Secretinite-reflectance and chemical data from two high volatile bituminous coals (Upper Carboniferous) of North America

Secretinite-a maceral of the inertinite group as recognized by the ICCP in 1996-is a noncellular maceral of seed fern origin. New reflectance data ind icate that this maceral has primary anisotropy with bireflectances of 0.4% to 0.9% in high-volatile B bituminous (Ro = 0.6%) Carboniferous coal of Nor th America. The highest reflectance is in cross-section as opposed to longi tudinal section. Characteristic feature of secretinite is the virtual absen ce of Si and Al, unlike that in associated vitrinite. This indicates the ab sence of submicron aluminosilicates in secretinite and their presence in vi trinites. Secretinite is highly aromatic as indicated by low O/C ratios and high contribution of aromatic hydrogen bands detected by FTIR analysis. (C ) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.