Buckley Coal Measures

The sandstone is primarily composed of quartz grains some of which are well rounded and may have been derived from the Alexandra Formation of the Devonian Taylor Group. Grains of microcUne and sodic plagioclase occur throughout but deCTease in abundance toward the top of the formation. In addition, the sandstones contain lithic grains (schist and phyllite), biotite, muscovite, and pink garnet The matrix consists of sericite, chlorite, quartz, and calcite which are post-depositional. 

The sediment was deposited by braided streams of low sinuosity. The presence of feldspar grains and the generally poor rounding of quartz grains suggest that the sediment was derived from granitic and metasedi-mentary basement rocks, was transported less than 

The Buckley Formation contains coal beds and was therefore referred to by Grindley (1963) as the Buckley Coal Measures (Young and Rybum 1968). The name was taken from Buckley Island near the head of the Beardmore Glacier where Frank Wild discovered coal seams during Shackleton s trek to the South Pole (1907-1909) (Section 1.4.2). The lower part of the Buckley Formation consists of sandstone which Barrett (1969) redefined as the Fairchild Formation described above. The Buckley Formation is overlain disconform-ably by the sandstones and noncarbonaceous mudstones of the Fremouw Formation of Triassic age (Table 10.7). 

The shale layers, composed of gray mudstone, range in thickness from 1 to 5 m in the lower part of the 

The samples were submitted by J.M. Schopf to the Coal Analysis Section of the US Bureau of Mines 

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The Pagoda Tillite in the Cumulus Hills was deposited on the eroded surface of the local basement complex consisting primarily of the Granite Harbor Intrusives (Chapter 6, Table 6.1). The Pagoda Formation is composed of tillite interbedded with sandstone containing microfloras of Early Permian (or Late Carboniferous) age (Askin and Schopf 1982). Tht Mackellar Formation which overlies the Pagoda Tillite consists of black shale and fine grained sandstone. It was succeeded by the sandstones of the Fairchild Formation, followed by the Buckley Coal Measures. 

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