Sporomorphs from certain coal seams in the Ruhuhu Coalfields of Tanganyika

Abstract

During the course of the Colonial Development Corporation's investigation of the Ruhuhu Coalfields of Tanganyika, it became apparent that the full stratigraphical relationship of the economic seams was more complex than was anticipated. This was partly due to the drift origin of the coal, and it's supposed accumulation in isolated lacustine basins, divided themselves by sandbars. Lack of macro-fossils during mapping and exploratory trenching was noticeable. Diamond drilling with 1.75 cones yielded only lithological relationships between seams. It was therefore suggested by the author, that in the absence of palaeontological evidence in the intervening strata, a study of the microspore content of the coal seams should be undertaken, with a view to exploring the potentialities of this method of seam correlation within each coalfield. Constant reference has been made to the researches of Permian spore workers in other continents, and of Carboniferous workers in Europe and U.S.A. This preliminary work on East African coals is, of necessity, observational. Techniques specific to these coals are described in detail, including sampling, preparation and presentation methods. A new classificatory system of fossil microspores, designed for ease in identification of spore-morphs for stratigraphical use is presented. Linnaean nomenclature has not been adopted, nor is it advised until extensive comparative work has been done on these coals. Regard has been paid to existing classificatory schemes used by workers of both Carboniferous and Permian researches. A complete section is devoted to comparisons of the main classificatory schemes in use. The stratigraphical work deals with the use of spore counts to give microfloral assemblages for full or part seams, and to give a sequence of floras. The cores of two boreholes are considered in detail, and the significance of the results is discussed.