Abstract
The chemical characterization of kerogen (typing) is a routine part of petroleum exploration programmes1. Traditionally, kerogen has been characterized on the basis of microscopy2 and bulk chemical methods3, procedures derived from the coal characterization literature1,4. These methods do not today, however, provide adequate resolution of the complex mixture of kerogen components encountered in source rocks from petroleum-bearing sedimentary basins5. Here we report an improved classification approach for kerogens at all maturity levels. The method is based on a quantitative pyrolysis–gas chromatography approach using a polymeric internal standard, polymethylstyrene, to directly determine the absolute concentrations of specific kerogen pyrolysis products. In particular, cross-plots of normal hydrocarbon, aromatic hydrocarbon and total hydrocarbon yields of kerogen pyrolysis are used to recognize eight separate nodes of kerogen composition
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Larter, S., Senftle, J. Improved kerogen typing for petroleum source rock analysis. Nature 318, 277–280 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/318277a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/318277a0
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