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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1994; v. 77; p. 71-91;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1994.077.01.04
© 1994 Geological Society of London

General Studies

Geochemical characteristics of oils derived predominantly from terrigenous source materials

R. P. Philp

School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK. 73019, USA

It is well established that there are many major accumulations of crude oils that are derived predominantly from higher plant source materials. All of these oils have a number of geochemical characteristics in common. These features include n-alkane distributions, presence of a variety of sesqui-, di-, tri-, tetra-, and pentacyclic terpanes and isoprenoids. Variations in the distribution of these compounds reflect variations in the nature of the source materials and the original depositional environment. The purpose of this paper is to review these characteristic features so that they can be used to determine whether or not new oil samples are derived predominantly from higher plant source materials. The geochemical approach has been used successfully in the past to characterize samples derived from hypersaline and carbonate environments.





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