Distribution and origin of organic ligands in subsurface waters from sedimentary basins
No abstract available.
Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to P.D. Lundegard.
No abstract available.
No abstract available.
Crude oils from Iraq and California have been pyrolyzed under hydrous conditions at 200 and 300°C for time periods up to 210 days, in gold-plated reactors. Elemental (vanadium, nickel), stable isotopic (carbon), and molecular ( n -alkanes, acyclic isoprenoids, steranes, terpanes and aromatic steroid hydrocarbons) analyses were made on the original and pyrolyzed oils. Various conventional crude oil maturity parameters, including 20 S /(20 S + 20 R )-24-ethylcholestane ratios and the side-chain-length distribution of aliphatic and aromatic steroidal hydrocarbons, were measured in an effort to assess the modification of molecular maturity parameters in clay-free settings, similar to those encountered in “clean” reservoirs. Concentrations of vanadium and nickel in the Iraq oil decrease significantly and the V/(V + Ni) ratio decreases slightly, with increasing pyrolysis time/temperature. Whole oil carbon isotope ratios remain fairly constant during pyrolysis, as do hopane/sterane ratios and carbon number distribution of 5 α (H),14 α (H),17 α (H),20 R steranes. These latter three parameters are considered maturity-invariant. The ratios of short side-chain components to long side-chain components of the regular steranes [C 21 /(C 21 + C 29 R )] and the triaromatic steroid hydrocarbons [C 21 /(C 21 + C 28 )] vary systematically with increasing pyrolysis time, indicating that these parameters may be useful as molecular maturity parameters for crude oils in clay-free reservoir rocks. In addition, decreases in bisnorhopane/hopane ratio with increasing pyrolysis time, in a clay-free and kerogen-free environment, suggest that the distribution of these compounds is controlled by either differential thermal stabilities or preferential release from a higher-molecular weight portion of the oil.