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Research ArticleArticles

The pedogenic formation of coal balls by CO2 degassing through the rootlets of arborescent lycopsids

Daniel O. Breecker and Dana L. Royer
American Journal of Science September 2019, 319 (7) 529-548; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2475/07.2019.01
Daniel O. Breecker
* Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712.
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  • For correspondence: breecker@jsg.utexas.edu
Dana L. Royer
** Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459.
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Abstract

Coal balls are calcium carbonate accumulations that permineralized peat in paleotropical Permo-Carboniferous (∼320–250 Ma) mires. The formation of coal balls has been debated for over a century yet a widely applicable model is lacking. Two observations have been particularly challenging to explain: 1) the narrow temporal occurrence of coal balls and 2) their typical elemental (high Mg) and isotopic (low δ18O) composition that paradoxically indicate marine and freshwater origins, respectively. We evaluate a new model in which coal balls formed as CO2 escaped from the peat by diffusion through unusual air-filled spaces in the rootlets of lycopsid trees; critically, these trees were very common in paleotropical mires, and their evolutionary range matches the temporal range of coal balls. The episodic delivery of seawater and marine carbonate sediment to coastal mires is the first step in our model, although other pathways for the delivery of divalent cations are permissible. Subsequent dilution by freshwater and dissolution of these carbonates at the elevated CO2 of the mire subsurface is followed by the transport of CO2 through the rootlet airspaces and into the overlying water and atmosphere, which drives carbonate mineral precipitation in the sediment. We show that dilution by freshwater, because it minimally affects Mg/Ca ratios, can result in relatively low pore water δ18O values while allowing high-Mg calcite formation. This model thus explains the restriction of coal balls to the Permo-Carboniferous and resolves the discrepancy between elemental and isotopic compositions of coal ball carbonate minerals. Furthermore, we show with a 3D reactive transport model that CO2 could escape rapidly enough through the rootlets to fill 25 percent of the peat pore spaces with calcite before substantial burial (top decimeter of peat), explaining the exceptional preservation of coal swamp flora. Therefore, we suggest that coal balls are pedogenic in origin and that the disappearance of these pedogenically permineralized Histosols represents the first documented decrease in soil diversity on a vegetated planet. The rock record may thus provide important context for the modern loss and degradation of soils.

  • coal balls
  • arborescent lycopsids
  • Permo-Carboniferous
  • soil
  • diversity
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American Journal of Science: 319 (7)
American Journal of Science
Vol. 319, Issue 7
1 Sep 2019
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The pedogenic formation of coal balls by CO2 degassing through the rootlets of arborescent lycopsids
Daniel O. Breecker, Dana L. Royer
American Journal of Science Sep 2019, 319 (7) 529-548; DOI: 10.2475/07.2019.01

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The pedogenic formation of coal balls by CO2 degassing through the rootlets of arborescent lycopsids
Daniel O. Breecker, Dana L. Royer
American Journal of Science Sep 2019, 319 (7) 529-548; DOI: 10.2475/07.2019.01
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • INTRODUCTION
    • BACKGROUND
    • PEDOGENIC PERMINERALIZATION OF PERMO-CARBONIFEROUS PEATS
    • SOIL DIVERSITY
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Keywords

  • coal balls
  • arborescent lycopsids
  • Permo-Carboniferous
  • soil
  • diversity

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