Abstract
We have calculated the progress of two reactions, both involving biological marker compounds, which occur in shales rich in organic matter. Both reactions are associated with the early stages of oil generation. One of these reactions is an isomerization reaction of a sterane1,2, the other involves the aromatization of monoaromatic steroid hydrocarbons3,4. Both reactions have recently been discussed by Mackenzie et al.5. We demonstrate that the observed progress of these reactions within two basins formed by extension, the North Sea and the Pannonian Basin, can be reproduced in some detail by a simple model of basin formation6. We used samples from basins formed by stretching the lithosphere because both the subsidence history and the variation of heat flux with time is principally controlled by the amount of extension6–10. In contrast the subsidence of the other major class of sedimentary basins, which are formed by flexure of the continental lithosphere11–13, can only be modelled when the geological history of the region is known in detail13, and such models do not constrain the history of the heat flux.
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McKenzie, D., Mackenzie, A., Maxwell, J. et al. Isomerization and aromatization of hydrocarbons in stretched sedimentary basins. Nature 301, 504–506 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/301504a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/301504a0
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