Geochemistry of oil-shale genesis, Green River formation, Wyoming

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1969 · Guideb. - Wyo. Geol. Assoc., Annu. Field Conf.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5141405

Smith, J W

The world's largest oil-shale deposit is the Tertiary Green River Formation in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. All of the world's oil shales formed in lakes or marine embayments under conditions tending to preserve organic matter in the sediment. Although few of the world's deposits of oil shales yield most of their organic matter as shale oil on heating, the Green River formation oil shales yield 65 to 70% of their organic matter as oil. This high conversion to oil probably reflects the high proportion of available hydrogen in the Green River oil shale's organic matter. Wyoming's Green River Formation contains much oil shale. Culbertson has estimated that Wyoming's part of the formation represents 370 billion bbl of shale oil in place. This report postulates geochemistry of the depositional conditions which produced Wyoming's huge deposit of hydrogen-rich oil shale. (13 refs.)

• Research Organization: US Bureau Mines
• OSTI ID: 5141405
• Report Number(s): CONF-6909103-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Guideb. - Wyo. Geol. Assoc., Annu. Field Conf.; (United States)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040100* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Reserves & Exploration-- (-1989)
58 GEOSCIENCES
580400 -- Geochemistry-- (-1989)
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMISTRY
COLORADO
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION VIII
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
HYDROGEN
MATERIALS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SHALE DEPOSITS
OIL SHALES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORIGIN
RESERVES
RESOURCES
SEDIMENTS
USA
UTAH
VOLUME
WYOMING