The Science of Victorian Brown Coal: Structure, Properties and Consequences for Utilization

The Science of Victorian Brown Coal

Structure, Properties and Consequences for Utilization

Dr. R.A. Durie

CSIRO, Division of Coal and Energy Technology, North Ryde NSW 2113, Australia

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Copyright

FOREWORD

PREFACE

COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Chapter 1: GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES

Publisher Summary

1 Introduction

2 Geological Occurrence of Victorian Brown Coal Deposits

3 Coal Quality

4 Resources and Reserves

5 Concluding Comments

Chapter 2: PETROLOGY

Publisher Summary

1 INTRODUCTION

2 BROWN COAL TYPE

3 BROWN COAL RANK

4 MICRO-PETROLOGY

5 PALAEOBOTANY

6 VARIATION IN PETROLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES FOR COALFIELDS IN THE GIPPSLAND AND OTWAY BASINS

7 CONCLUSION

Chapter 3: THE WATER IN BROWN COAL

Publisher Summary

1 Introduction

2 The Nature Of Water Bonding in Brown Coal

3 Determination of Moisture Content

4 Moisture Holding Capacity and Bed Moisture Content

5 Factors Causing Variation in Bed Moisture Content

6 Brown Coal Drying

7 Moisture and Binderless Briquetting

8 Directions for Future Work on Water in Brown Coal

Chapter 4: PHYSICAL STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF BROWN COAL

Publisher Summary

1 INTRODUCTION

2 PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF BROWN COAL AND ITS PRODUCTS

3 Physical Properties

4 Rheology of Raw Brown Coal

5 Brown Coal/Water Slurries

6 Densified Brown Coal Products

7 Geotechnical Properties

Chapter 5: BROWN COAL SAMPLING, ANALYSIS AND COMPOSITION

Publisher Summary

1 Introduction

2 Sampling

3 Analysis

4 Non-Mineral Elements - Exchangeable Cations

5 Mineral Elements - X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy

6 Trace Elements

7 Coal Acidity - pH

8 Acidic Functional Groups

9 Specific Energy

10 Ash Analysis

11 Reporting Analytical Results for Brown Coal

12 Typical Analyses of Victorian Brown Coals

13 Conclusions

Chapter 6: CHEMICAL STRUCTURE OF VICTORIAN BROWN COAL

Publisher Summary

1 Introduction

2 Macromolecular Skeletal Structure

3 Molecular Characterisation

4 Concluding Remarks

Chapter 7: FUNCTIONAL GROUPS AND ION EXCHANGE PROPERTIES

Publisher Summary

1 Introduction

2 Determination Of Oxygen Groups

3 Acidic Groups and Ion Exchange - Effect on Coal Properties and Reactions

4 The Effect of the Extent of Ion Exchange on Brown Coal Properties

5 Other Functional Groups

Chapter 8: COMBUSTION, GASIFICATION AND OXIDATION

Publisher Summary

1 Introduction

2 Theory of Gas-solid Reactions

3 Combustion of Victorian Brown Coal

4 GASIFICATION OF VICTORIAN BROWN COAL AND BROWN COAL CHAR

5 LOW TEMPERATURE OXIDATION AND ‘SELF-HEATING’ OF VICTORIAN BROWN COAL

6 EXPLOSIBILITY OF VICTORIAN BROWN COAL DUST

7 CONCLUDING REMARKS

Chapter 9: PYROLYSIS

Publisher Summary

1 INTRODUCTION

2 PYROLYSIS AT SLOW HEATING RATES

3 PYROLYSIS AT RAPID HEATING RATES

4 CHARACTERISTICS OF BROWN COAL TARS

5 BROWN COAL CHARS

6 CONCLUDING REMARKS

Chapter 10: HYDROGENATION AND REDUCTION

Publisher Summary

1 INTRODUCTION

2 PROCESSING METHODS FOR LIQUEFACTION STUDIES

3 REACTIVITY OF BROWN COALS IN LIQUEFACTION

4 DISSOLUTION OF BROWN COALS IN ORGANIC SOLVENTS

5 REACTIONS OF BROWN COALS WITH GASES

6 PRODUCT EVALUATION AND UPGRADING STUDIES

7 RESIDUES AND IMPURITIES

8 NOVEL REACTIONS

9 MECHANISTIC AND KINETIC INTERPRETATIONS

10 SUMMARY

Chapter 11: INORGANIC CONSTITUENTS

Publisher Summary

1 INTRODUCTION

2 NATURE AND MODE OF OCCURRENCE

3 BEHAVIOUR OF THE INORGANICS DURING UTILISATION

4 CONCLUDING REMARKS

Chapter 12: INDUSTRIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE PROPERTIES OF BROWN COALS

Publisher Summary

1 INTRODUCTION

2 COMBUSTION

3 DRYING

4 BRIQUETTE PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION

5 BROWN COAL CARBONISATION AND INDUSTRIAL CARBONS

6 GASIFICATION

7 LIQUEFACTION

8 OTHER USES

9 CONCLUDING REMARKS

Chapter 13: COMPARISON OF VICTORIAN BROWN COALS AND OTHER AUSTRALIAN DEPOSITS WITH MAJOR OVERSEAS BROWN COAL/LIGNITE DEPOSITS

Publisher Summary

1 Introduction

2 Australian brown coals

3 Federal Republic of Germany

4 German Democratic Republic (former)

5 India

6 Poland

7 United States of America

8 Brief description of low rank coals in China, Czechoslovakia, USSR and Yugoslavia, (refer Table 13.8)

9 Brief comparison of the three major low rank coal basins in the world

10 Concluding Comments

ABBREVIATIONS

INDEX

Copyright

Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd

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PART OF REED INTERNATIONAL BOOKS

OXFORD LONDON BOSTON

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TOKYO TORONTO WELLINGTON

First published 1991

© Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd 1991

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ISBN 07506 0420 4

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FOREWORD

Victorian brown coal is a major fossil fuel resource by any standard. It constitutes about 97% of Victoria’s recoverable energy reserves. For the past 65 years, energy from brown coal has been the mainstay of the Victorian economy providing low cost electricity to the State grid, briquettes as a fuel for industry and town gas prior to the discovery of natural gas. Because of the unique properties of the coal, it has been necessary to develop an in-depth scientific knowledge of the coal and its behaviour, and innovative technologies for its effective utilisation.

State Government agencies such as the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, the Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria and the Coal Corporation of Victoria have been leading contributors to the development of this resource. In fact each of these bodies was created to introduce a new phase of brown coal development.

As Minister for Minerals and Energy in 1984, I was pleased to approve funding for the preparation of this volume. While it has been a prolonged process, I congratulate the Editor Dr. Bob Durie, the authors, the Coal Corporation and all concerned with the production of this valuable compilation of the accumulated expertise on brown coal science.

Our hope is that this book will provide the springboard for further research and lead to a new era in the development of value added products and the more efficient utilisation of this major resource.

DAVID WHITE,     Minister for Manufacturing and Industry Development

June 1991

PREFACE

…………… brown coal in Victoria has been waiting, like a huge fortune in Chancery, for the rightful heir to its riches and benefits, though more than once a claimant has failed to establish his case

Hyman Herman 1922

The brown coal resources in Victoria, particularly thoseoccurring in the Latrobe Valley, are vast by world standards and are concentrated in exceptionally thick seams under a relatively thin cover of overburden. The extent and accessibility of this resource, together with its many unique properties including high moisture content, ion exchange capacity, the unusually low levels of inorganic impurities and their mode of occurrence, have held fascination for successive State Governments, industry leaders and researchers alike.

The economic benefit this resource has provided to Victoria is illustrated in the Foreword to this book and demonstrated throughout the chapters which follow.

The contributions that Australian researchers have made to the elucidation of the nature and preparation of Victorian brown coals have done much to improve the effectiveness of utilization of the resource and to stimulate and determine the course of research on brown coals and lignites world-wide. Hence, this treatise should be of interest and value to coal researchers and technologists in other countries possessing brown coal and lignite resources.

Systematic investigations involving geological exploration to establish the size of the resource, the geological structure and the characteristics of the brown coal deposits were initiated by Dr Hyman Herman in 1912 as Director of the Geological Survey of Victoria and later continued when he was Engineer-in-Charge of Briquetting and Research for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.

The consistent State Government interest in realising the full potential that the enormous brown coal resource offered for economic development, has served to stimulate R&D initiatives over many areas in State and Federal Government laboratories, in universities and in industry. The most recent initiatives by the Government of Victoria commenced with the establishment in 1975 of an R&D Committee to examine the suitability of Latrobe Valley brown coals for the production of oil from coal. This activity became the primary function of the Victorian Brown Coal Council, formed in 1979, which was succeeded in 1985 by the Coal Corporation of Victoria now concerned with all potential uses for brown coal except power generation.

An extensive body of data on the structure and the physical and chemical characteristics of Victorian brown coals has accumulated, much of which has not been published openly and remains in internal reports of organisations.

In 1984 the Victorian Brown Coal Council initiated the critical review and collation of the extensive, scattered data derived from this research. The review would provide a source book for current and future researchers concerned with Victorian and other brown coals, guide the formulation of new research projects and assist those responsible for the assessment of applications for research funds and for the ongoing monitoring of progress on successful applications.

I was privileged to be approached by the VBCC to act as Editor in preparing this book, in view of my extensive research background and knowledge on the structure and chemistry of Australian low rank coals and their influence on utilization.

The first requirement was to prepare a comprehensive, annotated bibliography of all the relevant literature arising from research on Victorian brown coals. This was a demanding task since it involved accessing, inter alia, the records and reports in organisations such as the State Electricity Commission of Victoria and the Gas and Fuel Corporation as well as university library archives for relevant graduate theses. Also, since many papers in the technical literature reported results on Victorian brown coal samples without specific reference in the title or key word index, a paper by paper search was made of journals such as Fuel and the Journal of the Fuel Society of Japan, as well as of the papers cited in the references in many of the papers and reports located during the search.

In 1985 the bibliography contained over 1300 relevant references with informative abstracts on a computer data base. It was updated with supplements at regular intervals during the writing and revision of the edited chapters, and is maintained, with currently some 2000 references, by the Coal Corporation of Victoria.

It has been my privilege to serve as Editor, and I hasten to add that this comprehensive treatise on brown coals has been a team effort. Many have given their time and expertise freely, despite other heavy commitments over an extended period. In this context I would like to express my thanks and those of the Coal Corporation of Victoria to the following:-

H N S (Neil) Schafer for the painstaking comprehensive literature search to establish the bibliography and for the cross-checking and verification of all references cited in each of the chapters; the 22 individuals who served as authors and co-authors for the thirteen chapters; the members of the Editorial Board, especially Geoffrey J Perry of the Coal Corporation of Victoria; the staff of the CCV for the exacting tasks of the preparation and checking of the final version of the chapters and for proof reading; Brian S Newell, who as Manager, Research & Technology for the former Victorian Brown Coal Council, initiated the preparation of this book, and for his recent contribution in proof-reading all chapters; and to the staff of Butterworth Heinemann (especially Jayne Marks), for their patience and co-operation.

In addition to those directly associated with the preparation of this book and mentioned elsewhere, recognition must be given to George E Baragwanath, Roland S Andrews, Howard K Worner, Richard W Urie, Leonard J Garner and Louis T Kiss for their significant contributions to the commissioning, planning and management of R&D programs that are central to the work reported.

It needs to be recorded with appreciation and sincere thanks that an essential component in the successful completion of this book has been the joint funding by the Coal Corporation of Victoria and the Victorian Brown Coal Industry Participants Group, a collection of organisations who have jointly funded an extensive brown coal research program.

Finally I would like to thank my wife Claire for patience and perseverance in providing encouragement and secretarial support throughout the project.

R.A. DURIE

JUNE 1991

COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The following figures and tables have been reprinted with the kind permission of their publishers

In addition blanket approval has been granted from the following organisations touse figures and tables from their publications.

Australian Institute of Energy

State Electricity Commission of Victoria

Butterworth-Heinmann, to use figures and tables from their journal Fuel.

Chapter 1

GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES

C.S. Gloe* and G.R. Holdgate**,     *Geology Consultant, 23 Kirkwood Street, Beaumaris, Victoria 3193, Australia; **Coal Resources Division, State Electricity Commission of Victoria, 475 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia

Publisher Summary

This chapter discusses the geological occurrence of Victorian brown coal deposits. All the coals occurring in Victoria are of low rank and of tertiary age apart from a number of thin seams of bituminous coals of lower Cretaceous age, found mainly in West Gippsland. On the basis of the International Commission of Coal Petrology (ICCP) Classification, the greater part of these low rank coals are classified as soft brown coals with the remainder tending to be, or being, hard brown coals. The American ASTM classification system would designate all the coals as lignite B. Low rank coals also occur in South Australia and Western Australia; these are frequently referred to as lignite. The latter coals are mainly of similar age and equivalent to the soft brown coals of Victoria. The stratigraphy, structure, and economic resources of the brown coals are well known through extensive drilling for coal and petroleum. The sedimentational history of the Gippsland Basin has largely followed a similar sequence of events to the Otway and Murray Basins, but the scale of accumulation of coal and hydrocarbon source rocks is unprecedented and differentiates this basin, for reasons less well understood, from the others. Brown coal seam thicknesses and economically winnable reserves are huge and outrank most other brown coal basins of the world.

CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION

2 GEOLOGICAL OCCURRENCE OF VICTORIAN BROWN COAL DEPOSITS

2.1 Gippsland Basin

2.1.1 Introduction

2.1.2 Geological History

2.1.3 Geological Structure of the Gippsland Basin Deposits

2.1.3.1 Latrobe Valley Depression

2.1.3.2 Gelliondale-Alberton Depression

2.1.4 Stratigraphy and Age

2.1.4.1 Yarram Formation and Carrajung Volcanics

2.1.4.2 Traralgon Formation

2.1.4.3 Morwell Formation

2.1.4.4 Alberton Coal Measures

2.1.4.5 Yallourn Formation

2.1.4.6 Younger Pliocene Units Including Haunted Hill Formation

2.1.5 Depositional Environments of The Coal-Producing Swamps

2.1.5.1 Distribution of Seams in Time and Space

2.1.5.2 Facies Equivalents and Thick Seam Deposition

2.1.5.3 Coal Ash Constituents as Indicators of Depositional Environment

2.1.5.4 Swamp Flora

2.1.6 Major Coalfields in the Gippsland Basin

2.1.6.1 Yallourn-Morwell

2.1.6.2 Loy Yang

2.1.6.3 Rosedale

2.1.6.4 Gormandale

2.1.6.5 Holey Plains, Coolungoolun and Longford Dome

2.1.6.6 Stradbroke

2.1.6.7 Won Wron - Boodyarn

2.1.6.8 Alberton

2.1.6.9 Gelliondale

2.1.7 Deep Gippsland Basin Coals

2.2 Otway Basin

2.3 Murray Basin

3 COAL QUALITY

3.1 Gippsland Basin Coals

3.1.1 Moisture Content

3.1.2 Ash Yield and Constituents

3.1.3 Sulphur Content

3.1.4 Specific Energy

3.2 Otway and Murray Basin Coals

4 RESOURCES AND RESERVES

4.1 Gippsland Basin

4.2 Otway Basin

4.3 Murray Basin

4.4 Inferior Coal

5 CONCLUDING COMMENTS

6 REFERENCES

1 Introduction

All the coals occurring in Victoria are of low rank and of Tertiary age apart from a number of thin seams of bituminous coals of Lower Cretaceous age, found mainly in West Gippsland. On the basis of the International Commission of Coal Petrology (ICCP) Classification (ICCP, 1971), the greater part of these low rank coals are classified as soft brown coals with the remainder tending to be, or being, hard brown coals. The American ASTM classification system (ASTM, 1979) would designate all the coals as lignite B. Low rank coals also occur in South Australia and Western Australia; these are frequently referred to as lignites. The latter coals are mainly of similar age and equivalent to the soft brown coals of Victoria.

2 Geological Occurrence of Victorian Brown Coal Deposits

Brown coals are found in each of the three major Tertiary basins which, together, cover two-thirds of the State of Victoria (Figure 1.1). The basins are the comparatively shallow Murray Basin, only part of which lies within north-western Victoria, and the deeper Otway and Gippsland Basins located along the southern margin of the State (Abele, et al., 1976).

Figure 1.1 Tertiary coal basins of Victoria

2.1 GIPPSLAND BASIN

2.1.1 Introduction

The Gippsland Basin in south-eastern Australia has an area of approximately 40,000 sq km. Only one-fifth of the basin is on-shore (Figure 1.2) with the remainder extending beneath the waters of Bass Strait (Hocking, 1972).

Figure 1.2 Gippsland Basin, showing major structural units.

The Gippsland Basin is one of the world’s major coal and petroleum bearing basins. The stratigraphy and structure of the on-shore area and the manner of coal development have been reviewed by Smith (1982) and Gloe (1984). A brief description only is included here.

2.1.2 Geological History

The Gippsland Basin first developed as a rift basin in Lower Cretaceous times with the deposition of an undifferentiated sequence of arkoses, arenites, shales and conglomerates with what are now thin bituminous coal seams, totalling overall more than 3 km in thickness. These coals were the first to be discovered in Victoria and were previously mined, chiefly at Wonthaggi, Korumburra and Jumbunna (Knight, 1975a). Sedimentation ceased in the Middle Cretaceous when uplift commenced, initiating the South Gippsland Highlands.

Renewed rifting activities resulted in the recommencement of subsidence in the Late Cretaceous and over the period up to Early Eocene, a sequence of sands, clays and the precursors of brown coal seams were deposited over an area extending from about 10 km onshore to about 100 km offshore. In the later stages spreading occurred, introducing stresses with associated faulting and folding, but subsidence and deposition continued, resulting in onlapping into Eastern Gippsland. The fluvio-deltaic sediments were referred to as the Latrobe Group (James and Evans, 1971) to indicate their relationship to the Latrobe Valley Coal Measures (see below).

The coal seams are generally less than 10 m thick with numerous clay and sand partings. Seam thicknesses and frequency increase towards the top of the sequence where a number of moderately thick (10 m to 20 m) seams have been intersected in bores. As a result of subsequent deep burial in the offshore portion of the basin these sediments now occur as arenites, mudstones and sub-bituminous to bituminous coals. By Mid-Eocene the swamps in which the coal seams intermittently developed had extended inland around the Balook Block (Figure 1.2) of the South Gippsland Highlands, probably as far as Traralgon Creek, and during the time up to early Oligocene, two main brown coal seams of the Traralgon Formation became the first thick brown coal seams to be formed in the onshore Gippsland Basin and in the eastern half of the then subsiding Latrobe Valley Depression.

Subsidence continued through the Oligocene to the Late Miocene and over this period the remarkably thick seams of the Morwell and Yallourn Formations were formed. Simultaneously, transgression occurred over the eastern portion of the onshore Gippsland Basin. However, the coal forming swamps to the west were largely protected from the marine conditions by a narrow but continuous barrier sand complex, known as the Balook Formation (Thompson, 1980). The great thickness and uniformity of major coal seams over large areas as well as the very low ash yield through the full thickness of seams indicates remarkably steady and slow rates of subsidence which prevailed over long periods of time in the area of the coal forming swamps. These rates of subsidence were not completely uniform, however, as indicated by the occurrence of five separate lithotypes in the coal seams present (George, 1982). Recent studies (Holdgate, 1985b) have shown that each of the four main seams (Yallourn, Morwell 1A, Morwell 1B and Morwell 2) had roughly the same area of deposition (500 to 700 sq km) in which more than 80 m thickness of brown coal developed.

Coal formation also took place to the west of the Latrobe Valley Depression underlying the Thorpdale Volcanics in the Narracan Block of the South Gippsland Highlands. Here the Childers Seam occurs in thickness up to 10 m. This seam has been related to the Traralgon Formation of the Gippsland Basin (Partridge, 1971). There is, however, no continuity of coal seams between the two areas. The Moe Swamp Basin (Figure 1.2), which is separated from the Latrobe Valley Depression by the uplifted Haunted Hill Block is a deep, structural basin with a separate stratigraphy including thin but locally thicker coal seams related to major seams present in the Latrobe Valley Depression (Holdgate, 1985a).

Towards the end of the Miocene, widespread earth movements, related to northeast-southwest high angle or reverse faults (Barton, 1979) in the basement rocks, with block faulting in intermediate areas, resulted in folding and minor faulting of the overlying coal-bearing sediments. During late Miocene-Pliocene continued folding and lowering of the base level resulted in widespread erosion of uplifted areas in the Latrobe Valley Depression (Gloe, 1960). Huge volumes of the easily erodable brown coal were removed. By Pliocene times erosion had peneplained the surface of the coal basin and with the coal widely exposed it caught fire at a number of localities, further destroying large volumes of coal. In the Morwell open cut area individual fire holes up to 650 m wide and 50 m deep have been encountered.

Differential earth movements then rejuvenated streams in the surrounding areas resulting in the deposition of a relatively thin cover of gravels, sands and clays, known as the Haunted Hill Formation, over the eroded surface. Slow earth movements along major structural lines recommenced, resulting in uplift along monoclines, the formation of domal structures such as the Loy Yang Dome and the major Baragwanath Anticline Block (Figure 1.3).

Figure 1.3 Latrobe Valley (Gippsland Basin), plan of geology (overburden removed).

2.1.3 Geological Structure of the Gippsland Basin Deposits

2.1.3.1 Latrobe Valley Depression

The structure of the Latrobe Valley Depression has been described by Thomas and Baragwanath (1949, 1950a, 1950b, 1951), Gloe (1960, 1967, 1975) and Barton (1981). The Tertiary sediments occupy an elongated, asymmetric, east-pitching syncline (Figure 1.3). The southern boundary is the edge of the basalt covered, block faulted Lower Cretaceous sediments which make up the Gippsland Hills. The northern edge is determined by the Yallourn Monocline, a strong structure which is considered to have acted as a hinge line during the development of the Gippsland Basin. In this area the Tertiary basalts are missing and the coal measures rest unconformably on Lower Cretaceous sediments.

Within the Depression there are a series of en echelon structures which separate the area into a number of blocks. The more important of these structures are the Yallourn, Morwell and Rosedale Monoclines and the Baragwanath Anticline (Figure 1.3). The Rosedale Monocline passes in a north easterly direction from the South Gippsland Hills towards Rosedale railway station, then turns easterly and offshore to the limits of the continental shelf. Smaller, but locally important structures are the Loy Yang Dome and the Gormandale Syncline (Figure 1.3). Elsewhere, the intervening anticlines and synclines are mainly broad open structures which pitch gently north to north east and south east. The major monoclines are considered to be subdued reflections of steep angled or reverse faults in the basement rocks with most synclines and anticlines forming mainly in response to these differential movements.

Only limited faulting appears to have taken place within the coal measures exposed in the Yallourn-Morwell and Loy Yang areas. No faulting has been observed in the Yallourn open cut ut numerous small faults have been mapped in the Morwell and Loy Yang open cuts and lesser numbers in the Yallourn North and Yallourn North Extension open cuts (Figure 1.3). Most are normal faults associated with adjacent monoclinal flexures but reverse faults are also present.

The coal seams exposed in open cuts are strongly jointed. This has some significance with regard to both coal quality and open cut stability. At Yallourn, fractures up to 800 m long and penetrating the full 60 m thickness of the seam have been mapped. A number of these fractures are up to 500mm wide and filled with sand washed in from the overburden. The joints in the Morwell open cut region influence batter stability. Severe damage to equipment, including dredgers, has occurred on several occasions as a result of slumping of blocks of coal along joint planes.

2.1.3.2 Gelliondale-Alberton Depression

The structural pattern of the Gelliondale-Alberton Depression (Figure 1.2) appears to resemble that of the Latrobe Valley Depression deposits. The structure of the underlying Strzelecki Group is probably block faulted with open folding as in the South Gippsland Highlands. The Tertiary sediments, including coal seams, are drape folded over these fault blocks producing a series of anticlinal ridges and synclinal troughs. Dips are somewhat higher than in the Latrobe Valley, ranging from 3° to 9° in the northern half and up to 20° in the southern half (Greer and Smith, 1982).

2.1.4 Stratigraphy and Age

Figure 1.2 shows the main tectonic subdivisions of the onshore Gippsland Basin as defined by Hocking (1976). Figure 1.4 shows the stratigraphic nomenclature currently applied to the onshore deposits of brown coal in the Gippsland Basin placed against the biostratigraphic units for age control. Figure 1.3 shows the subcrop geology of the Latrobe Valley.

Figure 1.4 Gippsland Basin - Stratigraphic nomenclature and ages.

Completely continuous sediment and brown coal deposition is comparatively rare in the Gippsland Basin onshore, and a large proportion of the main economic coal bearing sequences are confined to that portion of the Tertiary which spans between Late Eocene and Middle Miocene ages. As a consequence, the extremely large and laterally continuous coal bearing sequences of the onshore Gippsland Basin are now dispersed into discrete coalfields separated by areas where the seams are either deeply buried, or entirely removed by erosion. As a consequence, separate stratigraphic nomenclatures have arisen where coal bearing sequences are now known to be directly connected, or where infill drilling was not available at the time of discovery.

Commencing with the work of Hocking (1969) and Partridge (1971) most current workers (e.g. Gloe, 1975, 1976, 1984; Holdgate, 1982, 1985b; Smith, 1982; and Thompson, 1980) now recognise the essential two-fold subdivision of the coal measure sequences. These comprise the upper non-marine Yarragon, Yallourn, Morwell and Alberton Formations which are facies equivalents to the similar aged marine Seaspray Group; and the lower non-marine Traralgon and Yarram Formations that underlie all the above formations and are consequently more widespread (Figure 1.4).

Contention over the grouping of these upper and lower units still exists. Because of this duality, Thompson (1980) assigned the Yallourn, Yarragon, Morwell and Alberton Formations to the Latrobe Valley Coal Measures and the Traralgon-Yarram Formations to the separate Latrobe Group contiguous with the similar units offshore. In contrast Hocking (1976) places all the coal measures within the one Latrobe Valley Group. In the Latrobe Valley Depression no angular unconformity has been recognised between Traralgon and Morwell Formations although one or more disconformities could be present. However, at Alberton an angular unconformity between the Alberton Formation and the Traralgon Formation (Holdgate, 1982; Thompson and Walker, 1982) has been suggested.

As a result, where unconformities are difficult to recognise between formations such as in the Latrobe Valley Depression, the collective Latrobe Valley Group name has been applied, whereas at Alberton and Gelliondale two Group names (as shown on Figure 1.4) are probably more appropriate in keeping with the Australian Code of Stratigraphic Nomenclature (Berkman, 1976).

Interbedded with the coal measure sequences are extrusive basaltic lavas and tuffs which provide some basis for chrono-stratigraphic control (Figure 1.4). However, most of the radiometrically dateable lavas come from outcrops in the hills surrounding the main coal sequences, and can only be applied to the coal measures by extrapolation. Better time-stratigraphic control is obtained within the coal measures by palynological zonation, as most of the interbedded volcanics are too altered by weathering to provide suitable dating material. However, considerable work remains to refine the present palynological zonation scheme and where possible obtain further radiometric datings.

From the base, the Yarram, Traralgon, Morwell, Alberton and Yallourn Formations comprise the coal measure sequences in the onshore Gippsland Basin (Figure 1.4).

2.1.4.1 Yarram Formation and Carrajung Volcanics (Hocking 1976)

This is the oldest Tertiary Formation in the onshore Gippsland Basin and is dated by the Lygistepollenites balmei zone fossil as Middle to Late Palaeocene in age. It is comprised of predominantly pebbly to coarse grained sands which infill former valleys in the pre-Tertiary basement. It contains no known coal seams of economic significance. The Yarram Formation is found sporadically in the south-eastern half of the onshore Gippsland Basin and can be up to 47 m thick where it underlies basaltic lavas and tuffs of the Carrajung Volcanics. The lavas have been dated radiometrically at Carrajung as being 55 million years (Wellman, 1974) where they outcrop extensively around the edges of the Balook Block, and where smaller outcrops of underlying Yarram Formation gravels occur. Similar Carrajung Volcanics are widespread in the subsurface of the Seaspray and Alberton Depressions, and lavas of presumed similar or even older age occur in parts of the Latrobe Valley Depression. Here they usually overlie the Mesozoic basement or more rarely thin representatives of the Yarram Formation.

2.1.4.2 Traralgon Formation (Gloe 1960, Hocking 1972)

This is the oldest Tertiary Formation which includes useful economic accumulations of brown coal, and is dated by the Nothofagidites asperus and Lower Proteacidites tuberculatus zone fossils as being of Middle Eocene to Middle Oligocene age. It is widespread throughout the onshore Gippsland Basin with the exception of the Lakes Entrance Platform, and is known to extend offshore.

This Formation comprises interbedded gravels, sands, clays and major coal seams, with the coarser grained sands and gravels predominating towards the base, coals and clays in the middle, and sands, clays and minor coals near the top.

Where the Formation subcrops or outcrops along the basin margins (Figure 1.3), or where it is not overlain by Morwell and Yallourn Formations, economically winnable coal seams can be found. Such areas include all the major coalfields along the Baragwanath Anticline (Gormandale, Willung, Holey Plains, Coolungoolun, Longford Dome, Stradbroke, Boodyarn and Won Wron) and also on the Loy Yang and Gelliondale Domes. Smaller areas of sub-basaltic sands, clays and lesser coal seams occuring west of the Yallourn Monocline in the Moe Swamp Basin and at Thorpdale are considered to be of equivalent age to the upper beds of the Traralgon Formation, but are described as the Childers Formation. In most cases, they are not in direct stratigraphic connection with the Traralgon Formation elsewhere.

The Traralgon Formation appears to on-lap in a westerly direction. Along the Baragwanath Anticline most of this on-lap occurs within the lower coarser-grained beds. Thick gravel sequences (up to 200 m) known as the Honeysuckle Hill Gravels (Gloe, 1975) underlie the coal seams at Holey Plains, Coolungoolun and Longford Dome. Across the Baragwanath Anticline the main coal seams recognised are the Traralgon 1 and Traralgon 2 seams. In the Latrobe Valley Depression, only the younger Traralgon 1 seam occurs west of the Rosedale Monocline where it extends as far as the Traralgon Syncline. The Traralgon 1 seam at Gormandale and Flynns Creek Syncline can be over 100 m thick, and at Stradbroke the Traralgon 2 seam is over 100 m thick. Further east at Holey Plains, Coolungoolun and Longford Dome, thinning, splitting and interseam erosion has reduced each of the Traralgon seams to about 40m.

The Traralgon Formation seams contain, with some exceptions, the lowest moisture content (average 55%) for Gippsland Basin coals, but where deeper burial or folding has occurred moistures below 50% can be found.

A large proportion of the total Traralgon Formation coal resource lies beneath the limestones and marls of the marine Seaspray Group in the Seaspray Depression and also extends offshore for up to 27 km to the Barracouta structure (Holdgate, 1984). Here a number of seams aggregate up to 150 m of coal in places (Figure 1.5), but little is known of their quality and the limestone cover varies between 300 and 700 m. The few samples analysed from deeper oil wells indicate similar coal qualities with respect to ash yield to the shallower deposits, but as to be expected, are higher in rank, i.e. the bed moisture content is around 30%. This resource is estimated to be in excess of the combined resources of brown coal without a limestone cover, but this overburden cover would preclude any future development.

Figure 1.5 Coal seam depocentres of the Gippsland Basin (where aggregated coal seam thicknesses exceed 80m).

2.1.4.3 Morwell Formation (Thomas & Baragwanath 1949, Hocking 1972)

The Morwell Formation consists of a complex unit of thick coal seams and lesser clay-sand sequences which conformably overlies the Traralgon Formation in the Latrobe Valley Depression. The Morwell Formation, and the similar aged Alberton Formation in the Yarram area, are confined to that part of the onshore Gippsland Basin west of the sand barriers (Balook Formation) which mark the predominant maximum point of marine transgression for the Seaspray Group (Figure 1.5). The Morwell Formation extends across the Latrobe Valley Depression and grades into the Thorpdale Volcanics in the Moe Swamp Basin and on the Narracan Block (Figure 1.2).

Both the Morwell and Alberton Formations are dated into the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene by occurrence of the Middle and Upper Proteacidites tuberculatus zone fossil and radiometrically by the basal and interbedded volcanic lavas of the Thorpdale Volcanics. The oldest Morwell 2 seam attains a maximum thickness of 140 m in the area between Yallourn and Glengarry, but here it is usually overlain by younger coal-poor Morwell Formation units and the Yallourn Formation. However, it does sub-crop where it has been uplifted along the Yallourn Monocline (Figure 1.3).

Along this narrow subcrop zone occur the open cut developments of Yallourn North and Yallourn North Extension. The seam in this area is known as the Latrobe Seam because it includes a limited component of the Morwell 1B seam. Elsewhere there is interseam separation between the Morwell 1B and Morwell 2 seams so that the term Latrobe seam has only local significance.

The Morwell 2 seam thins to the south and west where it is replaced by sediments and volcanics. At Morwell it has reduced to 40 m in thickness. On the Loy Yang Dome (Figure 1.3), a second area of thickening of the total coal seam interval occurs and three splits of the Morwell 2 seam are known as the Morwell 2A, 2B and 2C seams. Here they aggregate over 80 m of coal (Figure 1.5). In 1982 open cut development commenced at Loy Yang at the subcrop of the Morwell 2A and Morwell 2B seams. The Morwell 2 seams extend as far as Gormandale and Rosedale east of which they grade into Balook Formation sands of the Seaspray Group.

The Morwell 1B seam conformably overlies the Morwell 2 seam usually with an interseam separation of clay and minor sand varying between 2 and 30 m. The Morwell 1B has wider extent and overall greater thickness than any other seam in the Latrobe Valley Depression, covering some 650 square kilometres mostly to the south of the Latrobe River (Figure 1.5). In the Loy Yang Dome area between Traralgon Creek and the Rosedale Monocline the seam reaches a maximum thickness of between 100 and 120 m. Other major depocentres for this seam occur between Yinnar and Morwell and at Flynn Railway.

East of Rosedale, this seam grades into the barrier sands of the Balook Formation, north of the Latrobe River into clays and minor sands, and west of the Yallourn Monocline into interbedded sediments, lavas and tuffs of the Thorpdale Volcanics.

The Morwell 1B and overlying Morwell 1A seams combine in the Morwell-Driffield area as Morwell 1 seam which is up to 165 m thick. On the western flank of the Loy Yang Dome the Morwell 1A, 1B and 2 seams all combine, producing up to 230 m of continuous low ash coal. The upper seam in the Morwell Formation, the Morwell 1A seam, where it is mined at Morwell (as part of the Morwell 1 seam) and at Loy Yang is up to 80 m in thickness. Elsewhere the extent and thickness is reduced when compared to the Morwell 1B with most of the reduction being taken up by 80 m thick sequences of interbedded clays, ligneous clays and minor thin coal bands e.g. in the Traralgon Syncline and the Yallourn to Glengarry area (Figure 1.3). East of Rosedale the Morwell 1A seam grades laterally into Seaspray Group barrier sands of the Balook Formation.

At Morwell-Driffield and Loy Yang the break between the Morwell 1A and 1B is represented by 1 m of ligneous clay or as a darker lithotype band (refer Chapter 2) of coal where the seams combine.

2.1.4.4 Alberton Coal Measures (Thompson and Walker, 1982)

The Alberton formation at Alberton and Gelliondale (Figure 1.5) is not directly connected with the Morwell Formation due to uplift and erosion on the intervening Baragwanath Anticline. However, it is of the same Proteacidites tuberculatus fossil zone age. The formation also grades eastwards into an equivalent barrier sand sequence (Balook Formation), which strikes northwards across the centre of the Seaspray and Alberton Depressions (Figure 1.5) and marks the furthest inland extent of the Seaspray Group. Possible remnants of this barrier sequence are preserved on the Baragwanath Anticline occurring within the downfaulted Gormandale Syncline Extension (Holdgate, 1980) and Merrimans Creek Syncline (Thompson, 1979), suggesting that a continuous barrier sequence to the Morwell and Alberton Formations once extended for 150 kilometres between Port Albert in the south and Bairnsdale in the north (Figure 1.5).

At Alberton the coal seams comprise an upper A seam 55 m thick which is separated from a lower B seam 15 m thick by a 12 m clay split (Holdgate, 1982). To the southwest the A seam extends at least as far as the Gelliondale Dome where it has been described as the Alberton Seam (Greer and Smith, 1982). The B seam locally joins with an older Traralgon Formation C seam (Figure 1.4), which may be included within parts of the Gelliondale A and B coal seams on the Gelliondale Dome (Greer and Smith, 1982). To the west and north of Yarram the Alberton Coal Measures remain to be fully defined. In these areas, where not eroded, the coal measures grade laterally into sands and clays of the Bodman Creek Formation (Thompson and Walker, 1982).

2.1.4.5 Yallourn Formation (Thomas and Baragwanath, 1949; Hocking, 1972)

This is the top most and hence youngest coal bearing formation in the Latrobe Valley and is dated by the zone fossil Triporopollenites bellus as being of Middle Miocene age. In a similar manner to the Morwell Formation which it conformably overlies, the Yallourn Formation grades laterally eastwards into barrier sands (Balook Formation) of the Seaspray Group.he formation is comprised mainly of the Yallourn seam but in the deeper synclines may include up to 200 m of clay above the coal seam. Where the underlying Morwell 1A seam is fully developed, the two seams are separated by interseam burden known as the Yallourn clay which can be up to 5 m in thickness.

In the Moe Swamp Basin an unconnected coal bearing sequence of equivalent age is known as the Yarragon Formation (Holdgate 1985a). Coal seams equivalent to the Yallourn Formation have not been recorded at Alberton and Gelliondale, but ligneous clays overlying the Alberton Coal Measures contain the same key zone fossil Triporopollenites bellus.

The extent of the Yallourn seam in the Latrobe Valley Depression has been subsequently modified by Late Miocene erosion to a greater extent than for the lower coal seams. Isopachs suggest that most developments of the seam occurred in the Maryvale and Yallourn area where a continuous seam up to 100 m in thickness occurs (Figures 1.3 and 1.5). Elsewhere seams greater than 40 m are restricted to south of the Latrobe River up to the edge of the Loy Yang Dome, and down the Traralgon Syncline as far south as Churchill and Yinnar. The seam grades laterally into clays north-east of Tyers and southeast of Yinnar. In most other areas the seam edges are determined by the subcrop (Figure 1.3). In the Moe Swamp Basin the upper beds of the 200 m thick Yarragon Formation contain coal seams which on the Moe Monocline include an upper A seam 15 m thick and a lower B seam 36 m thick. Westwards at Yarragon similar coal seams occur overlying Thorpdale Volcanics. Both areas contain the Triporopollenites bellus zone fossil and are therefore of the same age as the Yallourn Seam (Fraser, 1983, Holdgate, 1985a).

Because of its younger age and shallow depth of burial the Yallourn Seam averages 65%-67% moisture content where it is mined at Yallourn Open Cut (Table 1.1). In the Traralgon and Latrobe Synclines the seam can be buried by up to 200 m of younger Yallourn and Haunted Hill Formation clays and as a consequence its moisture may reduce to 60% (Figure 1.3). About 550 square kilometres of the Latrobe Valley Depression is occupied by the Yallourn seam.

TABLE 1.1

ANALYSES OF GIPPSLAND BASIN BROWN COALS FROM OPERATING OPEN CUTS

*Weighted average of composite dredger samples 1958 – 1985 (Yallourn open cut), 1959 – 1985 (Morwell and Yallourn North Extension open cut).

Weighted average of bore core samples.

ndnot determined

2.1.4.6 Younger Pliocene Units Including Haunted Hill Formation (Thomas and Baragwanath, 1949, Bolger, 1984)

All sediments which post-date the period of Late Miocene folding are non-coal bearing and on structural highs truncate the older coal bearing sequences with angular unconformity. In the Latrobe Valley Depression, Pliocene aged sandy clays, sands and gravels are referred to as the Haunted Hill Formation which comprises the major overburden material in the current open cuts. Recent alluvials and peat swamps in creek beds also overlie the coal measures. The Pliocene to Recent sediments infill fire holes in the Morwell coal seams where burning has created up to 50 m depressions in the top-of-coal surface. Granulation and aluminium enrichment in the coal seams also occurs within the weathered zone (Bolger, 1985).

At Alberton and Gelliondale, marine Pliocene units correlated with the Jemmys Point Formation are also present above the Late Miocene unconformity as are beds of the Boisdale Formation in the Lake Wellington Depression.

2.1.5 Depositional Environments of The Coal-Producing Swamps

The large multiple seam thicknesses which Victorian (particularly Gippsland) brown coals attain are a characteristic which distinguishes them from most other brown coals in the world. This, coupled with their overall low ash yield, presents many difficulties in interpreting by analogy their depositional environments. Comparisons to present day peat forming environments such as the Florida Everglades (Cohen, 1984) Mississippi Delta (Kosters and Bailey, 1985) and Canadian Tundra (Martini and Glooschenko, 1985) are unsatisfactory because most of these areas have little chance of accumulating peat more than a few tens of metres in thickness before interruption by incursions of sediment. By contrast, in the Gippsland Basin, up to five major seams each containing over 100 m of continuous low ash coal have formed from original peat deposits many times this thickness. This also occurred in a number of areas, in some cases apparently continuously, throughout a considerable part of the Tertiary Period over which many climatic and sea level changes occurred (Frakes, 1979 and Vail, Mitchum and Thomson, 1977).

None of the current geological models for coal formation are satisfactory when applied to Gippsland Basin coals, but the following features are thought to be important in understanding their exceptional depositional setting.

2.1.5.1 Distribution of Seams in Time and Space

All the major coal seams in the Latrobe Valley occur as oval-shaped bodies of coal elongated along the centre of the depression (Figure 1.5) although late Tertiary folding has subsequently modified their original disposition (Holdgate, 1985b). Each seam covers an area varying between 550 and 700 Km² and each seam area includes one or more depocentres where continuous coal exceeds 80 m thickness.

The coal depocentres are not spatially coincident between overlying seams. Rather they show evidence of migration from the western end of the depression (the Morwell 2 seam) to a central valley position for the Morwell 1B and 1A seams and then a return to the westerly location for the Yallourn Seam (Figure 1.5). This shifting of depocentres appears to be at least partly controlled by differential compaction of the coal relative to its lateral sediment equivalents.

Geometry of the Alberton Coal Measures in the Seaspray Depression (Figure 1.5) is broadly similar, comprising elongated oval-shaped bodies of coal (Holdgate, 1982). However, in this area, the direction of elongation is meridional and parallel to the barrier sands (Balook Formation) of the marine Seaspray Group, whereas in the Latrobe Valley the dominant direction of elongation is normal to the barrier sequence. Further south near Gelliondale and under Sunday Island the seams broaden and appear to adopt a configuration similar to that of the Latrobe Valley (Figure 1.5).

Available isopach data for the Traralgon Formation coal seams appear to indicate a similar elongated oval-shape for the main coal depocentres trending ENE from Stradbroke to Golden Beach, and further offshore, paralleling the Baragwanath Anticline (Figure 1.5).

It has thus been concluded (Holdgate, 1985b) that extensive thick peat swamps tended to form in elongated oval-shaped areas either immediately behind barrier systems or within structural depressions located further inland such as the Alberton, Latrobe Valley and Moe Depressions. Local structuring and differential compaction within these depressions appears to have controlled where maximum coal seam thickness occurred.

2.1.5.2 Facies Equivalents and Thick Seam Deposition

In all directions other than towards the marine barrier systems, the non-coaly facies equivalents to thick Morwell, Yallourn and Alberton seams are predominantly clay sequences which were deposited between the former peat swamps and the higher ground surrounding the structural depressions (Holdgate, 1985b). The clays of predominantly kaolinitic types, are considered to represent mainly lacustrine environments which on the swamp margins intertongued in a complex manner with the former peat swamps. Other than on local structural highs such as Loy Yang Dome and Morwell Anticline, the lake systems periodically expanded to flood over the peat swamps and this is represented by the thin interseam sediments. Differential compaction also allowed migration of the lacustrine sequences over former coal swamp areas causing a relocation of coal depocentres.

The effective surrounding by lakes of the main coal swamps has probably been the major factor in the stabilisation of the coal swamp environments over long periods allowing thick seams of low ash coal to accumulate. Major influxes of sediment from the more destructive fluvial sources off the surrounding highlands were generally dissipated at the lake edges. The suspended clay matter flocculated and settled under acidic waters off the swamp margins. The lakes would also provide (by lateral diffusion) a ready source of nutrient rich water for vegetation growth within the swamp.

The maintenance of stable barrier sand sequences across the onshore Gippsland Basin was probably structurally controlled (Thompson, 1980). These prevented long-standing marine transgressions into the coal swamps, but eustatic sea level changes allowed numerous short lived sand and mud incursions into the swamps up to 30 km inland (Holdgate and Sluiter, 1989). This can be readily seen at Alberton where the coals become sandier as the barriers are approached (Holdgate, 1982). Similar barrier sequences to those of the Traralgon Formation coal swamps are recognised in the offshore Gippsland Basin (Partridge, 1982).

2.1.5.3 Coal Ash Constituents as Indicators of Depositional Environment

In the Latrobe Valley the ash yield is usually between 1% and 4% on a dry basis (Table 1.1), and is derived in part from organically bound cations (refer Chapters 5 and 11). Minerals such as quartz, kaolinite and iron sulphides which together may comprise up to half the ash forming constituents can provide a useful indicator of sediment conditions at the time of deposition (Gloe, 1984). Elsewhere in the Gippsland Basin, ash yield tends to be slightly higher, but still generally less than 6% (Table 1.2). The influence that the surrounding sedimentary environment had on the coal swamps is shown by comparison of the weighted average for the ash forming constituents (mineral matter vs non-mineral inorganics) in each Latrobe Valley field area (Gloe, 1980) when overlaid on coal seam isopachs for the Morwell 1B seam (Holdgate, 1985b) (Figure 1.6). The mineral matter level tends to increase towards seam boundaries whereas the non-mineral inorganics such as the organically bound cations and dissolved salts of sodium and magnesium as chlorides tend to be higher in the main coal depocentres.

TABLE 1.2

TYPICAL ANALYSES OF COALS FROM OTHER GIPPSLAND BASIN COALFIELDS

*average values from single bore core samples.

Figure 1.6 Isopachs of total Morwell IB Seam and relative percentage of minerals (SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3) to ‘inorganics’ (CaO, MgO, Na2O, CI) in ash for Latrobe Valley coalfields.

Increases in organic sulphur in coal seams have been considered indicative of proximity to marine conditions (e.g. Suggate, 1959; Home, et al., 1978). In all Gippsland coals organic sulphur tends to increase towards the