CONTENTS 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



ABSTRACT 1 



INTRODUCTION 1 



Morphology and Ecology of Botryococcus 2 



COAL BEDS THAT CONTAIN BOTRYOCOCCUS 3 



Reyrtoldsburg Coal Bed (Illinois) 3 

 Breckinridge and Bell Coal Beds (Kentucky), Bell Coal Bed (Illinois), and St. Meinrad 



Coal Member (Indiana) 3 



Unnamed Coal Bed (Illinois) 9 



Mariah Hill Coal Member (Indiana) and Dunbar Coal Bed (Kentucky) 9 



Tarter Coal Member (Illinois) and Lower Block Coal Member (Indiana) 9 



Hermon Coal Member (Illinois) 9 



Brush Coal Member (Illinois) 9 



Buffaloville Coal Member (Indiana) and Lewisport Coal Bed (Kentucky) 9 



Bancroft^) Coal Bed (Kentucky) 9 



Delwood Coal Bed (Illinois) and Equivalent Coal in Kentucky 9 



New Burnside Coal Bed (Illinois) 11 



Unnamed Coal (Indiana) Equivalent to the Murphysboro Coal Member (Illinois) 11 



ALGAL AND SPORE ABUNDANCE IN THE LEWISPORT COAL BED AND 



OVERLYING AND UNDERLYING STRATA IN UNION COUNTY, KENTUCKY 1 1 



PETROGRAPHIC OCCURRENCE OF BOTRYOCOCCUS 16 



CONCLUSIONS 18 



REFERENCES 19 



TABLES 



1 Location of coal beds containing Botryococcus 5 



2 Palynology of selected coal samples in which Botryococcus is common or abundant 12 



3 Maceral analysis of selected samples 17 



FIGURES 



1 Cross sections of modem Botryococcus 3 



2 Location of coal beds containing Botryococcus 4 



3 Stratigraphic and geographic occurrences of Botryococcus in the Illinois Basin 8 



4 Relative abundance of spores in the Lewisport coal and overlying and underlying strata 



at sample site 35 in Union County, Kentucky 10 



5 Relative abundance of spore taxa in representative coal beds in which Botryococcus 



is abundant or common 15 



6 SEM micrographs of Botryococcus show the open structure of the cups in the organisms 17 



PLATE 

 1 The occurrence of Botryococcus in crushed particles of coal 



