Personal Details:
Name: Mr. Roy Davies
Institute / Company: The University of Liverpool
Department: Earth Sciences
Position: PhD Student
Tel: 0151 7945256
Email:
Website: www.liv.ac.uk/~rdavies

Research Details:
Keywords: coal, sequence, stratigraphy, climate, palaeoenvironment, vitrinite, reflectance, macerals, Utah, Blackhawk, Sunnyside.

Description: Coals form in depositional settings sensitive to changes in relative sea-level such as coastal mires & delta tops, making them high resolution recorders of changes in sea-level, salinity, climate and sediment supply. Integration of detailed coal petrographic analysis with sequence stratigraphy can provide a timely model for the high resolution stratigraphic responses of ancient coastal wetlands to changes in sea-level. The key issues of this research are 1) the stratal, petrological and geochemical expressions of base-level change within the coal seam; 2) the significance of laterally extensive coal seam splits in terms of palaeofloral and water table changes across the whole peat swamp; and 3) the exact timing of coal formation with respect to delta progradation and subsequent flooding.