Distribution and origin of sulfur in Colorado oil shale
The sulfur content of 1,225 samples of Green River oil shale from two core holes in the Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado, ranges from nearly 0 to 4.9 weight percent. In one core hole, the average sulfur content of a sequence of oil shale 555 m thick, which represents nearly the maximum thickness of oil shale in the basin, is 0.76 weight percent. The vertical distribution of sulfur through the oil shale is cyclic. As many as 25 sulfur cycles have lateral continuity and can be traced between the core holes. Most of the sulfur resides in iron sulfides (pyrite, marcasite, and minor. pyrrhotite), and small amounts are organically bound in kerogen. In general, the concentration of sulfur correlates moderately with oil shale yield, but the degree of association ranges from quite high in the upper 90 m of the oil shale sequence to low or none in the leached zone and in illitic oil shale in the lower part of the sequence. Sulfur also correlates moderately with iron in the carbonate oil shale sequence, but no correlation was found in the illitic samples. Sulfide mineralization is believed to have occurred during early and late stages of diagenesis, and after lithification, during development of the leached zone. Significant amounts of iron found in ankeritic dolomite and in illite probably account for the lack of a strong correlation between sulfur and iron.
- Research Organization:
- U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO
- OSTI ID:
- 5232531
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-830434-
- Journal Information:
- Oil Shale Symp. Proc.; (United States), Conference: 16. oil shale symposium, Golden, CO, USA, 13 Apr 1983
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
SULFUR CONTENT
OIL SHALES
SULFUR
ORIGIN
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
COLORADO
CORRELATIONS
DIAGENESIS
DRILL CORES
GEOCHEMISTRY
IRON SULFIDES
KEROGEN
MINERALOGY
OIL SHALE DEPOSITS
OIL YIELDS
PICEANCE CREEK BASIN
SHALE OIL
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMISTRY
DISTRIBUTION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION VIII
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
IRON COMPOUNDS
MATERIALS
MINERAL OILS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
OILS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC MATTER
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
RESOURCES
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
USA
YIELDS
040201* - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Site Geology- (-1989)