Cleat in TJ Coal Geol Review

International Journal of Coal Geology 35 1998.
175207
Characteristics and origins of coal cleat: A review

S.E. Laubach
a,)
, R.A. Marrett b, J.E. Olson c , A.R. Scott
The Uniersity of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology, 10100 Burnet Road, Austin,
TX 78758-4497, USA
b
The Uniersity of Texas at Austin Department of Geological Sciences, Austin, TX 78758-4497, USA
c
The Uniersity of Texas at Austin Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, Austin,
TX 78758-4497, USA
Received 18 December 1996; accepted 16 April 1997
Abstract
Cleats are natural opening-mode fractures in coal beds. They account for most of the
permeability and much of the porosity of coalbed gas reservoirs and can have a significant effect
on the success of engineering procedures such as cavity stimulations. Because permeability and
stimulation success are commonly limiting factors in gas well performance, knowledge of cleat
characteristics and origins is essential for successful exploration and production. Although the
coalcleat literature spans at least 160 years, mining issues have been the principal focus, and
quantitative data are almost exclusively limited to orientation and spacing information. Few data
are available on apertures, heights, lengths, connectivity, and the relation of cleat formation to
diagenesis, characteristics that are critical to permeability. Moreover, recent studies of cleat
orientation patterns and fracture style suggest that new investigations of even these well-studied
parameters can yield insight into coal permeability. More effective predictions of cleat patterns
will come from advances in understanding cleat origins. Although cleat formation has been
speculatively attributed to diagenetic andror tectonic processes, a viable mechanical process for
creating cleats has yet to be demonstrated. Progress in this area may come from recent
developments in fracture mechanics and in coal geochemistry. q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.
Keywords: coal; fractures; brittle deformation; statistical analysis; mechanics; natural gas
1. Introduction
Fractures occur in nearly all coal beds, and can exert fundamental control on coal
stability, minability, and fluid flow. It is therefore not surprising that coal fractures have
)
Corresponding author. Fax: q1-512-4710140; E-mail: laubachs@begv.beg.utexas.edu
0166-5162r98r$19.00 q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

PII S 0 1 6 6 - 5 1 6 2 9 7 . 0 0 0 1 2 - 8
176
S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207
Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of coal cleat geometries. a. Cleat-trace patterns in plan view. b. Cleat
hierarchies in cross-section view adapted from Laubach and Tremain, 1991.. These conventions are used for
cleat: length is dimension parallel to cleat surface and parallel to bedding; height is parallel to cleat surface and
perpendicular to bedding; aperture is dimension perpendicular to fracture surface. Spacing between two cleats
of same set. is a distance between them at right angles to cleat surface.
been investigated since the early days of coal mining, and that published descriptions
and speculation on fracture origins date from early in the nineteenth century Mammatt,
1834; Milne, 1839; cited in Kendall and Briggs, 1933.. Although various miners terms
for systematic fractures in coal have been used over the years, they are still generally
referred to by the ancient mining term: cleat Dron, 1925..
Cleats are fractures that usually occur in two sets that are, in most instances, mutually
perpendicular and also perpendicular to bedding. Although pre-1990 geologic literature
and current mining usage distinguishes these sets on the basis of factors such as
prominence that are difficult to quantify, abutting relations between cleats generally
show that one set pre-dates the other Fig. 1.. This is a readily quantifiable distinction
between sets in most outcrops and cores. Through-going cleats formed first and are
referred to as face cleats; cleats that end at intersections with through-going cleats
formed later and are called butt cleats Laubach and Tremain, 1991; Kulander and Dean,
1993.. These fracture sets, and partings along bedding planes, impart a blocky character
to coal Fig. 2.. A hierarchy or perhaps a continuum of cleat sizes typify the
population of cleats in a coal bed Laubach and Tremain, 1991. Fig. 1.. This is most
easily recognized in cleat heights, but size variations are also evident in cleat lengths,
apertures, and spacings.
Although fractures in coal are relatively unimportant in strip mining, their significance in efficient design and safety of underground coal mines has continued to
command the attention of the mining industry Hanes and Shepherd, 1981; Esterhuizen,
1995; Molinda and Mark, 1996.. In contrast, the characteristics and origin of fractures in
coal have been relatively neglected in recent 19661996. geological literature. For
example, only two AAPG Bulletin papers specifically on coal fractures have been
177
Fig. 2. Cleats in coal outcrop of Cretaceous Fruitland Formation. Photograph, view to northwest. Rock
hammer for scale.
published in that time, and the leading journal on coal geology, the International Journal
of Coal Geology, has only published one article that focused on cleat in the last 10
years. Other journals and geology textbooks have also paid little heed to cleat in recent
times.
This neglect partly reflects a historic impasse in the scientific understanding of
certain types of fractures such as those in coal. Cleats most commonly occur without any
observable shear offset, and are thus properly termed opening-mode fractures. Studies of
the origins of opening-mode fractures, such as cleats and joints, are plagued by the
problem of equifinality the situation where several processes may lead to the same
result rendering unique causes difficult to deduce from products. This arises because
coals and other rocks. have low tensile strength, and a wide range of loading paths can
lead to propagation of opening-mode fractures Engelder, 1985; Engelder and Fischer,
1996.. Yet such fractures preserve little evidence of the loading conditions that caused
them. A symptom of this is the variety of plausible scenarios that have been advanced
178
for the origins of cleats Kendall and Briggs, 1933; McCulloch et al., 1974; Ting, 1977;
Close, 1993. and the lack of explicit, testable predictions that can be used to identify the
best interpretations.
Owing to the increasing importance of coal beds as gas reservoirs, geologists are
again becoming concerned with the characteristics and origins of cleat. For coalbed
methane extraction, knowledge of the properties of natural fractures is essential for
planning exploration and development because of their influence on recovery of
methane, and the local and regional flow of hydrocarbons and water. New mapping of
cleat patterns, guided by recent conceptual advances in the description and theoretical
understanding of fracture processes, is beginning to bring these patterns into focus. This,
together with more rigorous study of the petrology of cleat development, may resolve
uncertainties about causes of cleat that now hinder predictions of interwell-scale patterns
of fractures in coal beds. This paper highlights recent studies with emphasis on our
research in United States coalbed methane basins, and points to areas of potential future
advancement.
2. Cleat attributes
As many observers have noted, the attributes of cleats closely resemble those of
fractures termed joints in other rock types Dron, 1925; Kendall and Briggs, 1933;
Williamson, 1967; McCulloch et al., 1974, 1976; Ting, 1977; Campbell, 1979; Laubach
et al., 1992.. Cleats are opening-mode fractures rather than faults; typically there is no
appreciable offset parallel to cleat walls. At surface conditions they generally have
apertures less than 0.1 mm, and these scarcely visible apertures caused some early
workers to mistakenly conclude that no opening had occurred normal to cleat walls.
They also have surface structures such as arrest lines and hackles characteristic of
opening-mode propagation Kulander and Dean, 1990..
Many of the prominent attributes of cleats and cleat patterns have been known since
the 1930s. Individual fractures are generally planar but sometimes are locally curved in
plan view. Cleats are subvertical in flat-lying beds and are typically oriented at right
angles to stratification even where beds are folded. In many cases cleats are confined to
individual coal beds, or to layers composed of a particular maceral type. Commonly they
are uniform in strike within an outcrop or core and arranged in subparallel sets that have
uniform regional trends Kendall and Briggs, 1933.. Yet they locally show abrupt lateral
and vertical shifts in strike Dron, 1925.. Coals containing closely spaced faults rather
than opening-mode fractures are apparently rare. This reflects either proximity to large
faults, reactivation by slip on pre-existing cleats, or anomalous burial conditions
Ammosov and Eremin, 1963; Laubach et al., 1993..
One remarkable attribute of cleat formation is the extent to which they are developed
in many coal beds of nearly all ranks in maturity. Cleats are typically much more
intensely developed than fractures in adjacent non-coal rocks. The great intensity of
cleat development, in comparison to fractures in other rock types, is an important clue to
cleat origins.
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2.1. Cleat size

There are little quantitative data on the size of cleats. Because many cleats are only
centimeters in length and height and typically have nearly indiscernible aperture,
modeling studies usually assume cleats are small in terms of length, height, and aperture.
In San Juan Basin, New Mexico, Fruitland Formation coal beds cleat lengths and heights
are reported to range from microns to meters Tremain et al., 1991.. Yet these cleats are
arranged in a hierarchy of sizes that includes fractures of decimeter size master cleats,
Fig. 1..
Estimates of in situ cleat widths range from 0.001 to 20 mm Gamson et al., 1993..
However, most information on cleat width is based on outcrop studies andror microscopic examination of coal samples not under confining pressure. Little reliable information is available on cleat apertures in the subsurface. The parallel-plate fracture
permeability model can be used to estimate that cleat apertures range from 3 to 40 m m
Fig. 3.. Where diagenetic minerals have filled cleats, considerably wider fractures are
locally preserved, including fractures with widths as much as 0.5 cm in Cretaceous coal
beds in the western United States. These fossilized cleat apertures show that fractures
much wider than most outcrop- and core-based estimates are locally present in the
subsurface. Because cleat apertures may change as effective stress is altered in coalbed
methane reservoirs, lack of reliable information on in situ cleat apertures is a potential
barrier to effective reservoir management.
Fig. 3. Relation among face-cleat spacing, permeability, and aperture assuming parallel-plate model. Using
measured cleat spacing and permeability for highly productive coalbed methane wells in San Juan and Black
Warrior Basins, shaded area shows range of inferred aperture size.
180
Fig. 4. Cleat aperture size distribution for combined face and butt cleats in cores from San Juan Basin. Data
represent volumetric 3D. sampling. Least squares fit made to data in open symbols.
Size distribution of opening-mode fracture apertures have been studied quantitatively

in a variety of rock types Marrett, 1997., but there is little published data for cleats to
permit such an analysis. One set of observations, summarized by Close and Mavor
1991., was collected from six wells in the San Juan Basin. Aperture of a typical cleat in
each lithotype layer was measured microscopically without confining stress. From this
we calculate cumulative volumetric 3D. frequency of cleats as a function of each core
Fig. 4.. This presupposes that all cleats in a specific lithotype layer have the same
aperture, probably a poor assumption.
Apertures observed in three coal cores range from 0.01 to 0.2 mm, although cleats
with smaller apertures were not measured. In each core, cumulative frequency f . of
cleats having apertures of e or larger follows a power law:
f s beyc
1.
where b is a general measure of the cleat intensity and c is a constant referred to as the
fractal dimension.. A power law forms a line on a loglog plot of f versus e, and the
slope of the line is the negative of the fractal dimension. Values of c determined from
volumetric sampling of cleat apertures 2.742.82. are larger by ; 2 than values
determined from scanline 1D. sampling of apertures in non-coal rocks Marrett, 1997..
181
This is expected assuming aperture, length, and height are linearly proportional. due to
the difference between volumetric 3D. and scanline 1D. sampling Marrett and
Allmendinger, 1991; Marrett, 1996.. Thus, size distribution of cleat apertures is consistent with size distribution of fracture apertures in non-coal rocks.
Reports summarized by Close and Mavor 1991. provide the only systematic core
data available on cleat heights. Among cleats with a specific aperture value, heights vary
significantly. However, cleats with large apertures tend to have large heights. Average
height h. of all cleats having a specific aperture value increases approximately linearly
with aperture:
h s ae
2.
where a is about 1000 for cleats in one well. This linear aperturerheight relationship is
consistent with linear elastic fracture mechanics predictions for opening-mode fractures
where fracture height is shorter than fracture length Pollard and Segall, 1987..
Combining results of Eqs. 1. and 2. implies that cleat heights follow a power law size
distribution. No systematically collected data on cleat lengths are known. Butt cleats are
limited in length by spacing of face cleats, so butt cleat lengths should depend on face
cleat spacings. We might anticipate that face cleat lengths will follow power law size
distributions, by analogy with size distribution of fracture lengths in non-coal rocks
extension fracture data in Marrett, 1997 and references therein.. Positive interference
between wells shows that interconnected pathways in cleated rocks can be as long as 1
km.
2.2. Cleat spacing
Cleat spacing is sufficiently close on the order of centimeters. that numerous visible
fractures are typically present in coal cores. However, core observations rarely distinguish the hierarchy of fracture sizes that are present, so published cleat spacing
information is difficult to compare. Spacing measurements reported from core may
count all visible fractures, whereas outcrop and mine studies typically choose fractures
of a given size to measure, but this choice is rarely explicitly stated. Recognizing the
wide range of cleat sizes present in coal, quantitative statements of spacing are only
meaningful with reference to the sizes of cleats included in an analysis Fig. 5.. An
example where a size criteria was specified is the study of Tremain et al. 1991.. In this
study, fractures of equivalent height defined by layer thickness. were compared.
Measurements on long mine highwalls show that spacing between individual cleats of
similar size ranges from microns to more than a meter Fig. 6.. Yet within a given bed,
average spacing of fractures of similar size is remarkably uniform over distances of
hundreds of meters Fig. 7. Tremain et al., 1991.. Sampling procedure needs to be
specified in order to obtain meaningful fracture spacing measurements.
Variability in spacing or intensity of fracture development. of cleats in coal beds has
long been recognized Kendall and Briggs, 1933; Macrae and Lawson, 1954.. Contrasts
in coalbed methane well production also may reflect variable development of cleats, as
several operators have speculated. Methods for identifying and mapping such variability
Esterhuizen, 1995. are important in mining conditions because of implications for
182
Fig. 5. Cleat spacing and aperture data from Northeast Blanco Unit No. 403, San Juan Basin. Plotted spacings
represent averages of all measured spacings having a specific aperture measurement. Least squares fit made to
average spacings of face cleats.
Fig. 6. Cleat spacing versus bed thickness of medium-brightness coals, northern San Juan Basin adapted from
Laubach and Tremain, 1991..
183
Fig. 7. Cleat spacing versus traverse distance in a bed of uniform dip, thickness, and composition, San Juan
Basin, New Mexico. Center half of data at each station is shown by box, and median by bar. Dashed line and
shaded area are mean and one standard deviation of measurements from all stations.
quality of mined coal and mine stability Brady and Haramy, 1994.. These methods
typically rely on visual estimates of fracture intensity, but recent advances in automated
imaging methods and image analysis promise to make these approaches more quantitative Djahanguiri et al., 1994.. Some of these mapping methods possibly could be
adapted for use in describing core from coal-gas reservoirs or from outcrop analogs.
A variety of factors have been cited as affecting cleat development. These factors
include coal rank, coal composition, and layer thickness. To the extent that the impact of
these factors on cleating has been explored quantitatively, average cleat spacing has
been used to characterize the cleats. Other factors, such as mineral fill, degree of
tectonic and compactional deformation, and coal age, have received little to no attention.
Researchers have observed that cleat spacing varies with coal rank, decreasing from
lignite through medium volatile bituminous coal Ammosov and Eremin, 1963; Ting,
1977; Law, 1993., and increasing through anthracite coals, forming a bell-shaped
distribution of cleat spacing. Based on outcrop and core data from North American coal,
Law 1993. found that face cleat spacing ranges from approximately 22 cm in lignites
R o vitrinite reflectance. values of 0.250.38%. to 0.2 cm in anthracites R o values
more than 2.6%.. The best fit to the data is an inverse exponential equation:
s s 0.473 P 10 0.398r R o
3.
where s is cleat spacing in centimeters. Eq. 3. predicts a similar decrease in cleat

spacing with increasing rank from the lignite to medium volatile bituminous, but also
indicates that spacing remains constant at vitrinite reflectance values above 1.5% Fig.
8.. However, only two data points from low-volatile bituminous and higher-rank coals
define the trend, so rank-dependence of cleat spacing remains uncertain.
Variation in cleat spacing with rank may reflect competing processes of fracture
formation and annealing Levine, 1993.. Bedding-parallel compaction fabrics and
deformation or flow of coal around rigid grains shows that flattening predates fracturing
184
Fig. 8. Cross-plot of vitrinite reflectance versus cleat spacing for coals ranging from lignite to anthracite
vitrinite reflectance of 0.25 to 2.6q %.. Mean face-cleat spacing. Adapted from Law 1993.. Data were
collected only from bright coal lithotype layers. Ash content varies among coals and affects cleat spacing,
however ash content was not reported.
in most coals. Highly strained coals at high rank deform predominantly by flow rather
than fracture. Because tectonism commonly accompanies high thermal maturation, it is
reasonable that tectonism may obliterate previously formed cleats in many anthracites
apparently barren of cleats. It is an open question whether annealing processes are an
unrecognized but important process modifying fracture patterns in low-rank coal. If so,
regular variation in cleat spacing with rank within the lignite to high-rank bituminous
range might not be expected.
Many authors have noted that cleat spacing varies with coal type and ash content
Spears and Caswell, 1986; Tremain et al., 1991; Law, 1993.. Bright coal lithotypes
vitrain. generally have smaller cleat spacings than do dull coal lithotypes durain.
Kendall and Briggs, 1933; Stach et al., 1982.. Coals with low ash content tend to have
smaller cleat spacings than do coals with high ash content. Organic-rich shales also
commonly have closely spaced fractures that resemble cleats. This suggests that
geochemical processes such as shrinkage related to coal composition are key to intense
development of fractures.
The effect of compositional layering on fracture spacing has received much attention.
Examples where average spacing is linearly proportional to coal lithotype-layer thickness have been found Spears and Caswell, 1986; Grout, 1991; Tremain et al., 1991;
Close and Mavor, 1991; Law, 1993.. Daniels et al. 1996., in contrast, found no pattern
of cleat spacing with bed thickness. If we interpret cleat height as equal to lithotype
layer thickness t ., and assume a linear aperture-spacing relation the result is a linear
proportionality between cleat spacing and lithotype layer thickness. Equating cleat
185
height and lithotype layer thickness again, the combination of Eqs. 1. and 2. implies
that lithotype layer thicknesses follow a power law size distribution:
N s qtyr
4.
where N is cumulative number of lithotype layers having a thickness of t or larger, q is

a measure of the total sequence thickness, and r is fractal dimension. Coal lithotype
layer thickness data collected by Smyth and Buckley 1993. follow a power law size
distribution. The empirical fit to these data has a fractal dimension significantly greater
than one, implying that thin layers account for more coal volume than thick layers.
Comparisons of cleat spacings versus bed thickness have typically not accounted for
the range of cleat sizes present. For example, Upper Cretaceous Fruitland coal beds have
numerous interbedded ash layers tonsteins. that define coal bed thicknesses. A cleat
spacing-bed thickness relation is apparent if cleats that span the coal layer are used and
shorter cleats are neglected, and then only for beds that are thinner than 10 to 20 cm. For
these, cleat spacing is slightly less than layer thickness Tremain et al., 1991.. Other coal
beds in the western United States for example, Upper Cretaceous Adaville Formation
coal beds at the Elkol mine, Wyoming. have a spectrum of cleat sizes and spacings that
resemble those of Fruitland coal beds, but these coal seams lack thin interbeds. Similar
hierarchies of fractures in massive beds have been observed in non-coal rocks Nelson,
1985. and in cooling cracks in glass Nemat-Nasser and Oranratnachai, 1979; DeGraff
and Aydin, 1993.. This implies that the apparent fracture spacingrbed thickness
relationship in Fruitland coals may be an illusion.
Such observations suggest that, except perhaps for the thinnest beds, interbed-layer
thickness is not a primary control on cleat intensity. However, a possible explanation for
hierarchical spacing without obvious layer boundaries may be found in the mechanical
similarity of cooling, contracting lava flows and dehydrating, contracting coals. DeGraff
and Aydin 1993. show that cooling rate strongly affects fracture propagation, resulting
in closer spaced fractures for higher cooling rates. Possibly variations in contraction rate
of coal controlled by chemical processes. may govern the spacing of cleats of a given
size.
Even cleat spacing is apparent in many coal beds. Although they have been reported
by mine operators, few distinct cleat swarms zones of anomalously closely spaced
fractures have been described. This may partly result from lack of coal exposures
where intense localized fracture development can be seen Fig. 9.. Some swarms are
associated with faults Shepherd et al., 1981; Laubach et al., 1991. and locally these
features are evident in seismic records. This is an area where more information is
needed, since these structures potentially are a cause of highly productive areas within
coal beds.
Finally, indirect quantification of cleat spacing comes from data on sizes of mined
coal fragments Bennett, 1936; Turcotte, 1992.. Mass fractions of mined coal fragments
as a function of fragment size determined by sieve analysis. are consistent among the
seams and collieries analyzed 19 data sets, from United Kingdom coals of unknown
rank, composition, and age., and form lines on a loglog plot Fig. 10.. If we assume
that coal fragments in a data set have statistically similar shapes and mass densities, then
186
Fig. 9. Cleat patterns and potential sources of anomalous cleat attributes: fracture swarms and differential
compaction zones. Diagram shows schematic fracture patterns in coal.
we can convert mass fraction data into cumulative numbers R. Marrett, 1994, unpubl.
rept.. and characterize the size distribution of fragments. The spacing of bounding cleats
probably define the size of an individual fragment, so we can interpret the converted
Fig. 10. Coal fragment size distribution from sieve analysis of coals in Colliery B Bennett, 1936.. Data
represent volumetric 3D. sampling of mass fraction having linear dimension less than plotted value. For
clarity, 0.5 was added to log mass fractionrnumber values for coal seam 1 and 0.5 was subtracted from log
mass fractionrnumber values for coal seam 5.
187
data as a volumetric sample of the cleat spacing size distribution. This interpretation
suggests that cleat spacing follows a power law of the form:
N s msyd
5.
where N is volumetric cumulative number of spacings of s or larger, m is a measure of

coal volume and cleat frequency, and d is the fractal dimension. Best fit values of d
range from 2.31 to 2.34. Eq. 5. plus a linear aperture-spacing relation suggests that
c s d; however this is not true of the values determined. Although there are a variety of
possible explanations, the most likely is that the assumption involved in averaging
observed average spacings is incorrect.
2.3. Cleat network geometry and connectiity
If all fractures in a coal bed were isolated, then flow rates observed after draining
those fractures directly intersected by the wellbore. would be limited by matrix
permeability i.e., no fracture enhancement of permeability.. Network geometry and
connectivity of fractures in a system clearly are important to the permeability enhancement that fractures can provide Fig. 9.. For example, coal-bed permeability may be 3 to
10 times greater in the face cleat direction than in other directions McCulloch et al.,
1974., reflecting the strong preferred orientation and greater length of interconnected
fractures in that direction. On a local scale, cleat connectivity results from cross cutting
and abutting relations. Maps of cleat patterns show that connections within the network
may be accomplished by fractures of vastly different size Tremain et al., 1991; Chen
and Harpalani, 1995.. Vertical connectivity of cleat networks is commonly limited by
the termination of small cleats at interfaces between coal types, and large cleats at
coal-non-coal bed interfaces.
One approach to cleat network characterization is to count the various types of
fracture ends i.e., connected, constricted, or dead-end. Laubach et al., 1991.. Constricted and dead-end terminations render fractures insignificant to permeability enhancement, although they might assist flow from the matrix into the fracture network.
Analysis of relative frequencies of different fracture-end types was done for two
exposed bedding surfaces of coals in the San Juan Basin Laubach et al., 1991.. One
coal-bed surface showed the expected result that cleat systems are well connected, due
to systematic development of butt cleats extending from one face cleat to another. The
other bedding surface indicated poor connectivity among cleats, possibly because only
large cleats were considered. Uncertainty about timing and origin of butt cleats which
may in some case be restricted to near-surface locations. clearly will impact interpretation of fracture connectivity in coal beds at depth. Cross-cutting relations and contrasts
in orientation suggest that not all cleats in a given bed formed simultaneously.
2.4. Cleat petrology
Cleat apertures may or may not contain authigenic minerals commonly clays, quartz,
and calcite. or organic material and resin Spears and Caswell, 1986; Daniels and
Altaner, 1990.. In coal mining, such minerals have an impact on coal quality, but for
coalbed methane, diagenetic alteration of the cleat network due to precipitation of
188
authigenic cements can occlude or preserve fracture porosity, and thus the ability of
fractures to conduct fluid. This is an area that has been relatively little studied. Minerals
in coal cleats have been described by several authors, including Macrae and Lawson
1954., Hatch et al. 1976., Cobb 1979., Hanes and Shepherd 1981., Spears and
Caswell 1986., Daniels et al. 1996..
In several coal beds, paragenesis of cleat-filling minerals indicates that the development of fractures took place during coalification and progressive. Spears and Caswell
1986. showed regional and stratigraphic variations in cleat-fill mineralogy and developed a paragenetic sequence of mineral precipitation for Westphalian A Canock coals in
the United Kingdom. The first minerals to precipitate were sulfides pyrite, sphalerite
and galena. followed by quartz and clay minerals, then carbonate minerals calcite and
ankerite.. Hatch et al. 1976. found a similar paragenetic sequence in Pennsylvanian
coals in the Illinois Basin. The presence of multiple mineral phases indicates that cleats
remained open permeable. over extended periods of time or that they were episodically
reopened, and that the composition of fluid migrating through the cleats was variable.
Fig. 11. Patterns of cleat minerals in Cretaceous Frontier Formation coals, western Wyoming. All diagrams
show plan-view relations. a. Blocky calcite and quartz on opposite fracture walls. b. Two generations of
calcite in face and butt cleat, respectively. c. Early-formed quartz along face cleat separated by later crossing
butt cleat having calcite fill. d. Intergrowths of early quartz and late calicte, recording progressive cleat
porosity reduction.
189
Crack-seal features in cleats Hatch et al., 1976. imply episodic fracture opening.
Locally, the mineralogy of coal cleats mimics that of nearby fractures in sandstones. For
example, calcite and quartz in face and butt cleats correspond to authigenic mineral
suites in adjacent Cretaceous sandstones in parts of Texas and Wyoming Fig. 11..
Levine 1993. demonstrated that cleat-filling calcite in Lower Pennsylvanian coals
precipitated early during coalification. Precipitation of calcite or other minerals in cleats
may preserve the only evidence of early formed cleats because minerals inhibit
annealing during subsequent coalification. In the San Juan Basin, calcite precipitation
probably occurred after coalification and subsequent uplift and erosion along basin
margins. Bacteria introduced into Fruitland coal beds by meteoric water metabolized wet
gases and organic compounds in the coal to generate secondary biogenic methane and
carbon dioxide Scott et al., 1994.. Formation waters in the cleat system became
saturated to oversaturated with respect to calcite resulting in precipitation of isotopically
heavy calcite in cleats Scott et al., 1991.. Cleat development probably occurs at least in
part during early coalification, thus cleats in some coals may be filled with organic
matter during late coalification Crelling et al., 1982.. Rice et al. 1989. reported that
exsudatinite a hydrogen-rich material., generated during coalification, filled pores or
voids within the vitrain component of Fruitland coal beds. Patterns of regional and
stratigraphic variations in cleat-filling minerals could therefore help identify areas of
differing cleat openness and target the most conductive parts of fracture systems.
2.5. Local ariations in cleat style
In addition to size, intensity, and diagenetic variations, cleat permeability could be
affected by shifts in fracture style; that is, changes from opening-mode fractures to
faults. Faults are well recognized in coal beds, and some coal beds have pervasive small
faults Ammosov and Eremin, 1963.. Such faults may post-date cleat formation,
although faults that accompany early compaction are known Law, 1976; Tremain et al.,
1991.. Moreover, cleat intensity and size locally vary with proximity to faults and
position on folds Schultz-Ela and Yeh, 1992. so abrupt variations in cleat style, as well
as intensity, could be anticipated in these settings.
Coal exposures in Upper Cretaceous Rock Springs Formation in southwest Wyoming
exhibit significant variations in cleat style over distances of a few to tens of meters
Laubach et al., 1993. Fig. 12.. Closely spaced normal faults abruptly substitute for
opening-mode fractures in coal beneath some sandstone lenses having blocky lateral
terminations. Because these faults have little or no porosity, the coal that contains them
has low permeability compared to coal having generally porous cleats. These changes in
fracture style can be explained by differential, late-stage compaction Laubach et al.,
1993. Figs. 1214.. Most differential compaction occurs by ductile flow before
consolidationrcoalification advances enough for fracture to occur perhaps largely
during deposition of units immediately overlying peatrcoal beds. It is late-stage
compaction of a few percent that occurs from shallow burial to depths of ; 1000 m or
more that can influence cleat development.
In floodbasin settings such as this example, compaction is greatest in peat 10:1. and
mud and least in channel-belt sandstones 1.5:1.. Sand deposition in any given vertical
190
Fig. 12. Cross section and structural data showing shifts in cleat style, from opening-mode fractures to faults,
beneath a sandstone lense in Mesaverde Group, Cretaceous, central Wyoming modified from Laubach et al.,
1993.. a. Lower hemisphere equal-area projection of poles to face cleats and great-circle arc of bedding and
average cleat orientation. b. Same projection, showing fault attitudes in area beneath lense. c. Average
attitudes for pole to bedding, pb; trace cleat, tc; trace bedding, tb; pole to normal faults, nf; pole to cleats, fa.
sequence may be concentrated over compacting floodbasin andror thin channel margin
deposits, producing stacked, lenticular sandstonecoal sequences. During subsequent
burial loading-late stage compaction-relatively rigid sandstone lenses can distort adjacent coal beds, creating folds.
Changes in fracture style due to stresses caused by the shape of overlying and
underlying strong rocks, and perhaps even the evolving shape of the basin itself, has to
date not been thoroughly investigated. It is interesting to note that shifts in cleat
orientations in the San Juan Basin that have been ascribed to separate episodes of
tectonism see below; Laubach and Tremain, 1991. also correspond to changes in
sandstone trends.
Fig. 13. Geometry of coal compaction where coal is interbedded with lenticular, and more rigid, sandstone
modified from Laubach et al., 1993.. Strain during compaction can be resolved into pure shear and simple
shear components, determined by layer dip q . and compaction ratio R .. t, early stage thickness; tr R,
late-stage thickness. Ellipses show strain at an early and late stages of compaction.
191
Fig. 14. Finite-element model results after differential compaction of sandstone and coal beds due to 1 km of
overburden. Shear stress and differential stress are augmented in coal beds below abruptly tapering edges of
sandstone lenses, favoring fault development, whereas under gradually tapering lenses shear stresses are not
sufficiently enhanced to cause shifts in fracture style. a. Rotation of principal stress axes beneath edge of lens
during elastic deformation. Shear stress is also high everywhere beneath lens not shown.. b. Strain due to
nonrecoverable plastic yield equivalent plastic strain.. Left-dipping contours are consistent with failure on
left-dipping faults. Model by D. Schultz-Ela.
2.6. Regional cleat orientation patterns

In some respects, cleat patterns on a basin scale are better known than those of
fractures in non-coal rock types, mainly because the dominant cleat set in an outcrop can
generally be readily identified. Thus, regional maps of cleat orientation have sharply
192
Fig. 15. Map showing face-cleat domains and domain boundaries in Pennsylvanian and Permian coals in West
Virginia. Modified from Kulander and Dean 1993..
distinguished domains of uniform and variable cleat strike Shepherd et al., 1981;
Kulander and Dean, 1990, 1993, Laubach and Tremain, 1991; Laubach et al., 1992.
Figs. 1517.. The uniformity of cleat orientations over wide areas was one of the
features that caught the attention of observers as early as the 1800s see Raistrick and
Marshall, 1939.. Regions hundreds of square kilometers in area have uniform cleat
orientations Ver Steeg, 1942; Kulander and Dean, 1990; Laubach et al., 1992..
However, dominant cleat strike may also shift abruptly from one coal seam to the next
within an area as small as a single colliery Dron, 1925.. Domains of uniform strike
having a range of sizes, and zones of transition between them, can impede or channelize
fluid flow in a cleat system. Such orientation patterns played a prominent role in guiding
speculation on the origins of cleat Dron, 1925; McCulloch et al., 1974; Ting, 1977. and
remain a key attribute to be explained.
Conflicting interpretations of cleat domains have been proposed. They may represent
simultaneous development of cleat in areas where stress orientations differ Kulander
and Dean, 1993. or multiple, superposed episodes of cleat development associated with
rotation of stress directions, perhaps coupled with coals entering burial conditions that
favor cleat formation at different times Laubach et al., 1992.. Uniformity of cleat
strikes within domains indicates that fractures responded to regionally coherent stress
patterns, which could reflect plate-scale stresses or stresses related to uplift or basin
193
Fig. 16. Structure map of San Juan Basin contoured on Huerfanito bentonite, face-cleat strikes in Fruitland
Formation coal beds, and cleat-strike domains. Domain boundaries are gradational and approximately located.
BArIA is BondadIgancio anticline. Modified from Laubach and Tremain 1991..
geometry. On basin scales, transitions between domains of uniform cleat strike range
from gradual to abrupt. In some cases, domains are associated with specific folds or
faults. For example, alignment of cleats normal to fold hinges and fault traces was
pointed out by Freiser 1914., Ver Steeg 1942., Nickelsen and Hough 1967., and
Close 1993.. However, fractures that maintain uniform strike across changing fold
trends may predate folding Kulander et al., 1980; Kulander and Dean, 1993..
The San Juan Basin provides an example of a transition zone between domains of
differing face-cleat strikes in Cretaceous Fruitland coals Fig. 16.. These are separated
by an east-trending transition zone and can be traced in the basin with data from
oriented coal cores. Interestingly, this zone is coincident with the so-called coalbed
methane high productivity fairway. In the northern part of the basin, northwest-striking
cleats predominate, but in the south, northnortheast- and northeast-striking cleats are
most common. The transitional boundary between domains is a wide zone having
inconsistent and variable face-cleat strike. Both northwest and northeast face cleat
strikes are evident in this area, and coal beds with mutual abutting and crossing cleat
patterns are prominent. Cleats with opposite abutting relations occur in adjacent beds,
and less commonly in adjacent parts of the same bed.
194
Fig. 17. Map of cleat system in the Piceance Basin, Colorado.
Although convincing mechanical models for development of cleat domains have not
yet been tested against well defined patterns and well-dated cleat sets, the Piceance
Basin has evidence of progressive cleat domain formation. A domain of eastnortheaststriking face cleat in the south in Cretaceous Mesaverde Group coals is replaced in the
northern part of the basin by westnorthwest-striking cleat Fig. 17.. Thermal history
analysis shows that the northern coals reached higher thermal maturity, and possibly the
threshold of initial cleat development at vitrinite reflectance values between 0.3 and
0.5%, later than coals in the south Scott et al., 1996.. Based on kinetic modeling,
Mesaverde peats over most of the Piceance Basin reached the lignite stage R o s 0.3%.
at approximately the same time 61.7 " 1.4 my, Table 1.. However, it took longer for
organic matter to reach vitrinite reflectance values of 0.5% in the north than in the south.
Coalification in the southern basin occurred more rapidly and 0.5% vitrinite reflectance
195
Table 1
Summary of geochemical processes and cleat development during coalification
Volatile components
Vitrinite reflectance %.
a
Compactional water loss

Maximum rate of structural water loss b
Maximum rate of carbon dioxide loss b
Maximum wet gasrcondensate generationb
Maximum methane generationb,c
Initial cleat development
Cleat development
Cleat annealing
0.2 to 0.4
0.3 to 0.5
0.4 to 0.7
0.5 to 1.1
0.8 to 1.5
0.3 to 0.5
0.3 to 2.0q
0.3 to 2.0q
Law 1993..
Burnham and Sweeney 1989..
c
Tang et al. 1991..
b
was reached approximately 50 Ma, or 22 million years after deposition. Coalification in

the north proceeded more slowly and 0.5% vitrinite reflectance was not attained until 41
Ma, or approximately 31 million years after deposition.
If cleat development occurred during the peat to lignite transition R o s 0.3%., then
heterogeneous directions of paleo-maximum horizontal stress westnorthwest and
eastnortheast. were active in the basin at this time. However, if cleat development
occurred at 0.5% vitrinite reflectance, the two separate cleat domains could represent a
temporal shift in homogeneous paleostress directions. Evidence for a temporal shift
includes different face-cleat orientations in Cretaceous and Tertiary coals in the same
area.
3. Cleat origins
Cleats without any observable shear offset are opening-mode fractures, allowing
allows us to relate cleat orientation to past stress fields. However, driving mechanisms
responsible for controlling stress fields and for causing cleat formation are debatable. A
central question is whether cleats form during burial, at depth after lithification, or
during uplift. More specifically, we could ask the following questions: Are cleats the
result of contraction of coal beds during dewatering or chemical metamorphosis? Are
they caused by thermoelastic response of coal to regional tectonic extension andror
uplift? Are cleats merely a response to local stress perturbation caused by folding and
faulting? Is elevated pore pressure the key parameter, due to either water expelled from
coal structure or perhaps hydrocarbon gas generation? We cannot answer all of these
questions, but we can shed some light on the issues and point to observations that may
help resolve the problem of the origin of cleats.
3.1. Opening-mode fracture mechanics
At the turn of the century, the origin of cleats and joints was the subject of much
contention Dron, 1925; Kendall and Briggs, 1933; McCulloch et al., 1974; Ting, 1977;
Pollard and Aydin, 1988.. One aspect of this debate was whether these fractures were of
196
shear origin or not. Although it was recognized that fractures could form in rock due to
tension, this type of fracture was considered to be limited to the near surface as a result
of folding, cooling, and contraction of igneous rocks, dehydration, or shear zone
formation Engelder, 1987.. Such fractures were not expected to show the planar,
sharp-sided aspect, and regionally persistent orientations that typified fractures in coals
Kendall and Briggs, 1933.. It was thought that since tensile stress was unlikely to exist
at depth, all fractures at depth had to be of shear origin.
Secor 1965. helped resolve this controversy by showing that the concept of effective
stress as presented by Hubbert and Rubey 1959. could account for opening-mode
fracture development in a compressive stress state if the pore pressure was sufficiently
high. However, debate persisted as some continued to interpret many joints as shear
fractures due to their conjugate geometry in relation to other fractures Hancock, 1985..
Later work showed that plumose structure on fracture surfaces and lack of shear offset
precluded a shear origin for many conjugate fractures Barton, 1983; Dyer, 1983;
Nickelsen and Hough, 1967; Pollard and Aydin, 1988..
Cleats primarily accommodating opening displacement propagate along a plane of
zero shear stress, specifically the plane perpendicular to the least compressive principal
stress Lawn and Wilshaw, 1975; Pollard and Aydin, 1988.. This makes such fractures
indicators of past stress orientations, where vertical cleats include the maximum
horizontal stress direction at the time of their formation. Conditions under which cleats
or other opening-mode fractures. form can best be described using fracture mechanics.
K I is called the opening mode or mode I. stress intensity factor and measures the
magnitude of the stress concentration at the crack tip. For a vertical, uniformly loaded,
planar crack, whose length is much greater than its height Fig. 18., it takes on a simple
relationship:
K I s D s p P hr2 .
1r2
6.
where D s is termed the driving stress and h is the height of the crack Lawn and
Wilshaw, 1975.. When K I exceeds a critical value, K Ic , the fracture will propagate. For
Fig. 18. Pore pressure effects promoting a fracture. See text for explanation.
197
stress concentration to occur, there must be crack-opening displacement, and opening

displacement requires a positive driving stress. Driving stress is defined as:
D s s p y sH min .
7.
where sH min is the minimum in situ stress compression is positive. and p is magnitude
of pore pressure acting inside the fracture. Driving stress can be positive under two
conditions-the local minimum stress acting on the fracture is tensile or the pore pressure
in the fracture exceeds the minimum stress. Absolute tension may be possible at or near
the surface, but for fracturing at depth, where even the minimum stress is compressive,
there must be some contribution from pore pressure.
Most subsurface rocks experience a negative driving stress most of the time. The
special situation of a positive driving stress at depth can come about under three basic
conditions pore pressure increases to exceed minimum stress, minimum stress
decreases to fall below the magnitude of the pore pressure, or a combination of both.
This is a limited set of conditions, but there are numerous processes that can be
responsible for the occurrence of these conditions. Some processes that might cause pore
pressure increase in coals are compaction, dehydration, and devolatilization Ting,
1977.. Mechanisms that cause a decrease in minimum stress are uplift, folding, cooling,
and either dehydration or devolatilization. All of these factors could potentially induce
vertical cleats.
Another result of analyzing cleats with fracture mechanics is that a mechanical
maximum for cleat aperture can be estimated. Assuming a coal behaves approximately
elastically when fracturing occurs, maximum aperture, e, for cleat should depend on
fracture height, driving stress, and coal elastic properties according to this relationship
Pollard and Segall, 1987.:
e max s 4 1 y n 2 . D s hr2 . rE
8.
where E is Youngs modulus. Thus aperture should be linearly proportional to driving

stress and fracture height, and inversely proportional to rock stiffness as measured by E.
The process by which fractures propagate under the influence of pore pressure has
been termed natural hydraulic fracturing Engelder and Lacazette, 1990., and there has
been controversy over how applicable this mechanism really is. Pore pressure and in situ
stress are not independent variables, due to poroelastic effects in rock. So care must be
taken in determining stress and pore pressure conditions under which opening-mode
fracture propagation occurs. However, by properly combining the driving stress equation
with an expression for minimum in situ stress, we can make generalizations about
conditions that might be necessary for cleat propagation. If we follow the approach of
Engelder and Lacazette 1990., we can show that natural hydraulic fracturing is possible
for low pore pressure relative to overburden stress.
For illustrative purposes, and in recognition that the critical stress intensity factor can
be small under geologic conditions for saturated rocks Atkinson and Meredith, 1987;
Segall, 1984; Olson, 1993., we will assume a positive driving stress is sufficient for
crack growth. A more complete treatment of the problem can be found in Engelder and
Lacazette 1990.. For a positive driving stress, the following condition is necessary:
p ) smin
9.
198
The expression for minimum stress due to gravitational loading only is:
smin s nr 1 y n . soverburden y a p . q a p
10 .
where n is Poissons Ratio, a is Biots poroelastic constant, and soverburden is vertical

stress from overburden. Combining these two equations gives an expression for pore
pressure required for fracturing in terms of material properties and overburden stress
required for positive driving stress:
p ) nsoverburden . r 1 y n q 2 na y a .
11 .
Plotting this expression Fig. 18. shows that fracturing may require pore pressure
from as small as 0.1 times the overburden for n s 0.1 and a s 0 to equal the overburden
stress for any Poisson Ratio and a s 1. Typical numbers for rock are n s 0.2 and
a s 0.6, which would predict a pore pressure of 0.5 times overburden for fracturing to
occur, which is just slightly over hydrostatic in most basins, without reducing minimum
stress due to tectonics or coal shrinkage during compaction. If we include the other
effects that can reduce minimum stress, fracture mechanics relations predict fracturing at
sub-hydrostatic pore pressures, which imply that all coals should be fractured to some
extent.
As with fractures in non-coal rocks, cleats may vary in orientation in the vicinity of
other fractures or structures. Local fracture hooking or curving may occur due to
mechanical interaction of overlapping, en echelon cleat segments Pollard et al., 1982..
Crack-path hooking is expected to be stronger when in situ stress is nearly isotropic and
inhibited when there is a strong differential compressive stress in the plane of the
fracture Olson and Pollard, 1989.. Patterns should exhibit less curving in thin rock
layers due to a diminished stress perturbation caused by three-dimensional effects
Olson, 1993.. Surface roughness of the fracture might also inhibit crack path hooking.
The overlapping segments of face-cleat traces are commonly straight and parallel rather
than hooked and curved even in thick coal beds, suggesting that significant crack-parallel differential stress was present during fracture propagation.
3.2. Cleat formation
The ubiquity of cleats in a coal suggests that they result from processes common to
all seams. Regularly invoked causes for the formation of cleats are the extremely large
compaction and desiccation of peat coalification. during burial relative to these
processes in other sediments Ting, 1977.. Dehydration and associated shrinkage of
carbonaceous material during coalification create stresses that allow fractures to form.
Fig. 19. Numerical model GEOSIM-2D. of maximum and minimum horizontal stress trajectories in western
United States for late Tertiary Laramide. deformation. Shaded boxes show basement uplifts that are eight
times stiffer than surrounding elastic medium. Model assumes 1 km northeast-directed shortening applied to
left overthrust. side of model. a. Pattern for entire region. b. Part of model near Wyoming salient,
comparing stress trajectories to measured face-cleat strikes solid dark lines. in Cretaceous and Tertiary coals.
199
200
However, contraction alone is insufficient to account for the strong preferred orientation
of cleats over wide areas, since shrinkage tends to produce polygonal patterns like
mud-cracks or cooling cracks in lava flows Kendall and Briggs, 1933.. Preferred
fracture orientations suggest the existence of consistent differences in principal stresses
over wide areas. This suggests that the coal has been buried below the near surface and
has acquired strength in order to sustain the differential stress required for the regular,
planar geometry to the cleats Olson and Pollard, 1989..
Tectonics can impart a significantly anisotropic stress field, and many workers have
attributed uniform patterns of cleat strike over large areas to the effect of tectonically
controlled stress orientation on fracture growth direction Kaiser, 1908; Freiser, 1914;
McCulloch et al., 1974; Price, 1966; Ting, 1977; Laubach and Tremain, 1991; Laubach
et al., 1992; Kulander and Dean, 1993; Close, 1993.. Cleats can then be used as
indicators of the kinematics of past tectonic events, or conversely, knowledge of tectonic
history in a basin or region can be used to predict cleat orientation. Recent examples of
this approach include Laubach et al. 1992. and Kulander and Dean 1993.. Fig. 19
shows a comparison of face-cleat strikes in Cretaceous coal beds in the western United
States to stress trajectories predicted by a numerical model Laubach et al., 1994..
Agreement between prediction and observation is exact in some areas, but highly
divergent elsewhere.
Such models are obviously simplifications of the tectonic loading history of a region.
Plate-scale anisotropic stress fields exist for long periods, and do not require tectonic
events, as conventionally understood, for their formation. Yet a principal cause of
discrepancy between such models and measured cleat orientations is uncertainty in
timing of cleat formation and thus the identity of relevant tectonic stress fields. to
which cleat patterns should be compared. Timing of cleat formation is challenging to
specify precisely, and thus strong tests of this mechanism of cleat formation remain
elusive. If cleat patterns reflected a simple scenario of compaction and dewatering
without fracture as burial increases, followed by an abrupt change in brittleness and
fracture toughness properties at maximum burial and maturity, a plausible model would
be fracture due to a combination of pore pressure and minimum stress reduction caused
by exhumation Price, 1966.. Stress trajectories recorded by cleat patterns would be
those existing at uplift through some critical threshold.
Exhumation probably accounts at least in some instances for formation of butt
cleats, which are typically at right angles to face cleats, and are analogous to cross-joints
as described by Engelder 1987.. Uplift and erosion increases driving stress for fracture
propagation due to a decrease in all of stress components. Pre-existing face cleats tend to
relieve induced stresses perpendicular to them and inhibit growth of additional parallel
fractures. However, stresses parallel to face cleats are not relieved, and these stresses
promote growth of secondary fractures perpendicular to pre-existing face cleats. Face
cleats that lack mineral fill will be open in response to stress changes caused by uplift
and will act as free surfaces against which younger butt cleats end.
However, in addition to unloading effects, coal experiences significant shrinkage due
to progressive devolatilization reactions, so uplift is not required to drive cleat formation. Moreover, core studies show that face and butt cleats exist at depth and are thus not
entirely due to uplift and unloading. Mineral suites in some cleats suggest formation
201
under conditions of increasing temperature and progressive burial Spears and Caswell,
1986.. Many cleat sets in outcrops of folded rocks evidently formed prior to folding
Tremain et al., 1991.. Confirming that cleats can form in basins that have not had
episodes of uplift would require drilling in a suitable location such as the deeply buried
Tertiary coals of the ancestral Mississippi delta.
Time-temperature modeling, based on burial and thermal history, can be used to
estimate the time required to reach the thermal maturity at which cleat genesis is most
likely if desiccationrdevolatilization occurs over a given vitrinite reflectance or rank
range Scott et al., 1996., because coals undergo systematic chemical changes during
coalification that are marked by peaks in shrinkage and expulsion of volatiles. Although
moisture andror volatile matter loss could contribute to coal shrinkage, it is the
rearrangement of coal structure that is responsible for most shrinkage that could
contribute to cleat development. Loss of inherent moisture, which is free moisture
associated with micropores and capillaries andror physically sorbed to organic compounds, results in significant volume shrinkage during the peat to lignite transition.
However, these early formed shrinkage cracks close through annealing or repolymerization Levine, 1993.. During progressive coalification, cleavage of cross-linked, oxygenbearing functional groups in the coal structure results in additional shrinkage and cleat
development. Based on kinetic data from Burnham and Sweeney 1989., the rate of
moisture loss increases significantly between vitrinite reflectance values of 0.3 and 0.5%
and reaches a maximum rate at 0.5%.
Based on when maximum shrinkage occurs, early cleat development probably occurs
between vitrinite reflectance values between approximately 0.3 and 0.5% or the peat
through subbituminous B coal. This is consistent with field observation of cleats in
lignites Law, 1993.. Although initially formed cleats at vitrinite reflectance values
around 0.3% may become annealed, progressive desiccation at vitrinite reflectance
values between 0.4 and 0.5% in the presence of either local or regional stresses
represents potential for fracture formation due to shrinkage. Thus, using burial history
and thermal modeling to identify when peat reaches vitrinite reflectance values of 0.3 to
0.5% gives an estimate of the time of cleat development. Petrologic study and
radiometric dating of minerals within cleats is the most reliable approach to testing such
interpretations Daniels and Altaner, 1990; Daniels et al., 1996..
Compaction takes place during progressive coalification, but fracturing may only be
associated with latter stages of coalification, perhaps after nearly all compaction has
occurred. Few, if any, fractures are formed during peat compaction and associated loss
of non-structural adherent moisture. Shrinkage during the peat to lignite transition
involves loss of inherent moisture from micropores and capillaries and that physically
sorbed to organic compounds. Potentially, this could lead to fracture formation. Later
stages of coalification involve cleavage of cross-linked, oxygen-bearing functional
groups and additional shrinkage.
3.3. Annealing
The possibility that cleats, once formed, could be destroyed annealed. has not been
widely investigated, although annealing has been called on to explain the lack of
202
fractures in some anthracites. Yet in the structural evolution of a complex organic

compound coal. under the influence of burial and thermal histories, annealing potentially plays a role in governing resultant fracture patterns. The evidence for annealing
comes from considering the interplay of compaction and fracture formation. The large
amount of vertical shortening associated with the early stages of peat consolidation
imply that early-formed structures such as early cleats. become distorted with progressive compaction. Processes that promote fracturing, such as dehydration, devolatilization, and regional and local tectonics, affect organic deposits throughout the lignite to
anthracite rank. Yet similar-appearing cleats are in coals of various ranks, including
lignite and low-rank bituminous coal Law, 1993.. In a typical coal bed, cleats appear
nearly perpendicular to bed boundaries and compaction fabric, and are themselves not
deformed. Although at this time we are aware of little or no direct maceral or
mineral-matter petrographic evidence for cleat annealing, if compaction overlaps to a
significant degree with fracturing, the planar character of cleats in lignites implies
operation of processes that destroy anneal. these early formed cleats in higher rank and
more compacted coals. The observation that face and butt cleats are nearly always planar
and are not visibly rotated or deformed indicates that they must have formed relatively
late in the compaction history of the coal bed.
An annealing process such as repolymerization can efficiently remove early formed
cleats Levine, 1993.. Quantitative work has been sparse on geochemical parameters that
govern both coal shrinkage, which can drive fracture formation, and ductile coal flow
and repolymerization, which might lead to fracture annealing. Cleat annealing occurs
when the coal structure is rearranged, and results in increased density, structural
anisotropy, and hardness. High-rank coals have undergone devolatilization so that coal
shrinkage is a less likely driving force for fracture formation.
4. Cleat and coalbed methane

Over 95% of the gas in coal is stored in micropores Gray, 1987. that are estimated to
have diameters ranging from 0.5 to 1 nm Van Krevelen, 1981., values so small that the
matrix may have no effective permeability. Cleat-fracture porosity in coal is estimated to
be between 0.5 and as much as 2.5% Puri et al., 1991; Gash, 1992; Chen and Harpalani,
1995.. Although small amounts of free gas may exist in coal fracture systems, coalbed
methane is mainly adsorbed on the large internal surface area of the impermeable coal
matrix and fracture surfaces, and most produced methane may be adsorbed onto fracture
surfaces. Releasing adsorbed methane is accomplished by lowering reservoir pressure,
generally through removal of water and reducing hydrostatic pressure on the coal bed.
Therefore, coal beds generally must be partly dewatered to initiate gas production. After
desorption from coal, gases must diffuse through the coal matrix until encountering open
fractures. Interconnected, open fractures are conduits for gas and water flow to the
wellbore, and fracture surface arearcoal volume is critical to producible gas volume.
For development of coalbed methane, important natural fracture attributes contribute
to permeability pathways for gas and water flow to wells. Also significant are fracture
properties that enhance or detract from coal stability and success of well completion and
203
stimulation techniques such as horizontal drilling, open-hole cavitation, and hydraulic

fracture treatment. Horizontal wells and hydraulic fractures induced to enhance production ideally should be oriented to maximize contact with the permeable natural fracture
system. For example, in United States Bureau of Mines degassification experiments in
shallow Appalachian Pennsylvanian coal beds, horizontal boreholes drilled perpendicular to face cleats yield 2 to 10 times the production rate of gas as holes drilled parallel to
face cleat.
Changes in the fracture system during production are also important. Unlike more
conventional fractured reservoirs, during gas drainage from coal beds, absolute permeability may vary by several orders of magnitude with changing effective stress, gas
pressure, and matrix shrinkage Sparks et al., 1995.. Key fracture attributes include size,
spacing, connectedness, aperture and degree of mineral fill, and patterns of preferred
orientation on local and regional scales. Progress in understanding cleat origins from
recent developments in fracture mechanics and chemical changes in the molecular
structure of coal during burial could lead to better predictions of these attributes in
advance of drilling.
Cleat intensity can affect coal stability and thus success of cavity stimulations.
Dynamic open-hole cavity stimulations involve high pressure build up by natural
accumulation of methane or air injection followed by sudden release of pressure,
inducing coal to cavitate into the wellbore. This procedure is successful in parts of the
San Juan Basin, but elsewhere in the basin conventional stimulation is more effective.
To date, cavity wells have not been highly effective in other basins worldwide. It is
beyond the scope of this paper to review cavity stimulation see Mavor and Logan,
1994; Palmer et al., 1996., but it is clear that strength of coal significantly influences the
spatial extent of permeability enhancement Choi and Wold, 1996. and that closely
spaced low-strength natural fractures can cause failure and deformation of coal over
long distances.
Areas of the San Juan Basin where open-hole cavity stimulations are most successful
coincide with a domain where two cleat sets overlap and interfere, and cleat is closely
spaced due to relatively high coal rank Laubach and Tremain, 1991.. This area of the
basin probably has higher overall fracture connectivity as a consequence of variable
cleat strike, changes in dominant cleat strike over short lateral distances and between
nearby beds, and greater abundance of small faults. Compared to other parts of the
basin, prevalence of two directions of strongly developed cleats in this transition zone
results in qualitatively greater coal friability. This intense fracture development may
enhance cavity formation Laubach and Tremain, 1991.. This example shows that,
together with other information, new cleat observations can help development of coalbed
methane resources.
5. Conclusions
Much quantitative observational work remains to be done on characterizing cleat size
patterns, network geometries, and the response of cleat systems to changing effective
stress conditions. Measurements of size distributions of apertures, in the context of
204
rigorous scaling studies, can provide the basis for improved cleat porosity, permeability,
and elastic shear wave anisotropy calculations. A challenge will be obtaining reliable
data on these parameters at in situ conditions. Few data are available on apertures,
heights, lengths, connectivity, and the relation of cleat formation to diagenesis, characteristics that probably are critical to permeability. Recent studies of cleat orientation
patterns and fracture style suggest that new investigations of even these well-studied
parameters can yield insight into coal permeability patterns.
More effective predictions of cleat patterns will come from advances in understanding cleat origins. Although cleat formation has been attributed to a vague combination of
diagenetic and tectonic processes, a viable mechanical process for creating cleats has yet
to be demonstrated. Progress in this area may come from recent developments in
fracture mechanics and in appreciation of chemical changes in the molecular structure of
coal during burial and coalification.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Romeo Flores for inviting us to prepare this paper, to J. Close, R.
Flores, and B. Law for reviews for the International Journal of Coal Geology, and to W.
Ambrose for comments. S.E.L. and A.R.S. acknowledge collaborative studies with W.B.
Ayers, Jr., W.A. Ambrose, W.R. Kaiser, D.D. Schultz-Ela, C.M. Tremain, and R. Tyler.
R.A.M. thanks Amoco Production Co. for permission to publish work begun while
under their employment.
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International Journal of Coal Geology 35 1998.

Characteristics and origins of coal cleat: A review

, R.A. Marrett b, J.E. Olson c , A.R. Scott

Corresponding author. Fax: q1-512-4710140; E-mail: laubachs@begv.beg.utexas.edu

0166-5162r98r$19.00 q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

2.1. Cleat size

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

Size distribution of opening-mode fracture apertures have been studied quantitatively

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

where s is cleat spacing in centimeters. Eq. 3. predicts a similar decrease in cleat

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

where N is cumulative number of lithotype layers having a thickness of t or larger, q is

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

where N is volumetric cumulative number of spacings of s or larger, m is a measure of

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

2.6. Regional cleat orientation patterns

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

Fig. 17. Map of cleat system in the Piceance Basin, Colorado.

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

Compactional water loss

was reached approximately 50 Ma, or 22 million years after deposition. Coalification in

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

stress concentration to occur, there must be crack-opening displacement, and opening

where E is Youngs modulus. Thus aperture should be linearly proportional to driving

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

where n is Poissons Ratio, a is Biots poroelastic constant, and soverburden is vertical

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

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fractures in some anthracites. Yet in the structural evolution of a complex organic

4. Cleat and coalbed methane

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

stimulation techniques such as horizontal drilling, open-hole cavitation, and hydraulic

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

S.E. Laubach et al.r International Journal of Coal Geology 35 (1998) 175207

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