Abstract
AVAILABLE evidence indicates that petroleum hydrocarbons can be generated by alteration of kerogens through geothermal heating1–3. In this study we have separated kerogen, humic acid and lipid (benzene–methanol extractable) material from a young marine sediment (Tanner Basin, offshore California) and heated it in sealed glass tubes in a nitrogen atmosphere. Each tube was heated at a single temperature between 150 and 410 °C for a specified time in the range 5–120 h. Gaseous and liquid (benzene–methanol extractable) products generated during the heating, as well as the residual organic material, were characterised by gas–liquid chromatograiphy, elemental analysis, infrared and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopies, and X-ray diffraction.
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ISHIWATARI, R., ISHIWATARI, M., KAPLAN, I. et al. Thermal alteration of young kerogen in relation to petroleum genesis. Nature 264, 347–349 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/264347a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/264347a0
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