Galatia Channel:Houchin Creek Coal

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	Abstract
	Introduction Geologic Setting Previous Research Crevasse-Splay Model Cyclicity and Sequence Stratigraphy Figures and Plates
	Stratigraphy Houchin Creek Coal Excello Shale Member Hanover Limestone Member Delafield Member (New) Galatia Member (New) Underclay of Springfield Coal Springfield Coal Dykersburg (Shale) Member Turner Mine Shale Member St. David Limestone Member Summary
	Other Channels Related to the Galatia Channel Sullivan Channel Effingham Channel Leslie Cemetery Channel Other Channels
	Similar Channels Affecting Other Coal Seams Colchester Coal and Francis Creek Shale Herrin Coal, Energy Shale, and Walshville Channel Baker Coal and Winslow-Henderson Channel Danville Coal Murphysboro Coal and Oraville Channel
	Discussion Model of Channel Development Linkage of Climate and Eustasy Peat Developed at Lowstand Rapid Transgression, Gradual Regression Relationship of Effingham and Galatia Channels
	Channels and Cyclothems: A Summary Model The “Typical” Cyclothem on a Cratonic Platform Cyclothem Models Do not Address Contemporaneous Channels The Gray Shale Wedge and Its Relationship to the Channel
	Conclusions
	Acknowledgments
	References
	Appendix
	Tables
	Figures
	Plates

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  Figure 4 Diagram showing units between the Houchin Creek and Herrin Coals, including members newly named in this report.
  

Houchin Creek Coal

Although the Houchin Creek Coal is thick enough to mine only in small areas, it is one of the most laterally extensive coal members in the Illinois Basin. With rare exceptions, the Houchin Creek is a single layer of bright-banded coal, lacking significant clastic layers and resting on well-developed underclay. Pyrite content is normally 3% or higher. Thickness varies from a streak to as much as 5.9 ft (1.8 m), but coal thicker than 3.9 ft (1.2 m) is exceptional, and the usual thickness range is 7.9 to 23.6 in. (20 to 60 cm). The coal occurs throughout the Illinois Basin, except in a few small areas of nondeposition near the northern and western margins, and in other small areas where the coal was eroded in paleochannels. With the overlying Excello Shale and Hanover Limestone, the Houchin Creek forms a package that is readily identified on nearly all types of well logs. A double-peaked or “bird’s beak” profile is characteristic on resistivity logs (Figure 5a). The Houchin Creek evidently represents an in situ peat deposit that developed on a virtually flat, tectonically stable coastal plain of great extent.

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  Figure 5a Wireline log illustrating the typical response of key units. (a) Electric log of Carter Oil #1 Beers well in Sec. 28, T8S, R4E, Williamson County, Illinois (county no. 2107). (b) Gamma-ray–resistivity log of Peabody Natural Gas #2 Short, in Sec. 14, T7S, R7E, Hamilton County (county no. 25375).

Primary Source

W. John Nelson, Scott D. Elrick, William A. DiMichele, and Philip R. Ames xxxx, Evolution of a Peat-Contemporaneous Channel: The Galatia Channel, Middle Pennsylvanian, of the Illinois Basin FINISH CITATION