Sampling sites
Twenty-six samples were obtained from 11 different peat/coalbearing
basins across Greece after an extensive drilling campaign
(Fig. 1; Papanicolaou et al., 2006).
Samples represent either single layers in case of high thickness, or are mixtures of different thin layers.
The samples cannot be representative of the lateral expansion of each
deposit as a random sampling scheme was followed. The lithological
features were macroscopically described and the lithotypes were
determined according to the guidelines established by the International
Committee for Coal and Organic Petrology (ICCP, 1993). Samples
containing woody tissues more than 10 vol.% were logged as xyliterich,
whereas samples with macroscopically recognizable mineral
intergrowths were classified as mineral-rich (Table 1).