Studia Geologica Polonica  vol. 108 (Abstracts)

Reconstruction of maximum paleotemperatures at present erosional surface of the Upper Silesia Basin, based on the composition of illite/smectite in shales

Jan ŚRODOŃ

Abstract
Mixed-layer illite/smectite from shales was evaluated as geothermometer by means of a critical analysis of published diagenetic profiles from different
sedimentary basins. It was found that the effect of time can be safely neglected, and illite/smectite layer composition (%S) records the maximum
temperatures experienced by shales. %S on the present erosional surface of the Carboniferous, in the cenral trough of the Upper Silesia Basin between
Rybnik in the west and Chrzanów in the east, varies irregularly in 25-15%S range, which corresponds to the maximum paleotemperatures of 120-160°C. Assuming 30-50°C geothermal paleogradients, typical for sedimentary basins, the minimum thickness of sedimentary cover eroded from the entire area is estimated as 2400-4000 m. This finding is confirmed by the available coal diagenesis data but it is incompatible with the stratigraphic model of the basin,
which assumes up to 5 km of Carboniferoussediments missing in the west but very little erosion in the east. The most plausible explanation calls for a few
kilometers of Stefanian sediments depoited and eroded before the Permian in the eastern part of the basin.

Studia Geologica Polonica, 108: 21-25.

K-Ar ages of white micas from the Upper Carboniferous rocks of Upper Silesia Coal Basin

Michał BANAŚ*, Mariusz  PASZKOWSKI* & Norbert CLAUER**

Abstract
Muscovite residues from sandstones and gneiss clasts derived from the Upper Carboniferous sedimentary rocks in the Upper Silesia Coal Basin, were analysed by the K-Ar method. The dates range from 290 to 365 Ma, which corresponds to cooling ages close to the depositional age of the host sediment. This indicates that much of the clastic detritus was shed off from a major Variscan metamorphic source subjected to fast uplift and erosion in high-mountain conditions.

Studia Geologica Polonica, 108: 27-43.

Composition and provenance of Carboniferous sandstones from the Upper Silesia Coal Basin (Poland)

Anna ŚWIERCZEWSKA

Abstract
The grain-framework composition of Upper Carboniferous sandsones from the Upper Silesia Basin was studied using Gazzi-Dickinson method. The sandstones show a significant compositional variability, notably in the relative contribution of feldspars. Plagioclases occur in appreciable quantities only in the oldest part of the succession, represented by the deltaic to shallow-marine Paralic Series (PS). The overlying continental deposits comprising the Upper Silesia Sandstone Series (USSS), Mudstone Series (MS), Cracow Sandstone Series (CSS) and the coal-free Kwaczała Arkose, are all poor in plagioclase. The sandstone petrograpgic maturity, expressed as feldspar/quartz ratio, is higher in the USSS snd MS than in the PS, CSS and Kwaczała Arkose. The petrographic results point to two, major changes in the geotectonic arrangement of source areas: (1) near the fall of the PS sedimentatiion, and (2) immediately prior to the onset of the CSS. The main source of clastic detritus was a recycled orogen composed mainly of metamorphic rocks. The second source of clastic detritus was old magmatic arc(s) which shed detritus mainly during sedimentation of the PS, CSS and Kawczała Arkose. The magmatic arc feeding the PS contained metavolcanic and undetermined plagioclase-rich rocks, whilst that feeding the CSS and Kwaczała Arkose was rich in acidic volcanic rocks.

Studia Geologica Polonica, 108: 45-127.

Composition, age and provenance of gravel-sized clasts from the Upper Carboniferous of the Upper Silesia Coal Basin (Poland)

Mariusz PASZKOWSKI*, Monika JACHOWICZ**, Marek MICHALIK***, Lech TELLER****, Alfred UCHMAN***  & Zdzisława URBANEK*****

Abstract
The composition of gravelly material (fraction 8-160 mm) was studied in 100 samples (ca 10,000 clasts) derived from the Paralic Series, Upper Silesia Sandstone Series, Cracow Sandstone Series and Kwaczała Arkose, which form the bulk of the Carboniferous foredeep basin-fill in Upper Silesia. The identified clast types comprise metamorphic rocks, volcanic rocks, cherts, quartzose clastic rocks, metaquartzites, metacherts, polymict clastic rocks, quartz, silicified caustobioliths, silicified limestones, phosphorites, jaspilites, metatuffsilicites, and agates. The biostratigraphically constrained ages of some rock types correspond to the Proterozoic and Llandovery (after palynomorphs), Llandovery (graptolites), Silurian and Famennian (radiolarians), Famennian-Early Carboniferous (conodonts), and to the Ordovician (trace-fossils).
Most samples represent mixtures of gravelly material which was derived from different geotectonic settings and passed through varying numbers of diastrophic-sedimentary cycles. These mixtures can be divided into two congeneric clast suites. (i) The stable, oligomict suite dominated by well-rounded clasts of predominantly quartzose composition, reflects a long-term multicycle history. (ii) The unstable, polymict suite dominated by poorly rounded, metamorphic and volcanic detritus reflects derivation from relatively proximal sources and had a simple history of transportation. The clast composition is compatible with derivation of the gravelly material mostly from Variscan orogenic source domains. In a downstream direction, these comprised the hinterland and pre-Variscan terranes, volcanic centers, internides, externides and intrabasinal source domains. There is no evidence of significant clastic supply from platform sources. The marked vertical variability of the clast composition is interpreted to reflect continuous tectonic rearrangement of the source areas and changing fluvial styles, due to Variscan orogenic activity. Palaeogeographic reconstruction for the best studied Łaziska Beds (Westphalian) assumes a series of source domains located on the Bohemian Massif. These fed fluvial systems which occupied thrust-top and extensional intramontane basins and, via gaps in ranges of the Variscan internides, were linked with the braidplains of the Upper Silesia foredeep basin, itself backed to the east by forebulge slope.
The source areas for the gravel detritus in the foredeep basin included Bohemicum, with its coal-bearing intramontane basin fills in the hinterland, and the rapidly rising crystalline internides comprising the Moldanubicum and Silesicum-Moravicum with related gneiss domes. The deposition of the Kwaczała Arkose (Stephanian) was accompanied by an influx of greywacke and volcanic detritus, attesting to a further uplift and incision of sedimentary externides and reflecting active volcanism in the hinterland.

Studia Geologica Polonica, 108: 129-147.

Upright stems and their burial conditions in the coal-bearing Mudstone Series (Upper Carboniferous), Upper Silesia Coal Basin, Poland

Ryszard GRADZIŃSKI & Marek DOKTOR

Abstract
Upright, mostly lycopod, stems occur commonly in the coal-bearing Mudstone Series (Westphalian A and lower Westphalian B) which was deposited on flat alluvial plain constructed by suspended load-dominated high-sinuosity rivers. The longest stems (up to 6 m) occur in crevasse-splay deposits which accreted at an average rate of 6 cm/y. Stems of intermediate length occur in levees and distal crevasse splays and, locally, in higher levels of channel sandbodies. Burial and preservation of the upright stems was facilitated by fast sediment accretion and by local subsidence caused by an intense compaction of peat. This compaction resulted in lowering of local depositional surface, which promoted a rapid formation of anomalously thick crevasse splays enhancing the burial and preservation of stems to considerable heights.

Studia Geologica Polonica, 108: 149-170.

Depositional environments of the coal-bearing Cracow Sandstone Series (upper Westphalian), Upper Silesia, Poland

Ryszard GRADZIŃSKI*, Marek DOKTOR*  & Tadeusz SŁOMKA**

Abstract
The Cracow Sandstone Series (upper Westphalian) forms the uppermost segment of the coal-bearing succession comprising the bulk of the Upper Silesia Variscan foredeep-basin fill. The series, up to 1640 m in stratigraphic thickness, consists entirely of non-marine deposits interpreted to have been formed within a braided fluvial system. The Cracow Sandstone Series is subdivided here into two lithofacies association. The sandstone association consists mainly of medium to coarse-grained sandstones forming erosively based bodies, up to several tens of metres thick (max. 140 m), which are believed to have originated within wide channel belts of distal, sand-bed braided rivers. These bodies are separated by the volumetrically less important packages of the fine-grained association comprised mainly of mudstones and coal seams, collectively interpreted as floodplain deposits. Peat swamps were probably of a slightly domed type and their margins received clastic material from adjacent channels. This resulted in the frequent lateral splitting of the coal seams. The large-scale seam splitting is associated with the lateral transition of fine-grained floodplain deposits into coarse-grained channel deposits. The vertical alternation of the channel and floodplain deposits is thought to have resulted mainly from channel avulsion. The internal geometry of the Cracow Sandstone Series was controlled to a large extent by differential sediment compaction, notably rapid compaction of peat. The lithological and environmental dissimilarity of the Cracow Sandstone Series with respect to the underlying Mudstone Series representing a mean- dering fluvial system, stems from a sudden clastic influx into the basin, due to the tectonic reconstruction of source areas.

Studia Geologica Polonica, 108: 171-202.

Invertebrate trace fossils in the continental deposits of an Upper Carboniferous coal-bearing succession, Upper Silesia, Poland

Arkadiusz GŁUSZEK

Abstract
Fifteen types of aquatic invertebrate trace fossils have been identified in the Upper Carboniferous continental deposits of the Upper Silesia Coal Basin. These are: Acripes isp., Cochlichnus anguineus, Lockeia avalonensis, Lockeia siliquaria, Planolites montanus, Sagittichnus lincki, Torrowangea rosei, arthropod tracks, small and large fugichnia, small and large equilibrichnia, thread-like equilibrichnia, simple trails, small arthropod trackway, simple meandering groove trace and three-fingered ?resting trace. The occurrence of Sagittichnus lincki is here for the first time reported from the Carboniferous. A modification of the diagnosis and ethology of Cochlichnus anguineus has been proposed.
In the trace fossil assemblage dominated by C. anguineus, arthropod and bivalve traces, the Cochlichnus-Acripes-Lockeia association and the Planolites montanus association have been distinguished. In the Mudstone Series, the Cochlichnus-Acripes-Lockeia association is bound to crevasse-splay, levee and floodbasin settings. The Planolites montanus association can be linked to some minor basins filled with stagnant flood waters, including lower point bars and chutes in starved channels.

Studia Geologica Polonica, 108: 203-219.

Note on the succession of miospore assemblages in the Namurian and lowermost Westphalian in the vicinity of Jaworzno (Upper Silesia Coal Basin)

Marzena OLIWKIEWICZ-MIKLASIŃSKA

Abstract
The coal bearing deposits from the borehole Jaworzno-2729 are included in the Stenozonotriletes triangulus-Rotaspora knoxi (TK), Raistrickia fulva-Reticulatisporites reticulatus (FR), Triquitrites sinani-Cirratriradites saturni (SS), Radiizonates aligerens (RA), and Microreticulatisporites nobilis-Florinites junior (NJ) biozones of the standard miospore division. Miospore assemblages from the interval between the TK and FR biozones are included hesitantly in the local Densosporites variabilis Acme-zone which is equated with the Lycospora subtriquetra-Kraeuselisporites ornatus (SO) and Crassispora kosankei-Grumosisporites varioreticulatus (KV) biozones. Thus, the deposits from this borehole are of an Arnsbergian to Duckmantian age. In the Jaworzno-5109 borehole only the TK, and SS biozones were distinguished.