Evaluation of fractionation effects during the early stages of primary migration

A stepwise extraction technique, based on that of Beletskaya (1972), has been aplied to sedimentary rock samples of variable grain size and maturity from a Neogene sequence in the Pannonian Basin (S.E. Hungary). The resulting chloroform extracts, claimed by Beletskaya (1978) to sample “open” and mineralogically “closed” pores, have been analysed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Differences in the concentrations of the two extracts and the concentrations of their hydrocarbon fractions, and in the distributions of $\text{n}$-alkanes and steroid hydrocarbons suggest that either the “open” pores are impregnated with mature oil which has migrated from depth, or that movement of organic material from the “closed” to “open” pores occurs with considerable fractionation based on both polarity and molecular size. The implications of these differences for source rock-oil correlation studies are discussed and an assessment of mechanisms for primary migration is given.