The Upper Carboniferous coal-bearing succession of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin is divided into four great, lithostratigraphic units. One of them is the Mudstone Series. The aim of the study was to identify the depositional architecture of the Rudzkie Layers (which belong to Mudstone Series) in the area of Silesia coal mine in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. The depositional architecture is equivalent to the fluvial architecture defined by Miall (2006). Thickness of the Rudzkie Layers was analysed in the area of 21 km2 between Czechowice-Dziedzice, Rudułtowice, Ćwiklice, Goczałkowice-Zdrój, Grzawa and Kaniów. The author constructed geological cross-sections and maps of the quantitative parameters which show sandstone, mudstone/siltstone and coal amounts and their relationship. Geological cross-sections and thickness maps have been drawn to illustrate the sedimentary architecture of the Rudzkie Layers (the Mudstone series). The cross-sections show the structure and relationships between the lithesomes (sandstone, mudstone, siltstone and coal) in vertical plane. The term lithesome present the geometry and distribution of sandstone bodies, not only their lithofacies, and is used also by other authors e.g. Kędzior (2008). The cross-sections show also wedging out of some lithosomes and lateral transitions to lithesomes of different lithology, which occur on very short distance. It indicates rapid changes in the conditions of sedimentation. In addition, thickness maps complete this picture and allow tracing lateral variations in a lithesome geometry. The thickness of sandstone and a percentage of sandstone in the selected intervals suggest the presence of channel tracts. The coal bodies are the characteristic elements of the architecture because of their lithology. The analysis of geological cross-sections constructed through the upper part of the Rudzkie Layers (from 401 to 406 coal seams) within the mining field - KWK Silesia allowed to determine the presence of sandstone bodies with a thickness from 1.5 m to 40 m. The claystone and siltstone lithosomes dominate in the profile of the Rudzkie Layers reaching several tens of meters in thickness and they are much thicker than the sandstone bodies. The analysis of the cross-section and the thickness maps of the sediments revealed that the Rudzkie Layers were deposited on an extensive alluvial plain probably constructed by meandering river systems as suggested by authors studying the sediments of the Mudstone series Doktor & Gradziński (1985, 2002). The fluvial sediments were accumulated both within a channel and the overbank areas. The thick sandstone bodies (whose thickness exceeds 5 m) are considered as the channel fills. Other, thinner sandstone bodies represent the deposits of a proximal or a distal floodplain (in crevasse splays). Fine grained sediments (mudstones and siltstones) and the phytogenic materials were deposited in the overbank areas.
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