Kukersite--An oil shale of Ordovician age: Origin, occurrence, and geochemistry

Conference · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:6103080

Bauert, H ^[1]

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1. Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC (United States). Geology Dept.

Kukersite is the name originally given to Ordovician oil shale in the Baltic oil shale basin of Estonia. This basin covers about 50,000 sq km and extends eastward to the Leningrad district of Russia. The main oil shale sequence contains up to 50 kukersite beds alternating with argillaceous limestone. They accumulated in Llandeilo-early Caradoc (early Middle Ordovician) during a prominent regression of the Baltoscandian epicontinental sea. This oil shale contains up to 50--60% of total organic carbon. Kukersite consists mostly of accumulations of the microfossil Gloeocapsomorpha prisca, which was apparently an intertidal to very shallow subtidal, marine, mat-forming, benthonic cyanobacterium. Morphological and biogeochemical characteristics show strong similarities with modern mat-forming cyanobacterium Entophysalis major, which can be regarded as a modern analogue for G. prisca. Beside Estonia, the kukersite-type oil shales are known from several sedimentary basins in North America (in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Oklahoma) and in Australia (Amadeus and Canning basins), and all of these are exclusively of Ordovician age. G. prisca-dominated oil shales have a high hydrocarbon yield and are considered the main source for Ordovician oils in the USA. Hydrocarbons generated from kukersites have certain distinctive geochemical characteristics. These oils have the characteristic predominance of odd carbon number (C[sub 13]-C[sub 19]) n-alkanes with virtual absence of pristane and phytane. The worldwide distribution of kukersites and the related oils points to the fact that shallow-water widespread Ordovician cratonic seas were a favorable environment for C. prisca.

• OSTI ID: 6103080
• Report Number(s): CONF-921058-; CODEN: GAAPBC
• Journal Information: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 24:7; Conference: 1992 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Cincinnati, OH (United States), 26-29 Oct 1992; ISSN 0016-7592
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
OIL SHALES
GEOCHEMISTRY
ORIGIN
ALKANES
AUSTRALIA
CYANOBACTERIA
ESTONIA
FOSSILS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
OIL SHALE DEPOSITS
OIL YIELDS
ORDOVICIAN PERIOD
SOURCE ROCKS
USA
AUSTRALASIA
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMISTRY
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EASTERN EUROPE
ENERGY SOURCES
EUROPE
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
HYDROCARBONS
MATERIALS
MICROORGANISMS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PALEOZOIC ERA
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SHALES
YIELDS
040200* - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration