SPORE DISTRIBUTION— TRADEWATER 



85 



Pope Creek Coal 



Kosanke (1950) correlated the Delwood 

 Coal in NWi/ 4 NW14 sec. 3, T. 11 S., R. 6 

 E., Pope County, with the Pope Creek Coal 

 (maceration 602) in SE14 SW14 SE14 sec. 

 11, T. 7 X., R. 1 E., Fulton County. Un- 

 fortunately, the coarse residue of the Del- 

 wood Coal is not now available for exam- 

 ination. The coarse residues studied were 

 from the Pope Creek Coal (5 inches thick) 

 cited above and from the Pope Creek Coal 

 (26 inches thick) from the type locality of 

 the Pope Creek Cyclothem, XE14 NE14 

 SW14 sec. 33, T. 14 X., R. 2 W., Mercer 

 County, Illinois. 



The Pope Creek Coal of Mercer County 

 was prepared and studied in three samples: 

 a basal 4-inch block (maceration 916), a 

 middle 12-inch block (maceration 917), and 

 an upper 8-inch block (maceration 918). 

 Because these samples are from an area 

 close to the type locality of the cyclothem, 

 the following list of genera and species iden- 

 tified from them will serve as the standard 

 for the Pope Creek large spore assemblage: 



Triletes auritus ( -, C,C) 

 Triletes? saturnipunctatus n.sp. (P,-,C) 



Monoletes (P,R,P) 



T. cf. T. hirsutus ( -, P,P) 



Cystosporites varius ( -, -, P) 



C. verrucosus ( -, -, P) 



T. triangulatus ( -, P, - ) 



T. mamillarius ( -, -, R) 



Both large and small spores are some- 

 what less abundant in the Pope Creek Coal 

 than in the Tarter and Willis Coals. The 

 basal 4 inches of the Pope Creek Coal con- 

 tains a much more varied assemblage than 

 either the middle or upper portions. Tri- 

 letes auritus is dominant; T.f saturnipunc- 

 tatus, T. cf. T. hirsutus, and Monoletes are 

 subdominant. T.f saturnipunctatis appar- 

 ently is restricted to the Pope Creek Coal. 



The Pope Creek Coal is distinguished 

 from the underlying Tarter Coal (macera- 

 tion 914) at the same locality by the pres- 

 ence of Cystosporites verrucosus, Triletes 

 triangulatus, and T.f saturnipunctatus. It is 

 similar to the older coal in the continued 

 dominance of T. auritus and the common 

 occurrence of spores of T. cf. T. hirsutus. 



The Pope Creek Coal (maceration 602) 

 from Fulton County, contains a different 

 assemblage. The dominant element in this 

 sample is Triletes augustae; the subdomi- 

 nant elements are T. triangulatus and T. 

 brasserti. In addition Cystosporites gigan- 

 teus, C. varius, and T. mamillarius are rep- 

 resented. This assemblage is similar to that 

 of the underlying Tarter Coal (maceration 

 604A) in the common occurrence of spores 

 of T. brasserti and T. triangulatus, but dis- 

 similar in the species of auriculate mega- 

 spores. The Pope Creek Coal of Fulton 

 County differs from that of Mercer County 

 in that it contains abundant spores of T. 

 augustae rather than T. auritus, no Mono- 

 letes, Triletes? saturnipunctatus, T. cf T. 

 hirsutus, or C. verrucosus. T. brasserti is 

 not represented in the Mercer County 

 samples. 



Rock Island (No. 1) Coal 



The Rock Island (Xo. 1) Coal is an im- 

 portant commercial coal in the Tradewater 

 Group and is known definitely only in 

 western Illinois. It is typically developed 

 in Rock Island and Mercer Counties and is 

 characterized by lenticular occurrence in 

 narrow channel-shaped areas (Cady, 1952) . 



The large spore content from the coarse 

 residues of six samples from Henry, Rock 

 Island, McDonough, and Fulton Counties 

 is not uniform in character. The following 

 genera and species were identified from a 

 14-inch coal (maceration 599A-B, — top of 

 bed not represented) , in Fulton County 

 near the type section of the Seville 

 Cvclothem: 



Cystosporites varius 



(A,A) 



Triletes rugosus 



(-.A) 



Monoletes 



(->C) 



C. breretonensis 



(->P) 



T. triangulatus 



(R.-) 



T. auritus 



(*.-) 



Spencerisporites cf. S. radiatus (R, - ) 

 Calamospora ( -, ? ) 



Lageniculate megaspores referable to 

 Triletes rugosus appear for the first time in 

 the Pennsylvanian of Illinois. Another 

 sample from the same area (maceration 

 528A-B) contains the same variety of mega- 

 spores but seems to have a higher propor- 



