Organic geochemical character and hydrocarbon source potential of selected black shales at DSDP Hole 93-603B

• Main Author: Katz, Barry J
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 1987
• Subjects: 93-603B; Deep Sea Drilling Project; DRILL; Drilling/drill rig; DSDP; Glomar Challenger; Leg93; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.789191; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.789191

LECO analysis, pyrolysis assay, and bitumen and elemental analysis were used to characterize the organic matter of 23 black shale samples from Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 93, Hole 603B, located in the western North Atlantic. The organic matter is dominantly gas-prone and/or refractory. Two cores within the Turonian and Cenomanian, however, contained significant quantities of well-preserved, hydrogen-enriched, organic matter. This material is thermally immature and represents a potential oil-prone source rock. These sediments do not appear to have been deposited within a stagnant, euxinic ocean as would be consistent with an "oceanic anoxic event." Their organic geochemical and sedimentary character is more consistent with deposition by turbidity currents originating on the continental shelf and slope.