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Geochemistry Research Organic Origins of Petroleum

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Petroleum is a naturally occurring substance consisting of organic
Laboratory Experiment compounds in the form of gas, liquid, or semisolid. Organic
Genetic Correlations
compounds are carbon molecules that are bound to hydrogen
Microbial Natural Gas
Natural Gas
(e.g., hydrocarbons) and to a lesser extent sulfur, oxygen, or
Oil Shale nitrogen. The simplest of these compounds is methane with one
Organic Origins of Petroleum carbon atom bound to four hydrogen atoms (Figure 1).
Shale Gas
Basin Modeling

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Figure 1: Some examples of organic compounds in petroleum, from the simplest (methane) to the most complex (asphaltene).

Asphaltenes are the most complex with more than 136 carbon
atoms bound to more than 167 hydrogen atoms, 3 nitrogen
atoms, 2 oxygen atoms, and 2 sulfur atoms (Figure 1). Petroleum
gas is referred to as natural gas, which should not be confused
with the abbreviated term used to describe the refined fuel
"gasoline". Natural gas consists predominantly of simple
hydrocarbons with only one to five carbon atoms (i.e., methane to
pentane, respectively, Figure 1). Liquid petroleum is referred to as
crude oil and consists of a wide range of more complex
hydrocarbons and minor quantities of asphaltenes (Figure 1).
Semisolid petroleum is tar, which is dominated by larger complex
hydrocarbons and asphaltenes (Figure 1).

Petroleum formation takes place in sedimentary basins, which are

areas where the Earth's crust subsides and sediments accumulate
within the resulting depression. As the sedimentary basin
continues to subside, sediment accumulations continue to fill the
depression. This results in a thickening sequence of sediment
layers in which the lower sediment layers eventually solidify into
sedimentary rocks as they experience greater pressures and
temperatures with burial depth. The sediment layers that
accumulate vary in character because the sources and
depositional settings of the sediments change through geologic
time as the sedimentary basin subsides and fills. It is critical to
petroleum formation that at some time during the accumulation of
sediments at least one of the sediment layers contains the
remains of deceased plants or microorganisms. Throughout
geologic time, the world oceans have expanded and receded over
the Earth’s land surfaces and contributed sediment layers to
subsiding sedimentary basins. Development of stagnant water
conditions in some of the expanded oceans caused the bottom
waters to be depleted in oxygen (anoxic), which allowed portions
of decaying plankton (e.g., algae, copepods, bacteria, and
archaea) that originally lived in the upper oxygen-bearing (oxic)
waters to be preserved as a sediment layer enriched in organic
matter (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Formation of organic-rich sediment layer.

Swamps and marshes may also develop marginal to oceans

overlying subsiding basins. In these depositional settings,
sediment layers enriched in decaying land plants (e.g., trees,
shrubs, and grasses) may occur.

As these organic-rich sediment layers are buried by deposition of

overlying sediments in the subsiding basin, the sediments are
compressed and eventually lithified into rocks referred to as black
shale, bituminous limestone, or coal. Methane producing
microorganisms referred to as methanogens may thrive under
certain favorable conditions within the organic-rich sediment layer
during its early burial. These microorganisms consume portions of
the organic matter as a food source and generate methane as a
byproduct. This methane, which is typically the main hydrocarbon
in natural gas, has a distinct neutron deficiency in its carbon nucle
(i.e., carbon isotopes), which allows microbial natural gas (a.k.a.,
biogenic gas) to be readily distinguished from methane generated
by thermal processes (a.k.a., thermogenic gas) later in a basin's
subsidence history. The microbial methane may remain in the
organic-rich layer or it may bubble up into the overlying sediment
layers and escape into the ocean waters or atmosphere. If
impermeable sediment layers, called seals, hinder the upward
migration of microbial gas, the gas may collect in underlying
porous sediments, called reservoirs (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Early burial of sediment layers in basin.

Economically significant accumulations of microbial natural gas

have been estimated to account for 20 percent of the world’s
produced natural gas. Microbial methane may remain trapped in
the organic-rich sediment layer through out its lithificaton and
contribute to economic accumulations referred to as coal-bed
methane and shale gas.

Burial of the organic-rich rock layer may continue in some

subsiding basins to depths of 6,000 to 18,000 feet (1830 to 5490
m).At these depths, the organic-rich rock layer is exposed to
temperatures of 150 to 350 ºF (66 to 177 ºC) for a few million to
tens of millions of years.The organic matter within the organic-rich
rock layer begins to cook during this period of heating and
portions of it thermally decompose into crude oil and natural
gas (i.e., thermogenic gas) (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Continued burial of sediment and rock layers in subsiding basin.

This overall process of cooking petroleum out of an organic-rich

rock layer involves the appropriate combination of temperature
and time and is referred to as thermal maturation. If the original
source of the organic matter is mostly higher plants (e.g., trees,
shrubs, and grasses), natural gas will be the dominant petroleum
generated with lesser amounts of crude oil generation. If the
original source of the organic matter is plankton (e.g., algae,
copepods, and bacteria), crude oil will be the dominant petroleum
generated with lesser amounts of natural gas generation. Organic-
rich rock layers that have undergone this process of petroleum
generation are considered to be thermally mature and referred to
as source rocks.

Organic-rich rocks that have not been thermally matured are

referred to as being thermally immature. These immature organic-
rich rocks may be referred to as oil shale if artificial heating at
high temperatures (~1000ºF/~538ºC) in surface or near-surface
reactors (a.k.a., retorts) yield economic quantities of oil. Oil shale
retorting occurred in Scotland between 1860 and 1960 and is
currently active in Estonia and Brazil.

Petroleum has a lower density than the water that occupies pores,
voids, and cracks in the source rock and the overlying rock and
sediment layers. This density difference forces the generated
petroleum to migrate upwards by buoyancy until sealed reservoirs
in the proper configurations serve as traps that concentrate and
collect the petroleum. Some of the generated natural gas may not
migrate out and away from its source rock, but instead remains
within microscopic pores and dissolved in the organic matter of its
source rock. This retained natural gas has proven to be an
economically significant resource that is referred to as shale gas.
The Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth basin of Texas is a good
example of this type of accumulation.

In some basins, petroleum may not encounter a trap and continue

migrating upward into the overlying water or atmosphere as
petroleum seeps. Crude oil that migrates to or near the surface of
a basin will lose a considerable amount of its hydrocarbons to
evaporation, water washing, and microbial degradation leaving a
residual tar enriched in large complex hydrocarbons and
asphaltenes (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Deeper burial of rock layers in subsiding basin.

Tar deposits range in size from small local seeps like the La Brea
tar pits of California to regionally extensive occurrences as
observed in the Athabasca tar sands of Alberta.

Burial of the source rock may continue to depths greater than

20,000 ft. (6100 m) in some sedimentary basins. At these depths,
temperatures in greater than 350ºF (177ºC) and pressures
greater than 15,000 psi (103 MPa) transform the remaining
organic matter into more natural gas and a residual carbon
referred to as char. Oil trapped in reservoirs that are sometimes
buried to these depths also decomposes to natural gas and char.
The char, which is also called pyrobitumen, remains in the original
reservoir while the generated natural gas may migrate upward to
shallower traps within the overlying rock layers of the basin. The
Gulf Coast basin that extends into the offshore of Louisiana and
the Anadarko basin of the US mid-continent are good examples of
these deep basins.

Further burial to temperatures and pressures in excess of 600ºF

(316ºC) and 60,000 psi (414 MPa), respectively,
represent metamorphic conditions in which the residual char
converts to graphite with the emission of molecular hydrogen gas.
The resulting metamorphic rocks are graphitic slate, schist or
marble. Thermodynamic considerations indicate that water
remaining in these rocks should react with the graphite to form
either methane or carbon dioxide depending on the amount of
molecular hydrogen present. Currently, the deepest wells in
sedimentary basins do not exceed 32,000 ft (9760 m). Therefore,
the significance of natural gas generation under these extreme
conditions remains uncertain.

Sedimentary basins vary considerably in size, shape, and depth all

over the Earth’s crust (Figure 6).

Figure 6: General outline of major sedimentary basins.

A large number of variables and different combinations of these

variables determine whether a sedimentary basin contains
microbial methane, natural gas, crude oil, tars, or no petroleum.
Not all basins have organic-rich sediment layers deposited during
their subsidence history. As a result, these basins will contain no
appreciable quantities of petroleum regardless of how deep the
basin subsides. Other basins that do have an organic-rich rock
layer may not have been buried to sufficient depths to generate
natural gas or crude oil through thermal maturation, but may
contain microbial methane accumulations. An organic-rich rock
layer in some basins may thermally mature to generate mostly
natural gas because of the dominance of higher plant debris
contributing to its organic matter. Conversely, an organic-rich rock
layer in other basins may thermally mature to generate mostly
crude oil because of the dominance of lower plant debris
contributing to its organic matter. More than one organic-rich rock
layer may be deposited in the burial history of some basins with
all, one, or none subsiding deep enough to thermally mature to
generate petroleum. In other basins that have an organic-rich
rock layer and sufficient burial to generate petroleum, the lack or
scarcity of seals and reservoirs to collect generated petroleum
may result in natural gas losses to the atmosphere or large
degraded oil and tar deposits at or near the basin surface.

Research on these variables is critical to understanding the

occurrences of known petroleum accumulations from which
predictions can be made as to where undiscovered petroleum still
resides within the Earth's crust. Research depends heavily on data
collected from rock outcrops around and subsurface drilling in
sedimentary basins. This geological data is essential to
understanding of the development of sediment and rock layers
(i.e., stratigraphy) within a basin and the history of their
subsidence and trap development (i.e., tectonics). However, the
vastness of sedimentary basins, limited well data, and migration
of petroleum away from its source also requires research to 1)
establish fingerprinting methods to determine genetic
correlations among different petroleum types and their source and
2) conduct laboratory experiments to simulate petroleum
generation and alteration to predict types, amounts, and extent of
petroleum generated under varying subsurface conditions.
Collectively, this understanding of genetically related petroleum,
source rock identification, levels of thermal maturation, migration
distances, and degrees of near-surface degradation allows
construction of computer models of petroleum generation,
migration, and accumulation through time within an evolving
sedimentary basin. The USGS Energy Resources Team addresses
these research issues under the Petroleum Processes Research
Project.
 * Figures are modified after those in Public Issues in Earth
Sciences, USGS Circular 1115 entitled “The Future of Energy
Gases” By P.J. McCabe, D.L. Gautier, M.D. Lewan, and C. Turner
(1993).
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Petroleum geology is principally concerned with the evaluation of seven key elements in sedimentary basins: Source, reservoir, seal, trap,
timing, maturation and migration. In general, all these elements must be assessed via a limited 'window' into the subsurface world, provided
by one (or possibly more) exploration wells.
These wells present only a 1-dimensional segment through the Earth and the skill of inferring 3-dimensional characteristics from them is
one of the most fundamental in petroleum geology.
Recently, the availability of cheap and high quality 3D seismic data (from reflection seismology) has greatly aided the accuracy of such
interpretation..