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Discussion |
1 University of Kentucky, Center for Applied Energy Research, 2540 Research Park Drive, Lexington, KY 40511, USA (e-mail: hower@caer.uky.edu)
2 Kentucky Geological Survey, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
3 Kentucky Geological Survey, Henderson, KY 42420, USA
Scientific editing by Peter Haughton.
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Introduction |
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Premovi
et al. (1997), following studies by Zubovi (1966), Maylotte et al. (1981), and Hower et al. (1990b), discussed the origin of vanadium anomalies in the upper few centimetres of the Springfield (No. 9) coal bed (Middle Pennsylvanian Carbondale Formation) in a limited area of the Western Kentucky coal field. The vanadium enrichment is accompanied by high concentrations of other metals, notably Cr, Ni, and Zn. Their conclusions with regard to the origin of the vanadium enrichment and to the geology of the Springfield coal bed conflict with the established geology of the coal.
The enrichment of V in the top few centimetres of the coal bed was established by Zubovi (1966). Hower et al. (1990b) noted this trend at 42 of 44 Western Kentucky sites, although their study sites did not, in many cases, have the vertical resolution of the previous study. Premovi et al. examined the V enrichment in samples from the Providence Mine, southwestern Hopkins County, Kentucky, a site where the upper 12.6 cm lithotype has 10,600 ppm V (our analysis via XRF; reported on ash basis; 11.67% ash).
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Critique |
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et al. state that ‘It is quite unlikely that a source of V in the W. KY No. 9 coal was ordinary shallow (<100 m) swamp waters’ (p. 280) as the levels of metals in modern swamp waters are very low. The Springfield
