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Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France; May 2005; v. 176; no. 3; p. 301-315; DOI: 10.2113/176.3.301
© 2005 Societe Geologique de France
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Paleoenvironments, paleoclimates and sequences of Westphalian deposits of Lorraine coal basin (Upper Carboniferous, NE France)

Alain Izart1, Christian Palain2, Fabrice Malartre2, Stéphanie Fleck1 and Raymond Michels1

1 UMR 7566, Géologie et Gestion des Ressources Minérales et Energétiques, Université Henri Poincaré, BP 239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy cedex, France, e-mail address: izart.alain{at}wanadoo.fr.
2 UMR 7566, Géologie et Gestion des Ressources Minérales et Energétiques, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Géologie, BP 40, 54501 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy cedex, France.

Abstract

Facies and sequences of the Westphalian C are identified in cores and well logs of three boreholes and three seismic lines supplied by Conoco-Phillips from the Lorraine coal Basin. The lithofacies associations suggest various paleoenvironments and sequences during the Westphalian C. Decameter-thick sedimentary bodies display alluvial fan deposits in the northwestern border of the basin (Chaumont borehole). Decametric sedimentary bodies constituted either of conglomeratic and sandy facies with cylindrical shape in well logs represent braided river deposits, or alternations of fining and coarsening upward sequences with sandy, silty and clayey facies with bell and funnel shapes in well log correspond to meander river and lacustrine deltaic deposits in the Saulcy and Lorettes boreholes. Three fining upward third order sequences in the center of the basin in the Lorettes and Saulcy boreholes represent a period 1 with braided river deposits, a period 2 with flood plain, lake and meandering river deposits and a period 3 with anastomosed or meandering river deposits.

Period 1 is correlated with a subsidence period in the basin and uplift of the borders, period 2 with the maximum fresh water flooding period with flood plain or lake deposits and period 3 with the filling period.

The seismic profiles of Conoco-Phillips confirm the tectonic structures described by previous authors in Lorraine Basin. We agree that this basin was a strike-slip basin as demonstrated by previous authors with depocenters near the South Hunsrück and Metz faults from the Westphalian to the Permian. Biomarkers show that paleoclimate changes (wet/dry) of weak amplitude in the equatorial climate could also modify the sedimentation of this basin and act on sequences of second order.

Key Words: Lorraine coal Basin • Carboniferous • Sedimentology • Well logging • Seismic-reflection






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