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Title: Analysis of gases in the earth's crust. Final report, January 1982-May 1988

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6422716

891 crustal gas samples have been collected for chemical analysis and stable isotopic measurements of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and helium. 607 samples were collected from oil and gas fields. The remainder were obtained from canned drill cuttings, surface seeps, coalbed gas desorption wells, deep-sea sediments, soils, and geothermal wells. Models which assume that oil and gas are generated from sedimentary organic matter appear suitable for old, tectonically-stable basins such as the Appalachian basin and for younger basins bordering passive continental margins such as the Gulf Coast. In relatively young, tectonically-active basins such as the Sacramento, however, significant amounts of gas may be generated from shallow sedimentary rocks pyrolyzed by igneous intrusives, deeply-subducted metasedimentary rocks, and other deep-earth sources. Apart from the issue of deep-earth gas, studies conducted during the contract have improved geochemical models for hydrocarbon exploration by: augmenting the understanding of the origin and distribution of microbial gases, introducing parameters for more effective recognition of microbial and thermogenic gas mixtures, providing detailed documentation on the origin and migration of natural gas in a number of tectonically-distinct sedimentary basins, and documenting a novel instance of reservoir alteration by bacteria.

Research Organization:
Global Geochemistry Corp., Canoga Park, CA (USA)
OSTI ID:
6422716
Report Number(s):
PB-91-104273/XAB; CNN: GRI-5081-360-0533
Resource Relation:
Other Information: See also PB--88-141619
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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