfield, and its bearing on the structure of the eastern Himalayas. Records of the Geological Survey of India 97 (2), 91–101.Google Scholar
Bell, K. J. 1967. The Leidenfrost phenomenon: a survey. Chemical Engineering Program Symposium Series 63, 73–82.Google Scholar
Bergman, S. C. 1987. Lamproites and other potassium-rich rocks: a review of their occurrence, mineralogy, and geochemistry. In Alkaline Igneous Rocks (eds Fitton, J. G. and Upton, B. G. J.), pp. 103–90. Special Publication of the Geological Society, London no. 30.Google Scholar
Blanford, W. T. 1861. On the geological structure and relations of the Raniganj coal-field, Bengal. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 3 (1), 141–9.Google Scholar
Bose, P. N. 1888. Notes on some mica-traps from Barakar and Raniganj. Records of the Geological Survey of India 21 (4), 163.Google Scholar
Bradley, J. 1965. Intrusion of major dolerite sills. Transactions of the Royal Society, New Zealand 3, 27–55.Google Scholar
Briggs, H. 1935. Alteration of coal seams in the vicinity of igneous intrusions, and associated problems. Transactions of the Institute of Engineers, London 89, 187–218.Google Scholar
Chouke, R. L., van Meurs, P. & van der Poel, P. 1959. The instability of slow, immiscible, viscous liquid–liquid displacements in permeable media. Transactions of the American Institute of Mechanical Engineers 216, 188–94.Google Scholar
Clark, S. P. 1966. Thermal conductivity. In Handbook of Physical Constants – revised edition (ed. Clark, S. P.), pp. 459–82. Memoir of the Geological Society of America 97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dapples, E. C. 1939. Coal metamorphism in the Anthracite–Crested Butte quadrangles, Colorado. Economic Geology 34, 369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutcher, R. R., Campbell, D. L. & Thornton, C. P. 1966. Coal metamorphism and igneous intrusions in Colorado. In Coal Science (ed. Gould, R.), pp. 708–23. American Chemical Society Advanced Chemistry Series, vol. 55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eby, J. B. 1925. Contact metamorphism of some Colorado coals. Transactions of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering 71, 246–52.Google Scholar
Einsele, G., Gieskes, J. M., Curray, J., Moore, D. M., Aguayo, E., Aubry, M.-P., Fornari, D., Guerrero, J., Kastner, M., Kelts, K., Lyle, M., Matoba, Y., Molina-Cruz, A., Niemitz, J., Rueda, J., Saunders, A. D., Schrader, H., Simoneit, B. R. T. & Vacquier, V. 1980. Intrusion of basaltic sills into highly porous sediments, and resulting hydrothermal activity. Nature 283, 441–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fermor, L. L. 1918. Preliminary note on the burning of coal seams at outcrop. Transactions of the Mining and Geological Institute of India 12, 50–63.Google Scholar
Fox, C. S. 1930. The Jharia coalfield. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 56, 113–46.Google Scholar
Fox, C. S. 1934. Lower Gondwana coalfields of India. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 59, 9.Google Scholar
Francis, E. H. 1982. Magma and sediment I: Emplacement mechanism of late Carboniferous tholeiite sills in northern Britain. Journal of the Geological Society, London 139, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, E. H. & Walker, B. H. 1987. Emplacement of alkalidolerite sills relative to extrusive volcanism and sedimentary basins in the Carboniferous of Fife, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society, Edinburgh, Earth Sciences 77, 309–23.Google Scholar
Gee, E. R. 1932. The geology and coal resources of the Raniganj coalfield. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 61, 80–99.Google Scholar
Ghose, S. & Mukherjee, A. 1968. Some studies on the effect of epithermal contact metamorphism on coal by [a] lamprophyric sill. Quarterly Journal of the Geological, Mining, and Metallurgical Society of India 40 (3), 141–50.Google Scholar
Gupta, A. K., LeMaitre, R. W., Haukka, M. T. & Yagi, K. 1983. Geochemical studies on the carbonated apatite-glimmerites from Damodar Valley, India. Proceedings of the Japanese Academy of Science, Series B 59 (5), 113–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, S. 1952. Channelling in packed columns. Chemical Engineering Science 1, 247–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hills, R. C. 1901. Description of the Spanish Peaks quadrangle, Colorado. United States Geological Survey Geological Atlas Folio 71, 7 pp.Google Scholar
Holland, T. H. 1894. On highly phosphatic mica-peridotites intrusive in the Lower Gondwana rocks of Bengal. Records of the Geological Survey of India 27, 129–41.Google Scholar
Homsy, G. M. 1987. Viscous fingering in porous media. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics 19, 271–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurlbut, C. S. & Griggs, D. T. 1939. Igneous rocks of the Highwood Mountains, Montana. Geological Society of America Bulletin 50, 1032–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kent, R. W. 1991. Lithospheric uplift in Eastern Gondwana: evidence for a long-lived mantle plume system? Geology 19, 19–23.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leidenfrost, J. G. 1756. On the fixation of water in diverse fire. Duisburg. In German; translation by C. Wares, 1966, International Journal of Heat & Mass Transfer 9, 1153–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McFarlane, G. C. 1929. Igneous metamorphism of coal beds. Economic Geology 24, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, D. J. 1985. Microstructure, geochemistry and differentiation of a primary layered teschenite sill. Geological Magazine 122, 335–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Middlemost, E. A. K., Paul, D. K. & Fletcher, I. R. 1988. Geochemistry and mineralogy of the minette-lamproite association from the Indian Gondwanas. Lithos 22, 31–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, A. A. 1984. Pillow lavas and the Leidenfrost effect. Journal of the Geological Society, London 141, 183–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, J. G. 1975. Mechanism of formation of pillow lava. American Scientist 63, 269–77.Google Scholar
Mykura, W. 1965. White trap in some Ayrshire coals. Scottish Journal of Geology 1, 176–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, R. 1985. The intrusion and deformation of Tertiary minor sheet intrusions, west Suardal, Skye, Scotland. Geological Journal 20, 53–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noble, J. A. 1952. Evaluation of criteria for the forcible intrusion of magma. Journal of Geology 60, 34–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nukiyama, S. 1934. The maximum and minimum values of the heat Q transmitted from metal to boiling water under atmospheric pressure. Journal of the Society of Mechanical Engineers, Japan 73 (206), 367–74. In Japanese; translation by S. G. Brickley, 1960 AERE Transactions 854.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortoleva, P., Chadam, J., Merino, E. & Sen, A. 1987 a. Geochemical self-organisation II: The reactive-infiltration instability. American Journal of Science 287, 1008–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortoleva, P., Merino, E., Moore, C. & Chadam, J. 1987 b. Geochemical self-organisation I Reaction-transport feedbacks and modeling approach. American Journal of Science 287, 979–1007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, D. D. 1973. Derivation and evaluation of a mechanical model for sheet intrusions. Tectonophysics 19, 233–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, D. D., Muller, O. H. & Dockstader, D. R. 1975. The form and growth of fingered sheet intrusions. Geological Society of America Bulletin 86, 351–63.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raymond, A. C. & Murchison, D. G. 1988. Effect of volcanic activity on level of maturation in Carboniferous rocks of East Fife, Midland Valley of Scotland. Fuel 67, 1164–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raymond, A. C. & Murchison, D. G. 1989. Organic maturation and its timing in a Carboniferous sequence in the central Midland Valley of Scotland: comparisons with northern England. Fuel 68, 323–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raymond, A. C. & Murchison, D. G. 1991. The relationship between organic maturation, the widths of thermal aureoles, and the thickness of sills in the Midland Valley of Scotland and Northern England. Journal of the Geological Society, London 148, 215–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saffman, P. G. & Taylor, G. 1958. The penetration of a fluid into a porous medium or Hele-Shaw cell containing a more viscous liquid. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, A 245, 312–29.Google Scholar
Saise, W. 1880. The Kurhurballee coal-field, with some remarks on Indian coals. Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineering 30, 3–24.Google Scholar
Saise, W. 1894. The Giridih (Karharbari) coal-field, with notes on the labour and methods of working coal. Records of the Geological Survey of India 27 (3), 86–100.Google Scholar
Sarkar, A., Paul, D. K., Balasubrahmanyan, M. N. & Sengupta, N. R. 1980. Lamprophyres from Indian Gondwanas: K-Ar ages and chemistry. Journal of the Geological Society of India 21 (4), 188–93.Google Scholar
Saunders, A. D., Storey, M., Kent, R. W. & Norry, M. J. 1992. Consequences of plume–lithosphere interactions. In Magmatism and the Causes of Continental Break-up (ed. Storey, B. C.). Special Publication of the Geological Society, London (in the press).Google Scholar
Simoneit, B. R. T., Brenner, S., Peters, K. E. & Kaplan, I. R. 1978. Thermal alteration of Cretaceous black shale by diabase intrusions in the Eastern Atlantic. Nature 273, 501–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simoneit, B. R. T. & Philp, R. P. 1982. Organic geochemistry of lipids and kerogen and the effects of basaltic intrusions on unconsolidated oceanic sediments: sites 477, 478, and 481, Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California. In Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (eds Curray, J. R., Moore, D. G. et al. ,) 64, 883–904.Google Scholar
Snyman, C. P. & Barclay, J. 1989. The coalification of South African coal. International Journal of Coal Geology 13, 375–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tribble, G. W. 1991. Underwater observations of active lava flows from Kilauea volcano, Hawaii. Geology 19, 633–6.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tweto, O. 1951. Form and structure of sills near Pando, Colorado. Geological Society of America Bulletin 62, 507–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verma, R. P., Jaipuriar, A. M. & Paul, P. R. (eds) 1989. Compendium of Updated and Revised Geology of Jharia Coalfield. Ranchi, Bihar: Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Ltd (in the press).Google Scholar
Walker, B. H. & Francis, E. H. 1987. High-level emplacement of an olivine–dolerite sill into Namurian sediments near Cardenden, Fife. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Earth Sciences 77, 295–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, J. 1977. Water on a hot skillet… Scientific American 237, 126–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitehead, J. A. & Helfrich, K. R. 1991. Instability of flow with temperature-dependent viscosity: a model of magma dynamics. Journal of Geophysical Research 96, 4145–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar