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Organic geochemical characteristics of the Mississippian black shales from Wardie, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2015

Agata Trojan ,
Maciej J. Bojanowski ,
Marek Gola ,
Oliwia Grafka ,
Leszek Marynowski  and
Euan N. K. Clarkson
Agata Trojan
Affiliation:
Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy & Petrology, Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw, Żwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland Email: [email protected]
Maciej J. Bojanowski
Affiliation:
Institute of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland
Marek Gola
Affiliation:
Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy & Petrology, Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw, Żwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland Email: [email protected]
Oliwia Grafka
Affiliation:
Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy & Petrology, Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw, Żwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland Email: [email protected]
Leszek Marynowski
Affiliation:
Faculty of Earth Sciences, Silesian University, Będzińska 60, 42-200 Sosnowiec, Poland
Euan N. K. Clarkson
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, Scotland, UK
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Abstract

Coal and hydrocarbons have been exploited from the Carboniferous rocks of the Midland Valley for over 200 years. This work characterises organic matter from the Mississippian black shales of the Midland Valley from Wardie, Scotland. Biomarker analysis allowed the estimation of the degree of microbial transformation of organic matter, type of kerogen and thermal maturity during hydrocarbon generation. Parameters based on the biomarker indicators confirm a generally mixed type II/III kerogen. However, some samples contain mostly terrestrial organic matter, whilst others contain predominantly marine organic matter, which shows that the sedimentary environment varied greatly throughout the basin. The presence of gammacerane suggests water column stratification and anoxic conditions. Organic matter was much better protected from post-depositional alteration within the concretions, where higher TOC (total organic carbon) and TS (total sulphur) contents occur, than in the surrounding sediments. This can be induced by very early diagenetic formation of these concretions which protected organic matter from late diagenetic degradation.

Estimated values of vitrinite reflectance (Rc, Rcs) show that the sedimentary rocks reached the catagenesis stage. Most samples exhibit maximum organic matter maturation temperatures of around c60–90°C. However, stable isomers of phenyldibenzo[b,d]thiophene detected in some samples indicate that in some cases post-depositional hydrothermal activity affected maturation of organic matter increasing temperatures to as high as c174°C.

Keywords

Biomarkersconcretionshydrothermal alterationMidland Valleythermal maturationWest Lothian Oil-Shale Formation
Type
Articles
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 106 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 55 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Society of Edinburgh 2015 

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