An investigation of Wulantuga coal (Cretaceous, Inner Mongolia) macerals: Paleopathology of faunal and fungal invasions into wood and the recognizable clues for their activity

Coal macerals are the product of a complex series of decompositional and preservational pathways from living woody and herbaceous tissues to the variety of forms seen in coal. The Cretaceous Wulantuga coal (Inner Mongolia, China) offers an opportunity to observe a number of maceral forms resulting from these disparate pathways. Assemblages of coprolites within fusinite strongly suggest an origin related to arthropod ingestion and consequent in situ emplacement of the macrinitic coprolites within the damaged wood structure, followed by combustion of the whole to achieve the observed reflectance. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.