Coal forming environments and their relationship to tectonic activity in the Cévennes Stephanian coal basin

Coal forming environments in the tectonically controlled intermontane Stephanian Cévennes coal basin (Massif central, France) show a complex interelationship between structural and sedimentological features. The study of the general structural features and the geometry of the coal beds developed during the different stages in the evolution of the basin, and the spatial relation of the lithofacial units to the early tectonic activities, lead the authors to suggest the following model. The synsedimentary faults that occurred as both intrabasinal and marginal faults controlled not only the spatial distribution, shape and thickness of the detrital rock units and coal seams, but also caused the inversion of the tectonic style. The marginal faults exercised important controls on the geometry of the basin and the distribution of lithofacial units. However due to the subsidence of the central part of the basin and the depocenter, and the to differences in the timing and intensity of the displacement the coal enrichment zones shifted both vertically and laterally. This eventually resulted in the inversion of the whole tectonic framework from semi graben through graben to a new semi graben. The style and rate of the tectonic movement and basin filling that occurred in the Stephanian Cévennes coal basin were in turn closely linked with the tectonic movement in the surrounding area. Therefore the authors propose that the environment and processes of coal formation in this basin are closely linked to its tectonic evolution.