The Bowen Basin is one of the most intensely explored sedimentary basins in Australia and hosts one of the world’s largest coking coal deposits. This study focuses on the Lenton deposit in the north-central part of the Bowen Basin and targets the Rangal Coal Measures, which are the youngest (245 Ma), most areally extensive and least structurally deformed coal measures in the study area. Six lithofacies were identified from detailed bed-by-bed logging of two cores and stratigraphically-upward comprise peatmire deposits of the Permian Blackwater Group overlain unconformably by braided fluvial strata of the Triassic Rewan Group. Coal-bearing strata of the Blackwater Group form a large-scale drying up sequence showing a change from permanent to seasonal waterlogged conditions related to the onset of regional uplift. Sedimentation was then terminated and a regional erosion surface formed by uplift related to the Hunter Bowen Orogeny. This, then, was overlain by braided fluvial strata of the Triassic Rewan Group.

The Bowen Basin is one of the most intensely explored sedimentary basins in Australia and hosts one of the world’s largest coking coal deposits. This study focuses on the Lenton deposit in the north-central part of the Bowen Basin and targets the Rangal Coal Measures, which are the youngest (245 Ma), most areally extensive and least structurally deformed coal measures in the study area. Six lithofacies were identified from detailed bed-by-bed logging of two cores and stratigraphically-upward comprise peatmire deposits of the Permian Blackwater Group overlain unconformably by braided fluvial strata of the Triassic Rewan Group. Coal-bearing strata of the Blackwater Group form a large-scale drying up sequence showing a change from permanent to seasonal waterlogged conditions related to the onset of regional uplift. Sedimentation was then terminated and a regional erosion surface formed by uplift related to the Hunter Bowen Orogeny. This, then, was overlain by braided fluvial strata of the Triassic Rewan Group.

The Bowen Basin is one of the most intensely explored sedimentary basins in Australia and hosts one of the world’s largest coking coal deposits. This study focuses on the Lenton deposit in the north-central part of the Bowen Basin and targets the Rangal Coal Measures, which are the youngest (245 Ma), most areally extensive and least structurally deformed coal measures in the study area. Six lithofacies were identified from detailed bed-by-bed logging of two cores and stratigraphically-upward comprise peatmire deposits of the Permian Blackwater Group overlain unconformably by braided fluvial strata of the Triassic Rewan Group. Coal-bearing strata of the Blackwater Group form a large-scale drying up sequence showing a change from permanent to seasonal waterlogged conditions related to the onset of regional uplift. Sedimentation was then terminated and a regional erosion surface formed by uplift related to the Hunter Bowen Orogeny. This, then, was overlain by braided fluvial strata of the Triassic Rewan Group.

The Wattis 7.5 Minute Quadrangle is located in central Utah, in the transition zone between the Basin and Range province and the Colorado plateau. Two small grabens, located in the quadrangle, are the easternmost evidence of Basin and Range faulting. Sedimentary units exposed are mainly Cretaceous in age and deposited in the Western Cretaceous Interior Seaway. This area is of economical importance due to its large coal deposits, coal bed methane, and groundwater. The Wattis Quadrangle provided an ideal opportunity to test, at a small scale, the applicability of a new groundwater model for stratified mountainous terranes. Water samples had 14C ages ranging from modern to 10,000 ± 500 years. Stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen showed that recharged precipitation fell when climate conditions were close to modern, or slightly colder. Three groundwater systems consist of one shallow groundwater system in the North Horn Formation, and two deeper aquifers located in the Blackhawk Formation and the Star Point Sandstone. Water in the North Horn Formation is modern, whereas the Blackhawk Formation and Star Point Sandstone waters are mixed systems, having tritium concentrations between 3 and 4 T.U., and 14C ages between 7,000 and 10,000 years. Geochemical modeling shows that there are no plausible reaction paths to evolve the North Horn Formation waters into waters contained in underlying units. Thus, water entering the top of the plateau does not flow through the stratified rocks to exit at its base. Instead, the waters represent discrete perched systems at various stratigraphic levels. The Star Point Sandstone has three parasequences with a single sequence boundary. The deposits show normal marine conditions containing lower shoreface biota of Skolithos and Ophiomorpha overlain by middle shoreface sedimentary structures. The Star Point Sandstone deltaic parasequences likely prograded into the basin during pulses of thrusting from the Sevier Orogeny. The Emery Sandstone Member of the Mancos Formation contains three parasequences all located in the lower shoreface, and also exhibits the normal marine biota of Skolithos and Ophiomorpha. The Emery Sandstone reflects density currents caused by major storm events, including Bauma C and D depositional structures. Thick sandstone bodies are restricted to paleochannels.

Die Erkundung auf den Rohstoff Braunkohle hat in Mitteldeutschland eine lange Tradition. Auch heute noch werden Lagerstätteninformationen im Rahmen großer Bohrkampagnen erhoben. Auf Grundlage von Lagerstättenmodellen werden groß angelegte Erkundungsprojekte geplant, die heute vorrangig Aussagen zur Kohlenqualität liefern sollen sowie eine Vervollständigung und Überprüfung der Datenlage darstellen. Langjährig entwickelte Methoden zur Erkundung von Braunkohlenlagerstätten, die zuletzt 1985 in der „Erkundungsmethodik Braunkohle“ zusammengetragen wurden, behalten in ihren Grundsätzen nach wie vor Gültigkeit. Mit betriebseigenen Anpassungen und Weiterentwicklungen wurden in den beiden mitteldeutschen Großtagebauen der MIBRAG in den letzten 10 Jahren zwei Erkundungskampagnen für geplante Abbaufelder projektiert und realisiert. Insbesondere bei Erfassung, Verwaltung und Weiterverwendung der Explorationsdaten stehen heute digitale Möglichkeiten zur Verfügung, die den Gesamtprozess der Erkundung effizienter gestalten und neue Möglichkeiten schaffen. Vorgestellt wird ein komplexes geotechnisches Bohrinformationssystem, dass bei MIBRAG zur Erfassung und Weiterverarbeitung von Erkundungsdaten zum Einsatz kommt. Letztlich bildet das System, insofern auch Altdaten nachgespeichert werden, ein modernes digitales Lagerstättenarchiv. / The exploration for the raw material brown coal has a long tradition in central Germany. Even today, deposit information is collected as part of large drilling campaigns. On the basis of deposit models, large-scale exploration projects are planned, which today are primarily intended to provide statements on the quality of coal and represent a completion and review of the data situation. Long-established methods for exploring lignite deposits, which were last compiled in the 'Brown coal exploratory methodology' in 1985, remain valid in their principles. With inhouse adjustments and further developments, two exploration campaigns for projected mining fields were planned and implemented in the two central German large-scale opencast mines of MIBRAG in the last 10 years. In particular, in the acquisition, management and usage of exploration data digital capabilities are now available that make the overall exploration process more efficient and create new opportunities. A complex geotechnical drilling information system will be presented, which is used by MIBRAG for the acquisition and further processing of exploration data. Ultimately, as long as legacy data is re-stored, the system forms a modern deposit archive.