THE PETROLOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY OF SPORINITE

Sporinite is a term normally used to describe an organic constituent (maceral) that is widespread in coals, particularly those of Palaeozoic age. The maceral is formed from spore exines, which, over a range of coal rank, but primarily in the bituminous coals, display a substantial and continuous variation of chemical and physical properties with increasing coalification. The properties of sporinite eventually become similar in the low-volatile bituminous coals to those of the dominant coal maceral, vitrinite, which is derived primarily from lignin-cellulose-humic complexes in the original coal-forming peat. These property changes with rank can be mainly attributed to the influence of relatively small increases of temperature (