Molecular genetic markers and maturity indices in intermontane lacustrine facies: Kishenehn formation, Montana

Molecular markers have considerable promise as thermal maturation indicators in source rocks having a well-defined depositional environment. This occurs in the Kishenehn Formation (northwest Montana and southeast British Columbia), an Oligocene unit comprised of fluvial and lacustrine shales. Up to 3 km of these non-marine sediments were deposited in a 900 sq.km elongated half graben atop the Precambrian rocks of the Lewis Thrust sheet. Specific outcrops of the Coal Creek Member of the Kishenehn Formation are known to contain excellent potential source rocks, including extensive oil shales. The source rock potential and molecular marker geochemistry of most of the major Kishenehn outcrops have now been investigated, and regional results are presented in this paper.source rock analysis of a regional suite of Kishenehn samples indicates excellent petroleum potential (immature Type I kerogen) throughout the basin. Several classes of distinctive diagenetic molecular markers occur within the Coal Creek Member of the Kishenehn Formation, including diasterenes, spirosterenes, methylspirosterenes, B-ring monoaromatic anthrasteroids, ββ-hopanes and moretanes. Molecular markers indicative of non-marine deposition include dehydroabietane (conifer input) and an onocerane recently identified in leaf fossils of Miocene lacustrine beds in adjacent Idaho. Triterpane ratios are significantly more sensitive than vitrinite reflectance methods in assessing thermal maturation in the Kishenehn, and are successfully used in this study to order outcrop locations according to thermal maturity level. The systematic variation of specific markers with increasing thermal maturation suggests that molecular correlation is feasible, and could provide a method of assessing stratigraphic continuity in the basin.     

云南金顶铅锌矿床的有机成矿作用——来自围岩、矿石中有机质生物标志化合物的证据

云南金顶铅锌矿床是世界上成矿时代最新且唯一的陆相沉积岩容矿的超大型铅锌矿床。矿区存在2类有机质——原生型和迁移型,与矿石共生。生物标志化合物研究结果表明：正构烷烃碳数分布范围较宽,有2种峰型;萜烷化合物的相对丰度五环三萜烷＞三环萜烷＞四环萜烷;规则甾烷C27～C28～C29呈不对称V字型分布;有机质的母质来源以低等水生生源的海藻类为主,伴随有一定量的陆源高等植物组分;有机质沉积于弱氧化—弱还原环境;成矿热液的热力作用使样品遭受了一定程度的热解,部分样品还遭受了生物降解作用;生物标志物多参数对比表明有机质来源于三叠纪三合洞组碳酸盐岩地层。原生型有机质的成矿作用主要体现在对成矿金属元素的预富集上,而迁移型有机质的成矿作用主要是对成矿金属元素的活化运移。     

云南金顶铅锌矿床的有机成矿作用——来自围岩、矿石中有机质生物标志化合物的证据

云南金顶铅锌矿床是世界上成矿时代最新且唯一的陆相沉积岩容矿的超大型铅锌矿床。矿区存在2类有机质——原生型和迁移型,与矿石共生。生物标志化合物研究结果表明：正构烷烃碳数分布范围较宽,有2种峰型;萜烷化合物的相对丰度五环三萜烷＞三环萜烷＞四环萜烷;规则甾烷C27～C28～C29呈不对称V字型分布;有机质的母质来源以低等水生生源的海藻类为主,伴随有一定量的陆源高等植物组分;有机质沉积于弱氧化—弱还原环境;成矿热液的热力作用使样品遭受了一定程度的热解,部分样品还遭受了生物降解作用;生物标志物多参数对比表明有机质来源于三叠纪三合洞组碳酸盐岩地层。原生型有机质的成矿作用主要体现在对成矿金属元素的预富集上,而迁移型有机质的成矿作用主要是对成矿金属元素的活化运移。     

Biogeochemical characteristics of settling particulate organic matter in Lake Superior: A seasonal comparison

To assess settling particulate organic matter (POM) seasonality and its availability to the benthic community, settling particulate matter was studied in terms of mass fluxes and main biogeochemical characteristics (including organic carbon (OC), nitrogen, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic values) at two Lake Superior offshore sites over the course of a year. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and hydrolysis, extraction, and derivatization were used to provide further compositional information. Carbon and nitrogen content, isotopic and wet chemical data, and FTIR spectra show that summer particulate material is mainly autochthonous, with higher proportions of amide and carbohydrate. FTIR shows that spring particulate material contains relatively high proportions of clay minerals, indicating major sources from sediment resuspension and/or spring runoff. Distinct amino acid distributions at the two sites, revealed by principal component analysis (PCA) based on amino acid mol% composition, possibly result from differences in OM sources and the degree of degradation occurring at the two sites. Carbohydrate (PCHO), total hydrolyzable amino acid (THAA) and FTIR data suggest that the nutritional value of bulk POM to benthic heterotrophs should be lower in spring than summer-fall, although both periods exhibited high sinking fluxes of total mass and OC. Due to sediment resuspension events and an oxic water column, organic matter eventually buried in Lake Superior’s sediments has probably experienced extensive alteration due to several cycles through the water column and the bacterially-active sediment-water interface.     

Biomarker geochemistry of marine organic matter in the Hushan and Chaohu areas,Lower Yangtze region

Marine strata are widely exposed in the Hushan and Chaohu areas, Lower Yangtze region. As biomarker geochemistry of the strata has not been well documented, this paper deals with the biomarker composition of representative samples collected from the Silurian, Carboniferous and Triassic systems and their geological implications, thus providing clues to marine organic matter. On the basis of experimental results, it is shown that abundant biomarkers (e.g. n-alkanes, isoprenoids, terpanes and steranes) were detected. As organic matter in the strata is highly to over mature in general based on petrologic microobservation, some biomarkers (mainly n-alkanes) except terpanes and steranes cannot reflect the source, depositional environment and maturity of organic matter. Thus, primarily based on analyses of the terpanes and steranes, it is suggested that organic matter in the Silurian and Carboniferous strata is derived mainly from lower organisms, while higher plants are predominant in the Triassic organic matter. This further indicates that the depositional environment may have transformed from the marine to continental facies in the Late Triassic. These results provide new evidence for the study of regional depositional evolution, and have enriched the study of biological composition of organic matter. In addition, the biomarker geochemistry of organic matter at high to over maturation stage is addressed.     

浑善达克沙地碱湖表层沉积物的粒度、沉积有机质变化特征与指示意义

本文选择浑善达克沙地南缘濒临干涸的碱湖为研究对象,综合分析湖泊及流域表层沉积物的粒度、总有机碳(TOC)及其同位素(δ¹³C_TOC)指标的空间分布特征及环境指示意义。结果表明,湖泊水域区及滩地区的黏土与粉砂组分含量高,TOC含量多低于1%,而东缘的盐生草甸砂组增加,同时TOC含量升高至10.75%;δ¹³C_TOC值表现为从西向东,即水域区(-24.88‰)、滩地区(-25.17‰)、盐生草甸(-27.93‰)呈逐渐偏负的趋势。水域区表层沉积物粒度端员组分分析表明,粗粒端员(近源风成组分及洪积组分)含量的增加指示湖泊退缩及流域植被退化;水域区低TOC指示水生植物基本消失,陆源C₃植物成为湖泊沉积物有机质的主要来源,控制了δ¹³C_TOC的波动。当湖泊彻底干涸,裸露滩地的粒度初始以细粒组分(黏土、粉砂)为主,而后强烈的风蚀作用将富盐细粒带走,沉积物的粒度变粗,盐度降低,盐生植被入侵。此后沉积物的TOC含量显著增加,而δ¹³C_TOC值逐渐偏负可能与上覆盐生植被演替过程中C₃植物生物量增加有关。因此,乌日图音淖尔现代沉积过程及机理的研究,加深了对浑善达克沙地碱湖干涸过程中沉积及生态演化过程的认识,也为古环境的重建提供了重要依据。