Petrographic characteristics and

COGEL-01956; No of Pages 8
International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
International Journal of Coal Geology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijcoalgeo
Petrographic characteristics and palaeoenvironmental setting of Upper Triassic Olang
coal deposits in northeastern Iran
Z. Solaymani, N. Taghipour ⁎
School of Earth Sciences, Damghan University, P.O. Box: 36715–364, Damghan, Iran
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 6 April 2011
Received in revised form 28 December 2011
Accepted 2 January 2012
Available online xxxx
Keywords:
Coal petrography
Depositional environment
Olang
Iran
a b s t r a c t
This study investigates the petrographic analysis, microlithotype, and palaeoenviroment of deposition of the
upper Triassic Olang coal deposits in northeastern Iran. The average maceral composition of the studied coals
consisted of 82.3, 8.9, 0.4 (vol.%), vitrinite, inertinite and liptinite groups, respectively. Vitrinite macerals include equal portions of collotelinite and; collodetrinite and a small quantity of corpogelinite also is present in
all coal seams. Semifusinite and fusinite are the most abundant inertinite macerals.
The Ground Water Index (GWI) suggests that these coal seams have evolved in a limnic coal facies (a bog
palaeomire system) under ombrotrophic hydrological conditions, except the K6G coal seam, which evolved
a limnic coal facies (a bog palaeomire system) under mesotrophic hydrological conditions. The Vegetation
Index (VI) values are indicative of the dominance of herbaceous plants in the formation of coal seams of
the Olang area.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
There is little known about the petrography, geochemistry, and
mineralogy of Iranian coals. The only petrographical analysis of
Iranian coal in the available literature is a photomicrograph in Stach
et al. (1982) showing a clarite with liptodetrinite, sporinite, and resinite from a highly volatile Jurassic coal from Zerab. There also is little
known about the geochemistry and mineralogy of Iranian coals except for the studies by Stasiuk et al. (2006) on the petrology, rank
and liquid petroleum potential of the Central Alborz Region, the geochemical properties of coals in the Lushan coalﬁeld carried out by
Yazdi and Shiravani (2004), and a preliminary study of the mineralogy and geochemistry of four coal samples from northern Iran by
Goodarzi et al. (2006).
Iranian coal resources mostly occur in two main basins, one in
northern and another in central Iran, the Alborz and Central basins,
respectively. The Alborz basin is subdivided into three regions: western, central and eastern Alborz. Eastern Alborz region coal resources
are estimated to be about 1 Gt occurring in two areas, Tazareh and
Gheshlagh. The Olang region is located in the Gheshlagh area. In general, coals of the Gheshlagh area are medium volatile bituminous
(%VRr: 0.82–0.88) and have variable ash yield (9 to 40 wt.%), volatile
matter (26 to 28 wt.%), and sulphur (0.6 to 1.02 wt.%) contents
(Razavi-Armagani and Moenoalsadat, 1994).
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Taghipour).
Coal petrographic studies are mainly used for determining coal
quality, coking properties and composition, palaeodepositional environment, or coal rank (Taylor et al., 1998). This study uses organic petrography to provide detailed maceral composition and hence,
reconstruction of the palaeoenvironmental conditions of deposition
for 12 coal seams from the Upper Triassic–Lower Jurassic section of
the Olang coal deposit in northeastern Iran.
2. Geological setting
The Olang region is situated about 70 km northeast of the city of
Shahroud, located in northeastern Iran (longitude 55°10′; latitude
36°50′, Fig. 1). This area is part of the Gheshlagh - Olang syncline
with a NS-SW axis with respect to the Alborz coalﬁeld. Coal-bearing
strata of this region are part of the Shemshak group which occurs between dolomitic limestones of the Elica Formation and the underlying
limestones of the Lar Formation (Fig. 2).
The Shemshak Group (Assereto, 1966; Fürsich et al., 2009;
Shekarifard et al., 2011) is a siliciclastic succession with immense
thicknesses up to 4000 m, widely distributed across central and
northern Iran (Fig. 1), the so-called Iran Plate. Commonly the Shemshak Group is regarded as the product of the erosion of the Cimmerides, deposited in a foreland basin (Alavi, 1996; Assereto, 1966;
Seyed-Emami, 2003; Seyed-Emami and Alavi-Naini, 1990). Fürsich
et al. (2009) consider the Shemshak Group as the result of syn- and
post-collisional processes of the Eo-Cimmerian orogeny. The Shemshak Group consists almost exclusively of ﬁne- to coarse-grained
siliciclastic sediments that are accompanied by numerous coal
seams and carbonaceous shales at different stratigraphic levels. The
0166-5162/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.01.003
Please cite this article as: Solaymani, Z., Taghipour, N., Petrographic characteristics and palaeoenvironmental setting of Upper Triassic Olang
coal deposits in northeastern Iran, Int. J. Coal Geol. (2012), doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.01.003
2
Z. Solaymani, N. Taghipour / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
Fig. 1. Locality map with outcrop distribution of the Shemshak Formation in the Alborz Mountains, northern Iran. The Olang area is marked with an arrow (modiﬁed after Seyed-Emami, 2006).
age of the Shemshak Group ranges from Late Triassic to Early Bajocian (Fürsich et al., 2005, 2009; Seyed-Emami, 2003; Seyed-Emami
et al., 2001, 2005, 2006; Vollmer, 1987).
Its depositional palaeoenvironment includes ﬂuvial, swamp and
lake systems, as well as shallow to deeper marine environments with
local oxygen-deﬁcient conditions leading to the deposition of organic
Fig. 2. Lithostratigraphy of Shemshak Group in the Alborz Region (Shekarifard et al., 2011).
Please cite this article as: Solaymani, Z., Taghipour, N., Petrographic characteristics and palaeoenvironmental setting of Upper Triassic Olang
coal deposits in northeastern Iran, Int. J. Coal Geol. (2012), doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.01.003
Z. Solaymani, N. Taghipour / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
3
Fig. 3. Lithostratigraphic column of the coal seams in the Olang region, northeastern Iran. Coal seam studies (K4, K13, K14, K15 of the Melech Aram mine, and K6 of the Granite
mine, K18, K19, K20, K21 of the Alborzegan mine and K30, K31, K32 of the Razi mine) are indicated.
carbon-rich sediments (Baudin and Teherani, 1991; Fürsich et al., 2005;
Rad, 1982, 1986; Seyed-Emami et al., 2006; Shekarifard et al., 2009,
2011; Stampﬂi, 1978; Fig. 2).
Based on a regional classiﬁcation, the Shemshak Formation in Eastern Alborz consists of the Akrasar, Lalleh band, Kalariz, Alasht, Shirin
Dasht and Dancerit formations. Olang coal-bearing strata occur in the
Kalariz formation (Rethian to Hettangian), which consists mainly of
coal seams, siltstone, ﬁne grained sandstone and locally coarse grained
sandstone (Fig. 3).
excitation used for recognition and differentiation of liptinite
macerals).
The terminology used to identify and describe the organic matter
particles is the one proposed by the International Committee for
Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP, 1998, 2001) as well as Scott and
Glasspool (2007) and Taylor et al. (1998).
In order to characterise the palaeomires, the petrographic indices
such as Vegetation Index (VI) and Groundwater Inﬂuence Index
(GWI) of Calder et al. (1991) were considered.
3. Sampling and methodology
4. Coal petrography
A total of 120 blocks of coal samples were collected from freshly
mined coal from 12 coal seams of 4 active coal mines (Razi, Melech
Aram, Alborzegan and Granite) for petrography and palaeoenviromental study in Olang coal deposits (Fig. 3 and 4b). All samples
were collected and stored in plastic bags to prevent contamination
and weathering.
Samples were prepared for microscopic analysis by reﬂected light
following ASTM Standard D2797-04. For microscopic study, coal samples were crushed to b 1-mm size fraction (18 mesh size), mounted in
epoxy resin and polished. Three polished samples were prepared for
each coal seam.
The petrographic composition was obtained by maceral analyses
under standard conditions (ISO 7404/3 (2009) for maceral analysis).
Maceral point counting (based on 400 points) analyses were performed using an Olympus BX51 reﬂected light microscope and Leitz
MPV-SP reﬂected light microscope equipped with photometer–
photomultiplier and white and ultra-violet light sources (blue light
4.1. Vitrinite
The vitrinite maceral group is dominant in all coal seams (57.7–
94 vol.%; Table. 1) and includes collodetrinite, collotelinite, and corpogelinite macerals. Collotelinite (35.2–72.8 vol.%) occurs as a structureless, homogeneous mass in thin and thick bands, and also as
isolated irregular fragments of different dimensions (Fig. 5a). The inclusion of liptinite within the collotelinite is very common. Secondary
inﬁlling of mineral matter also occurs in cracks and cavities of collotellinite. Collodetrinite macerals are present as mottled vitrinitic
groundmass binding other coal components (maceral and mineral)
and often shows lower reﬂectance than associated collotelinite
(Fig. 5a, b). Collodetrinite is the most abundant maceral of the vitrinite group, except the K30R coal seam, in which collotelinite is the
most abundant maceral. Very small percentages of corpogelinite are
observed in only 8 coal seams of this area. This maceral occurs mostly
as ﬁllings in the cell cavities of fusinite and semifusinite (Fig. 5c).
Please cite this article as: Solaymani, Z., Taghipour, N., Petrographic characteristics and palaeoenvironmental setting of Upper Triassic Olang
coal deposits in northeastern Iran, Int. J. Coal Geol. (2012), doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.01.003
4
Z. Solaymani, N. Taghipour / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
Fig. 4. a) Coal-bearing strata of Iran (modiﬁed after Yazdi and Sheivani, 2004). b) Geological map showing locations of studied coal mines in the Olang area (modiﬁed after Zahrab,
2004).
4.2. Inertinite
Inertinite contents range from 4.2 to 23.1 vol.% of the studied coal
samples. Fusinite (15.7 to 51.4 vol.%; Table. 1) is present in all coal
seams. Cell cavities of fusinite are ﬁlled mostly by corpogelinite and
clay minerals (Fig. 5c). Semifusinite occurs in appreciable concentrations (1.1 to 12 vol.%) with a reﬂectance between collotelinite and fusinite in the same coal. Cell lumens of semifusinite are ﬁlled (partly or
completely) with mineral matter, mostly argillaceous in composition
(Fig. 5b). Macrinite (0.1 to 1 vol.%) occurs as amorphous (nongranular)
and structureless bands or lenses. Inertodetrinite (0.1 to 0.7 vol.%) is observed as discrete small fragments of varying shape with high reﬂectance (higher than the associated vitrinite of the same sample).
Micrinite is observed as granular aggregates and it is rare (Fig. 5b).
Secretinite (nil to 0.2 vol.%) is very common in these coal seams. It occurs as large size oval to rounded bodies with un-oriented vesicles
Table 1
Maceral composition analysis and mineral content of the coals seams of the Olang area (in vol%).
Sample
CT
Cg
V-G
Sp
Cu
Re
LD
L-G
Alborzegan Mine
60.1
K18A
K19A
76.3
K20A
67.5
K21A
68.0
CD
Fu
14.6
15.4
15.2
26.0
1.3
0.1
0.2
0.0
76.0
91.8
82.9
94.0
0.5
0.4
2.5
0.2
0.4
0.3
1.0
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.2
0.3
0.3
0.0
1.1
1.0
3.8
0.3
1.6
2.8
4.2
0.7
Razi Mine
K30R
K31R
K32R
35.3
59.3
50.4
48.6
13.4
20.4
0.3
0.4
0.8
84.2
73.1
71.6
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.0
0.1
0.3
0.0
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.3
0.0
0.3
0.7
Melech Aram Mine
50.7
K4M
K13M
72.8
K14M
63.0
K15M
69.0
11.7
4.9
20.1
14.4
0.3
0.0
0.0
0.1
62.7
77.7
83.1
83.5
2.2
1.2
1.7
0.4
0.5
0.3
0.3
0.4
0.1
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.4
1.1
0.8
0.0
Granite Mine
52.0
K6G
5.7
0.0
57.7
0.9
0.3
0.1
0.0
Sf
Ma
In
Fg
Sc
I-G
Mm
5.8
2.8
2.5
3.5
0.5
0.2
1.0
0.7
0.7
0.5
0.1
0.4
0.1
0.1
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.0
0.0
8.8
6.6
7.8
5.4
14.1
0.6
5.5
0.3
8.4
10.2
5.6
7.0
10.3
9.2
0.2
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.2
0.2
15.7
20.9
15.2
0.1
5.7
12.5
3.2
2.7
2.8
0.8
9.6
3.5
5.2
4.6
12
1.1
2.4
2.7
0.8
0.6
0.7
0.9
0.5
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.0
0.3
0.1
0.2
0.1
0.2
23.1
5.6
8.5
8.9
11.0
14.0
5.6
6.8
1.3
2.3
2.8
0.4
0.7
0.0
0.1
6.3
34.7
CD = collodetrinite; CT = collotelinite; Cg = corpogelinite; V-G = vitrinite group total; Sp = spornite; Re = resinite; LD = liptodetrinite; L-G = liptinite group total; Fu = fusinite;
Sf = semifusinite; Ma = macrinite; In = inertinite; Fg = funginite; Sc = secretinite; I-G = inertinite group total; Mm = mineral matter.
Please cite this article as: Solaymani, Z., Taghipour, N., Petrographic characteristics and palaeoenvironmental setting of Upper Triassic Olang
coal deposits in northeastern Iran, Int. J. Coal Geol. (2012), doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.01.003
Z. Solaymani, N. Taghipour / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
5
Fig. 5. Photomicrographs of macerals in the Olang coal seams in white reﬂect light. a) Collotelinite and collodetrinite with funginite (Fg) in semifusinite groundmass. b) Macrinite
(Ma) and inertodetrinite (In) in collodetrinite groundmass. c) Fusinite where cell lumens are ﬁlled with corpogelinite (Cg) and argillaceous mineral matter. d) Associations of micrinite and pyrite in collotelinite. e) Secretinite (Sc). f) Funginite (Fg), macrinite (Ma), semifusinite and inertodetrinite in collodetrinite groundmass.
and very high relief (Fig. 5e). Funginite (nil to 0.2 vol.%) occurs as
single or multi-celled bodies ﬁlled by clay minerals and resinite
(Fig. 5c). The presence of funginite indicates aerobic conditions that occurred at least intermittently in the peat environment of the Olang coal
seams.
4.3. Liptinite
Sporinite is the dominant maceral in the liptinite group (nil to
2.5 vol.%) and occurs as elongated thread-like or spindle-shaped bodies
(Fig. 6a, b). This maceral occurs as microspores and megaspores. The
microspores are high in concentration and dark grey to black in white
reﬂected light. Megaspores are comparatively low in concentration,
commonly dark brown to black in white reﬂect light and are mostly
thin walled. Cutinite (nil to 2.1 vol.%) is observed as elongated thread
like structures with one end serrated (Fig. 6c, d). Resinite (nil to
2.2 vol.%) occurs as round to oval bodies and as ﬁllings of the cell
cavities of fusinite, semifusinite and funginite (Fig. 6e, f). Liptodetrinite
(nil to 1.1 vol.%) is observed in all of the coal seams of the Olang area.
4.4. Mineral matter
The mineral matter content of most of the Olang coal seams varies
between 0.1 and 14.1 vol.% and only one sample from the Granite
mine has mineral matter content of 34.7 vol.% (Table 1). Mineral
matter occurs as primary ground mass or secondary cavity ﬁlling
form and includes clay minerals, carbonate and sulphide. Carbonate
minerals (siderite) occur as re-precipitated small irregular bodies or
patches, and ﬁssure and cell cavity ﬁllings of vitrinite macerals. Pyrite
is observed as syngenetic (framboidal) and epigenetic (ﬁlling of the
cell cavity, vein, and veinlet) mineral. Pyrite occurs in several forms
such as disseminated particles, blebs, discrete grains, framboidal bodies, massive replacement and ﬁssure ﬁllings (Fig. 7).
5. Coal facies
There are a number of models available to reconstruct the
palaeoenviromental conditions of swamps using petrographic facies
indices calculated from maceral analyses.
A facies model based on quantitative relationships of macerals has
been proposed by Calder et al. (1991). This model interprets coal facies on the basis of a Ground Water Index (GWI) and Vegetation
Index (VI), the fundamentals of which are very close to the GI and
TPI indices of Diessel (1986). The parameters applied in the reconstruction of peat lands (peat land = marsh + swamp) are the degree
of groundwater control, relative rainfall (Kalkreuth et al., 1991;
Ligouis and Doubinger, 1991), changes in groundwater level, vegetation, mineral matter content and degree of preservation of maceral
precursors (Calder et al., 1991).
Please cite this article as: Solaymani, Z., Taghipour, N., Petrographic characteristics and palaeoenvironmental setting of Upper Triassic Olang
coal deposits in northeastern Iran, Int. J. Coal Geol. (2012), doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.01.003
6
Z. Solaymani, N. Taghipour / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
Fig. 6. Photomicrographs of macerals in the Olang coal seams; white reﬂect light (a, c, e), under oil immersion at 120 × and (d, e, f) under ﬂuorescent illumination, oil immersion.
a) Sporinite in collodetrinite groundmass. b) Cutinite with macrinite and vitrinite. c) Resinite.
VI similar to the TPI of Diessel (1996):
Ground Water Index (GWI) of these coal seams is lower than 0.5
except for the K6G coal seam, in which GWI indices are greater than
0.5 (0.6 vol.%, Table 2). The coal seams of Olang area, except the K6G
coal seam, show low GWI ratios related to higher contents of detrovitrinite, suggesting a limnic coal facies (a bog palaeomire system)
under ombrotrophic hydrological conditions. Values lower than 0.5
are related to wet mires maintained by rainfall only without inﬂuence
of the groundwater level (Calder et al., 1991).
The high GWI of the K6G coal seam is related to higher content of
mineral matter (34.7 vol.%), suggesting a limnic coal facies (a bog
palaeomire system) under mesotrophic hydrological conditions.
The lower VI ratios are linked to an increase of semifusinite and fusinite contents, suggesting a relatively higher oxygen access during peat
accumulation, and also to an increase of collodetrinite and other
detritic-macerals. In contrast, the higher VI ratios suggest an increase
in preservation of vegetal tissues under relatively more acid and reducing conditions, favourable for vitrinite formation. The very low values
(VI b 1) indicate also a marginal aquatic/herbaceous source, which conﬁrms previous studies (Jasper et al., 2006; Kalaitzidis et al., 2010; Picarelli and Marques-Toigo, 1985), suggesting a predominantly herbaceous
vegetation as precursor material for the Olang coal seams (Fig. 8).
VI ¼ Collotelinite þ Semifusinite þ Fusinite þ Resinite=Collodetrinite
þ Inertodetrinite þ Liptodetrinite þ Spornite þ Cutinite
6. Conclusions
The results of GWI and VI indices using the coal facies diagram
from Calder et al. (1991) are shown in Fig.8.
All coal maceral groups are present in coal seams of the Olang
area. Vitrinite is the most important maceral group and its volume
Based on GWI and VI parameters, Calder et al. (1991) identiﬁed
major mire palaeoenvironments such as limnic (open water marsh),
swamp, fen, and bog (Fig. 8), along with an indication of the hydrological conditions in terms of rheotrophic, mesotrophic, and ombrotrophic
mires. In fact, in this diagram, the distinction between rheotrophic and
ombrotrophic palaeomires is evaluated by the GWI that relates the degree of geliﬁcation with the water supply and includes mineral matter
as an important indicator of groundwater. On the other hand, the
above-mentioned palaeomires can be subdivided on the basis of vegetation type using the VI, which is calculated by the ratio between macerals of forest afﬁnity and those of herbaceous and aquatic afﬁnity.
In the present study, the VI is equivalent to the petrographic index
proposed by Calder et al. (1991) with the exclusion of suberinite and
alginite which are not present in the studied coals:
The GWI is calculated using vitrinite and mineral matter and
shows the ratio between strongly geliﬁed material plus mineral matter and weakly geliﬁed tissues (Jasper et al., 2010):
GWI ¼ Gelovitrinite þ Mineral matter=Collotelinite þ Collodetrinite
Please cite this article as: Solaymani, Z., Taghipour, N., Petrographic characteristics and palaeoenvironmental setting of Upper Triassic Olang
coal deposits in northeastern Iran, Int. J. Coal Geol. (2012), doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.01.003
Z. Solaymani, N. Taghipour / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
7
Fig. 7. Photomicrographs of representative pyrite types in the Olang coals under reﬂected white light. a) Anhedral pyrite (Py) with siderite and clay mineral. b) Subhedral pyrite.
c) Layer and spray pyrite with collotelinite. d) Pyrite as ﬁllings of the cell cavities of fusinite. e) Fromboidal pyrite. f) Subhedral pyrite coverted by mineral matter.
percentage varies between 82.9 and 95.5 vol.% (average 82.3 vol.%) in
the different coal seams. Inertinite group macerals have concentrations of up to more than 15 vol.% and the average is 8.9 vol.%. The concentration of liptinite is very low and the average for all coal seams is
0.4 vol.%. Macerals of the vitrinite group include collotelinite,
collodetrinite and corpogelinite with collotelinite and collodetrinite
present in approximately equal content with a very small percentage
of corpogelinite. The inertinite macerals consist of fusinite, semifusinite, secretinite, inertodetrinite, macrinite, micrinite and funginite.
Semifusinite and fusinite are the most abundant in this group.
Table 2
Petrographic indices for coal seams of the Olang area.
Samples
Fig. 8. GWI/VI mire palaeoenvironment diagram of the coal seams of the Olang area
(modiﬁed from Calder et al., 1991). (1. K18A, 2: K19A, 3: K20A, 4: K21A, 5: K30R, 6:
K31R, 7: K32R, 8: K4M, 9: K13M, 10: K14M, 11: K15M, 12: K6G).
Petrographic indices
GWI
VI
Alborzegan mine
K18A
K19A
K20A
K21A
0.21
0.001
0.07
0.003
0.36
0.27
0.30
0.44
Razi mine
K30R
K31R
K32R
0.005
0.08
0.2
1.8
0.57
0.7
Melech Aram mine
K4M
K13M
K14M
K15M
0.2
0.2
0.07
0.08
0.6
0.1
0.4
0.3
Granit mine
K6G
0.6
0.2
Please cite this article as: Solaymani, Z., Taghipour, N., Petrographic characteristics and palaeoenvironmental setting of Upper Triassic Olang
coal deposits in northeastern Iran, Int. J. Coal Geol. (2012), doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.01.003
8
Z. Solaymani, N. Taghipour / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2012) xxx–xxx
Sporinite, cutinite and resinite macerals of the liptinite group are present in all coal seams.
The Ground Water Index (GWI) suggests that these coal seams
have evolved in a limnic coal facies (a bog palaeomire system)
under ombrotrophic hydrological conditions, except the K6G coal
seam, which evolved under mesotrophic hydrological conditions
The Vegetation Index (VI) values, are indicative of the dominance of
herbaceous plants in the formation of coal seams of the Olang area.
Acknowledgements
This study originated as part of the ﬁrst author's M.Sc. dissertation at
Damghan University, Iran. The authors would like to thank the Eastern
Alborz company employees for providing access to mines of the Olang
area and sampling. We appreciate Hamed Sanei from Geological Survey
of Canada and Paul Hackley from U.S. Geological Survey for helpful
reviews and very constructive suggestions. We would like to thank
the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry of Iran for the preparation
of photomicrographs of liptinite macerals under ﬂuorescent
illumination.
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Please cite this article as: Solaymani, Z., Taghipour, N., Petrographic characteristics and palaeoenvironmental setting of Upper Triassic Olang
coal deposits in northeastern Iran, Int. J. Coal Geol. (2012), doi:10.1016/j.coal.2012.01.003

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