Preliminary Trends in Reflectance and Maceral Analysis of Upper Cretaceous Menefee and Crevasse Canyon Coals in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico

Mean-maximum reflectances and maceral analyses were obtained for 45 samples of Cretaceous coal from the southeastern portion of the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. Samples represented Menefee and Crevasse Canyon formations. In general, the range of reflectance at any one site was found to be greater than the range between sites. Reflectance variations appeared to be more closely related to original depositional environments and source vegetation (maceral types and contents) than to degree of coalification (rank)