Effect of igneous intrusion on the organic geochemistry of a siltstone and an oil shale horizon in the Midland Valley of Scotland

Simon C. George*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

92 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The effect of rapid thermal stress on the organic geochemistry of a siltstone intruded by a quartz-dolerite dyke and an oil shale intruded by an alkali-dolerite sill has been studied using optical petrography, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, gas chromatrography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Maturity-dependent ratios derived from both the aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon fractions corroborate the observation of Raymond and Murchison (1988b) that the alkali-dolerite sills, which were intruded soon after sedimentation, had a lesser effect than the later quartz-dolerite intrusions. The maturity parameters based on the alkylnaphthalene and alkylphenanthrene isomer ratios are more suitable for studying maturity variations in heat-affected samples than those based on the commonly-used aliphatic biological markers. These aromatic compounds survive to higher ranks and the isomer ratios continue changing.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)705-723
Number of pages19
JournalOrganic Geochemistry
Volume18
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1992
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • GC-MS' aromatic hydrocarbons
  • igneous intrusion
  • oil shale
  • Scotland
  • siltstone
  • thermal maturation

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