Distribution and origin of sulfur in Colorado oil shale

Conference · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1983 · Oil Shale Symp. Proc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5232531

Dyni, J R

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-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Oil Shale Symp. Proc.; (United States)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040201* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Site Geology-- (-1989)
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMISTRY
COLORADO
CORRELATIONS
DIAGENESIS
DISTRIBUTION
DRILL CORES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION VIII
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON SULFIDES
KEROGEN
MATERIALS
MINERAL OILS
MINERAL RESOURCES
MINERALOGY
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SHALE DEPOSITS
OIL SHALES
OIL YIELDS
OILS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC MATTER
ORIGIN
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PICEANCE CREEK BASIN
RESOURCES
SHALE OIL
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
SULFIDES
SULFUR
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR CONTENT
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
USA
YIELDS