Geochemical Characterization of the Second White Speckled Shale Formation, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin and the Mass Fraction Maturity Defining Thermal Maturity Level
Abstract
Source rocks with database of maturity variation from the Second White Speckled Shale Formation (SWS) were characterized geochemically by traditional source-related and maturity parameters. The changes of absolute concentrations with increasing thermal maturity was concluded. Biomarkers are initially generated and concentrated at immature to low mature stages during diagenesis, then their concentrations decrease dramatically with increasing maturity during catagenesis. n-Alkanes, especially light n-alkanes, are generated from kerogen thermal cracking and their concentrations increase continuously with thermal maturity in the whole oil generation window. Most polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are generated at early oil window to peak oil generation then destroyed at post mature stage. It is uncontroversial that crude oils are mixtures of different components charged from source rocks at different temperatures. Traditional thermal maturity parameters are unreliable when tracking maturities of crude oils. Combining absolute concentration profiles, mass fraction maturity model is mentioned for assessing maturity of crude oils.
Description
Keywords
Geochemistry
Citation
Ma, J. J. (2016). Geochemical Characterization of the Second White Speckled Shale Formation, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin and the Mass Fraction Maturity Defining Thermal Maturity Level (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26279