Millimeter-scale concentration gradients of hydrocarbons in Archean shales: Live-oil escape or fingerprint of contamination?

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

Volumn 75, Issue 11, 2011, Pages 3196-3213

  Brocks, Jochen J ^a  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ALKANE; ARCHEAN; AROMATIC HYDROCARBON; BIOMARKER; BIOSPHERE; CYANOBACTERIUM; EUKARYOTE; HYDROCARBON RESOURCE; MODEL TEST; PALEOENVIRONMENT; PROVENANCE; SHALE; SOURCE ROCK; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION; THERMAL MATURITY;

AUSTRALIA; PILBARA; WESTERN AUSTRALIA;

CYANOBACTERIA; EUKARYOTA;

EID: 79955471709     PISSN: 00167037     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2011.03.014     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. Brocks J. J. (2001) Molecular Fossils in Archean Rocks. Ph. D. thesis, The University of Sydney.
2. Brocks J.J., Summons R.E. Sedimentary hydrocarbons, biomarkers for early life. Treatise on Geochemistry. Vol. 8, Biogeochemistry 2004, 63-115. Elsevier - Pergamon, Oxford. W.H. Schlesinger (Ed.).
3. Brocks J.J., Logan G.A., Buick R., Summons R.E. Archean molecular fossils and the early rise of eukaryotes. Science 1999, 285:1033-1036.
4. Brocks J.J., Buick R., Logan G.A., Summons R.E. Composition and syngeneity of molecular fossils from the 2.78-2.45 billion year old Mount Bruce Supergroup, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 2003, 67:4289-4319.
5. Brocks J.J., Summons R.E., Buick R., Logan G.A. Origin and significance of aromatic hydrocarbons in giant iron ore deposits of the late Archean Hamersley Basin in Western Australia. Org. Geochem. 2003, 34:1161-1175.
6. Brocks J.J., Buick R., Summons R.E., Logan G.A. A reconstruction of Archean biological diversity based on molecular fossils from the 2.78-2.45 billion year old Mount Bruce Supergroup, Hamersley Basin, Western Australia. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 2003, 67:4321-4335.
7. Brocks J.J., Love G.D., Snape C.E., Logan G.A., Summons R.E., Buick R. Release of bound aromatic hydrocarbons from late Archean and Mesoproterozoic kerogens via hydropyrolysis. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 2003, 67:1521-1530.
8. Brocks J.J., Grosjean E., Logan G.A. Assessing biomarker syngeneity using branched alkanes with quaternary carbon (BAQCs) and other plastic contaminants. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 2008, 72:871-888.
9. Buick R., Rasmussen B., Krapez B. Archaean oil: evidence for extensive hydrocarbon generation and migration 2.5-3.5Ga. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 1998, 82:50-69.
10. Carlson R.M.K., Chamberlain D.E. Steroid biomarker-clay mineral adsorption free energies: implication to petroleum migration indices. Org. Geochem. 1985, 10:163-180.
11. Crick I.H., Boreham C.J., Cook A.C., Powell T.G. Petroleum geology and geochemistry of Middle Proterozoic McArthur Basin, northern Australia II: assessment of source rock potential. AAPG Bull. 1988, 72:1495-1514.
12. Eigenbrode J. Fossil lipids for life-detection: a case study from the early Earth record. Space Sci. Rev. 2008, 135:161.
13. Eigenbrode J.L., Freeman K.H., Summons R.E. Methylhopane biomarker hydrocarbons in Hamersley Province sediments provide evidence for Neoarchean aerobiosis. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 2008, 273:323.
14. Jackson M.J., Powell T.G., Summons R.E., Sweet I.P. Hydrocarbon shows and petroleum source rocks in sediments as old as 1.7 billion years. Nature 1986, 322:727-729.
15. Krooss B. M., Brothers L., and Engel M. H. (1991) Geochromatography in petroleum migration: a review. In Petroleum migration (eds. W. A. England and A. J. Fleet). Geological Society, Special Publication No. 59, pp. 149-163.
16. Leythaeuser D., Mackenzie A., Schaeffer R.G., Bjorøy M. A novel approach for recognition and quantification of hydrocarbon migration effects in shale-sandstone sequences. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 1984, 68:196-219.
17. Mackenzie A.S., Leythaeuser D., Schaefer R.G. Expulsion of petroleum hydrocarbons from shale source rocks. Nature 1983, 301:506-509.
18. Powell T. G., Jackson M. J., Sweet I. P., Crick I. H., Boreham C. J., and Summons R. E. (1987) Petroleum geology and geochemistry, Middle Proterozoic McArthur Basin. Bureau of Mineral Resources Record 1987/48, pp. 286.
19. Price L.C. Thermal stability of hydrocarbons in nature: limits, evidence, characteristics, and possible controls. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 1993, 57:3261-3280.
20. Price L. C. (1997) Minimum thermal stability levels and controlling parameters of methane, as determined by C15+ hydrocarbon thermal stabilities. In Geologic Controls of Deep Natural Gas Resources in the United States, Vol. 2146-K (eds. T. S. Dyman et al.), pp. 139-176.
21. Price L.C., Wenger L.M., Ging T., Blount C.W. Solubility of crude oil in methane as a function of pressure and temperature. Org. Geochem. 1983, 4:201-221.
22. Price L. C., Pawlewicz M. J., and Daws T. (1999) Organic metamorphism in the California petroleum basins: Chapter A - Rock Eval and vitrinite reflectance. U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. B 2174-A, p. 34.
23. Rasmussen B., Fletcher I.R., Brocks J.J., Kilburn M.R. Reassessing the first appearance of eukaryotes and cyanobacteria. Nature 2008, 455:1101-1104.
24. Rogge W.F., Mazurek M.A., Hildemann L.M., Cass G.R., Simoneit B.R.T. Quantification of urban organic aerosols at a molecular level: identification, abundance and seasonal variation. Atmos. Environ., Part A 1993, 27:1309.
25. Rogge W.F., Hildemann L.M., Mazurek M.A., Cass G.R., Simoneit B.R.T. Sources of fine organic aerosol. 3. Road dust, tire debris, and organometallic brake lining dust: roads as sources and sinks. Environ. Sci. Technol. 1993, 27:1892-1999.
26. Sherman L.S., Waldbauer J.R., Summons R.E. Improved methods for isolating and validating indigenous biomarkers in Precambrian rocks. Org. Geochem. 2007, 38:1987-2000.
27. Sokolov V. A., Geodekyan A. A., Grigoryev G. G., Krems A. Y., Stroganov V. A., Zorkin L. M., Zeidelson M. I., and Vainbaum S. J. (1971) The new methods of gas surveys, gas investigations of wells and some practical results. In Geochemical Exploration: Canadian institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Vol. Special Volume 11 (ed. R. W. Boyle), pp. 538-544.
28. 13C data. Chem. Geol. 2001, 173:339.
29. Summons R.E., Jahnke L.L., Hope J.M., Logan G.A. 2-Methylhopanoids as biomarkers for cyanobacterial oxygenic photosynthesis. Nature 1999, 400:554-557.
30. Ueno Y., Yamada K., Yoshida N., Maruyama S., Isozaki Y. Evidence from fluid inclusions for microbial methanogenesis in the early Archaean era. Nature 2006, 440:516.
31. Ventura G.T., Kenig F., Reddy C.M., Schieber J., Frysinger G.S., Nelson R.K., Dinel E., Gaines R.B., Schaeffer P. Molecular evidence of Late Archean archaea and the presence of a subsurface hydrothermal biosphere. PNAS 2007, 104:14260-14265.
32. Waldbauer J.R., Sherman L.S., Sumner D.Y., Summons R.E. Late Archean molecular fossils from the Transvaal Supergroup record the antiquity of microbial diversity and aerobiosis. Precambrian Res. 2009, 169:28.
33. Xie S., Yao T., Kang S., Xu B., Duan K., Thompson L.G. Geochemical analysis of a Himalayan snowpit profile: implications for atmospheric pollution and climate. Org. Geochem. 2000, 31:15-23.
34. Zhao-an F., Philp R.P. Laboratory biomarker fractionations and implications for migration studies. Org. Geochem. 1987, 11:169-175.
35. Zhou J., Wang T., Zhang Y., Zhong N., Medeiros P.M., Simoneit B.R.T. Composition and sources of organic matter in atmospheric PM10 over a two year period in Beijing, China. Atmos. Res. 2009, 93:849.