Notes on the origin of inertinite macerals in coal: Evidence for fungal and arthropod transformations of degraded macerals

Hower, James C.; O’Keefe, Jennifer M.K.; Eble, Cortland F.; Raymond, Anne; Valentim, Bruno; Volk, Thomas; Richardson, Allison R.; Satterwhite, Anne B.; Hatch, Rachel S.; Stucker, J.D.; Watt, Michael A.

doi:10.1016/j.coal.2011.02.005

Cited by 104 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…The higher inertinite content and more diverse palynoflora seen in the top two coal benches suggest more surficial peat exposure, which would allow for increased inertinite formation through both microbial (mainly fungal) activity (Hower et al, 2011) and charring from wildfire (Scott and Jones, 1994). An exposed peat surface would also curtail the proliferation of lycopsid trees and allow other plant groups to become established.…”

Section: Palynology and Plant Paleontology Of The Matewan Coal Bed Anmentioning

confidence: 98%

Re–Os age for the Lower–Middle Pennsylvanian Boundary and comparison with associated palynoflora

Geboy

Tripathy

Ruppert

et al. 2015

International Journal of Coal Geology

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The Betsie Shale Member is a relatively thick and continuous unit that serves as a marker bed across the central Appalachian basin, in part because it includes an organic-rich shale unit at its base that is observable in drill logs. Deposited during a marine transgression, the Betsie Shale Member has been correlated to units in both Wales and Germany and has been proposed to mark the boundary between the Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian Series within North America. This investigation assigns a new Re-Os date to the base of the Betsie and examines the palynoflora and maceral composition of the underlying Matewan coal bed in the context of that date. The Matewan coal bed contains abundant lycopsid tree spores along its base with assemblage diversity and inertinite content increasing upsection, as sulfur content and ash yield decrease. Taken together, these palynologic and organic petrographic results suggest a submerged paleomire that transitioned to an exposed peat surface. Notably, separating the lower and upper benches of the Matewan is a parting with very high sulfur content (28 wt.%), perhaps representing an early marine pulse prior to the full on transgression responsible for depositing the Betsie. Results from Re-Os geochronology date the base of the Betsie at 323 ± 7.8 Ma, consistent with previously determined age constraints as well as the palynoflora assemblage presented herein. The Betsie Shale Member is also highly enriched in Re (ranging from 319.7 to 1213 ng/g), with high 187 Re/ 188 Os values ranging from 3644 to 5737 likely resultant from varying redox conditions between the pore water and overlying water column during deposition and early condensing of the section.Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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Section: Palynology and Plant Paleontology Of The Matewan Coal Bed Anmentioning

confidence: 98%

Re–Os age for the Lower–Middle Pennsylvanian Boundary and comparison with associated palynoflora

Geboy

Tripathy

Ruppert

et al. 2015

International Journal of Coal Geology

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“…For example, basidiomycete white rot fungi are the most efficient modern lignin degraders, and their evolution is directly implicated in the decline of coal deposition (13). Although the earliest definitive fossil record of basidiomycete white rot is from Triassic conifer wood (76), an earlier evolution of fungal-mediated lignin degradation is indicated by Devonian-to-Permian woods infiltrated with fungi and possessing damage consistent with white rot decay or other forms of fungal degradation of lignified tissue (61,(76)(77)(78)(79) (Fig. 2).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delayed fungal evolution did not cause the Paleozoic peak in coal production

Nelsen

DiMichele

Peters

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

114

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Organic carbon burial plays a critical role in Earth systems, influencing atmospheric O 2 and CO 2 concentrations and, thereby, climate. The Carboniferous Period of the Paleozoic is so named for massive, widespread coal deposits. A widely accepted explanation for this peak in coal production is a temporal lag between the evolution of abundant lignin production in woody plants and the subsequent evolution of lignin-degrading Agaricomycetes fungi, resulting in a period when vast amounts of lignin-rich plant material accumulated. Here, we reject this evolutionary lag hypothesis, based on assessment of phylogenomic, geochemical, paleontological, and stratigraphic evidence. Lignin-degrading Agaricomycetes may have been present before the Carboniferous, and lignin degradation was likely never restricted to them and their class II peroxidases, because lignin modification is known to occur via other enzymatic mechanisms in other fungal and bacterial lineages. Furthermore, a large proportion of Carboniferous coal horizons are dominated by unlignified lycopsid periderm with equivalent coal accumulation rates continuing through several transitions between floral dominance by lignin-poor lycopsids and lignin-rich tree ferns and seed plants. Thus, biochemical composition had little relevance to coal accumulation. Throughout the fossil record, evidence of decay is pervasive in all organic matter exposed subaerially during deposition, and high coal accumulation rates have continued to the present wherever environmental conditions permit. Rather than a consequence of a temporal decoupling of evolutionary innovations between fungi and plants, Paleozoic coal abundance was likely the result of a unique combination of everwet tropical conditions and extensive depositional systems during the assembly of Pangea.lignin | carbon cycle | wood rot | fungi | lignin degradation

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“…Scott and Glasspool (2007), though, are of the opinion that the formation of degradofusinite has not been proven. Some of what has been described as degradofusinite is properly considered to be macrinite (Hower et al, , 2011a(Hower et al, ,b, 2013a, however, many forms occur as larger pieces or as altered zones within or surrounding huminite/vitrinite macerals, such as that figured by Taylor et al (1998) Rank fusinite refers to fusinite that formed during the geochemical coalification of huminitic-liptinitic cell tissues. Cell walls of woods may be protected against microbial attack by the impregnation of resin, cutin, suberin, etc., thus preserving the cellulose (Taylor et al, 1998).…”

Section: Fusinite and Semifusinitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The breakdown of cellulose by brown-rot fungi and, in particular, lignin by white-rot fungi allows arthropod detritivores to more easily ingest wood (García Massini et al, 2012;Hower et al, 2011aHower et al, ,b, 2013a. Microbial decomposition is a surface process; bacteria and fungi attack the surfaces of plant cells and plant cell walls.…”

Section: Secretinite Following the Classification Bymentioning

confidence: 99%