86 



ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



tion of Cystosporites breretonensis than C. 

 varius. Monoletes spores and Cystosporites 

 spores with apical tufts are dominant. 

 Kosanke (1950) noted that Lycospora, im- 

 portant in coals above and below the Rock 

 Island (No. 1) Coal, is rare. In contrast, 

 botanically related megaspores of Cysto- 

 sporites and T. rugosus are common in 

 this coal. 



A 6- to 8-inch coal (maceration 929) 

 from McDonough County differs from the 

 assemblage given above in the dominance 

 of Triletes cf. T. hirsutus and the sub- 

 dominance of T. auritus. Spores of Cysto- 

 sporites varius, T. mamillarius, T. su- 

 perbus, T. triangulatus, T. ramosus, and 

 Calamospora cf. C. laevigata also are pres- 

 ent in this sample. 



Triletes augustae is dominant in the 

 Rock Island (No. 1) Coal from Pryce mine 

 (maceration 627) , Rock Island County; 

 from Werner mine (maceration 589) , 

 Henry County; and co-dominant with T. 

 ramosus in the sample from Bugos White 

 mine (maceration 626) , Henry County. T. 

 augustae is not known from the other sam- 

 ples of the Rock Island (No. 1) Coal. The 

 only other sample that contained T. ra- 

 mosus is maceration 929 from McDonough 

 County. 



In the Werner mine sample (maceration 

 589) one spore of Parasporites was found, 

 representing the first occurrence of that 

 genus in the Pennsylvanian of Illinois. 

 None of these northern Illinois samples 

 contains the smooth lageniculate spores 

 found in the Fulton County samples; spores 

 of Cystosporites and Monoletes range from 

 rare to present. The lack of Lycospora 

 (Kosanke, 1950) in the Rock Island (No. 

 1) Coal from Henry and Rock Island 

 Counties parallels the lack of lageniculate 

 spores and the lack or extreme rarity of 

 Cystosporites spores. The assemblages from 

 the Rock Island (No. 1) Coal of northern 

 Illinois compare relatively closely with 

 that found in the coal at New Burnside 

 (maceration 938) from Johnson County in 

 southern Illinois. 



Murphysboro Coal 



The Murphysboro Coal in southern Illi- 

 nois is another commercially important 

 coal in the Tradewater Group (Cady, 

 1952) . The coal ranges from 1 to 7y 2 feet 

 thick and tends to split into two benches 

 toward the margins of the Murphysboro 

 area to the east and north (Cady, 1952) . 

 Its maximum thickness occurs only in Jack- 

 son County. Its exact equivalent outside of 

 Jackson and Williamson Counties is un- 

 known. 



The following genera and species have 

 been identified from a sample (maceration 

 550) from the mine dump of the aban- 

 doned Brinker mine near Oraville, Jackson 

 County: 



Triletes triangulatus (A) 



T. rugosus (C) 



Cystosporites varius (P) 



C. breretonensis (P) 



C. giganteus (P) 



T. auritus (P) 



Monoletes (R) 



The uppermost 12 inches (maceration 

 608) of the Murphysboro Coal from south 

 of Sato only rarely contains spores of Cysto- 

 sporites varius and Triletes triangulatus. 

 Spores of T. augustae are common and a 

 few specimens of Monoletes are present in 

 maceration 549 from an abandoned slope 

 mine south of Ava. Two samples of 

 Murphysboro Coal (macerations 799 and 

 800) were given only a cursory examina- 

 tion; T. triangulatus and auriculate mega- 

 spores were present. 



A coal (maceration 915) occurring under 

 the sandstone in the spillway of Crab 

 Orchard Lake dam, NW14 NW14 sec. 30, 

 T. 9 S., R. 1 E., Williamson County, has a 

 spore content generally similar to that of 

 the Murphysboro Coal. In this coal Triletes 

 rugosus and Monoletes are co-dominant; 

 Cystosporites giganteus and T. mamillarius 

 are represented by only a few spores. The 

 assemblage differs from that of the 

 Murphysboro in its lack of T. triangulatus 

 and tufted Cystosporites spores. 



A coal (maceration 628A-B) below the 

 Curlew Limestone (Weller, Henbest, and 

 Dunbar, 1942, p. 15, fig. 2), NE14 SE14 

 NW1/4 sec. 27, T. 10 S., R. 6 E., Saline 



