Organic Geochemistry of Continental Margin and Deep Ocean Sediments

• Main Authors: Whelan, Jean K., Hunt, John M., Eglinton, Timothy, Dickinson, Peggy, Johnson, Carl, Buxton, Lorraine, Tarafa, Martha E.
• Other Authors: United States. Department of Energy. Office of Energy Research.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 1990
• Subjects: Fuels; Chemical Reactions; Kerogen; Usa 020200* > Petroleum > Reserves; Geology; & Exploration; Organic Compounds; Progress Report; Petrography; Sedimentation; Diagenesis; Organic Matter; Natural Gas; Thermochemical Processes; Isotope Ratio; Pyrolysis; Alaska; Bituminous Materials; 58 Geosciences; Surface Waters; Materials; Gas Fuels; 580000 > Geosciences; Continental Margin; Chemistry; Fossil Fuels; Gulf Coast; Fuel Gas; Hydrocarbons; Seas; Federal Region Vi; Wells; Document Types; Energy Sources; 02 Petroleum; Federal Region X; Sediments; Fluid Flow; Fluids; Gases; Petroleum; Maturation; Geochemistry; North America; Decomposition; Carbonaceous Materials; Louisiana; north slope
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2172/6538945; https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1181462/

The objective of this research continues to be the understanding of the complex processes of fossil fuel formation and migration. DOE funded research to date has focused on case histories'' of down-hole well profiles of light hydrocarbons, pyrograms, pyrolysis-GC and -GCMS parameters, and biomarker data from wells in the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coasts the Alaskan North Slope. In the case of the Alaskan North Slope, geological data and one-dimensional maturation modeling have been integrated in order to better constrain possible source rocks, timing, and migration routes for oil and gas generation and expulsion processes.This period, biomarker analyses and organic petrographic analyses were completed for the Ikpikpuk well. In the case of the Gulf Coast, we have obtained a one-dimensional maturation model of the Cost B-1 well in E. Cameron field of the Louisiana Gulf Coast. The completed E. Cameron data set adds to the enigma of the Gulf Coast oils found on the continental shelf of Louisiana. If significant quantities of the oil are coming from relatively organic lean Tertiary rocks, then non-conventional'' expulsion and migration mechanisms, such as gas dissolved in oil must be invoked to explain the Gulf Coast oils reservoired on the Louisiana continental shelf. We are designing and starting to assemble a hydrous pyrolysis apparatus to follow, the laboratory, rates of generation and expulsion of sediment gases. Initiation of some new research to examine {delta}{sup 13}C of individual compounds from pyrolysis is also described. We are beginning to examine both the laboratory and field data from the Gulf Coast in the context of a Global Basin Research Network (GBRN). The purpose is to better understand subsurface fluid flow processes over geologic time in sedimentary basins and their relation to resource accumulation (i.e., petroleum and metal ores). 58 refs.