Abstract
Different types of crude oils have different light hydrocarbon compositional and geochemical characteristics. Based on the light hydrocarbon data from two kinds of oils, i.e., coal-generated oils and marine oils in China, light hydrocarbons in marine oils in the Tazhong area are generally relatively enriched in n-heptane, and coal-generated oils from the Turpan Basin are enriched in methylcyclohexane. The K1 values, reported by Mango (1987), range from 0.97 to 1.19 in marine oils, basically consistent with what was reported by Mango on light hydrocarbons in terms of the majority of the crude oil data. But the K1 values of coal-generated oils are particularly high (1.35–1.66) and far greater than those of marine oils; heptane values in marine oils, ranging from 32.3% to 45.4%, and isoheptane values, ranging from 1.9 to 3.7, are respectively higher than those of coal-generated oils, indicating that the oils are in the high-maturity stage. In addition, expulsion temperatures of coal-generated oils from the Turpan Basin are obviously lower than those of marine oils from the Tazhong area.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bement W.O. (1995) The temperature of oil generation as defined with C7 chemistry maturity parameter (2, 4-DM P/2, 3-DMP ratio). In Organic Geochemistry: Development and Applications to Energy, Climate, Environment and Human History (eds. Grimalt J.O. and Dorronsoro C.) [C]. pp.505–507. European Association of Organic Geochemists, Donostian-San Sebastian.
Hu Tilin, Ge Baoxiong, Chang Yigang, and Liu Bin (1990) The development and application of fingerprint parameters for hydrocarbons absorbed by source rocks and light hydrocarbons in natural gas [J]. Petroleum Geology & Expeximent. 4, 378–379.
Hunt J.M. (1980) Formation of C4-C7 hydrocarbons from bacterial degradation of naturally occurring terpenoids [J]. Nature. 288, 577–588.
Hunt J.M. (1984) Generation and migration of light hydrocarbon [J]. Science. 226, 1265–1270.
Leythaeuser D. (1983) Diffusion of light hydrocarbons on subsurface sedimentary rocks [J]. AAPG. Bull. 67, 186–203.
Leythaeuser D. (1979) Generation and migration of light hydrocarbons in sedimentary basins [J]. Org Geochem. 1, 191–204.
Liao Yongsheng (1989) Application of light hydrocarbons and carbon isotope from canned cuttings in petroleum exploration. In Collection of Thesis on Natural Gas [C]. pp.58–64. Petroleum Industry Press, Beijing (in Chinese).
Lin Renzi and Zhang Min (1996) Composition characteristics and origin type of light hydrocarbons or crude oils, Tarim Basin [J]. Geology Comments. 42, 26–30.
Mango F.D. (1987) An invariance in the isoheptanes of petroleum [J]. Science. 237, 514–517.
Mango F.D. (1990) The origin of light hydrocarbon in petroleum: A kinetic test of the steady state catalytic hypothesis [J]. Geochim. et Cosmochim. Acta. 54, 1215–1323.
Mango F.D. (1992) Transition metal catalysis in the generation of petroleum and natural gas [J]. Geochim. et Cosmochim. Acta. 56, 553–555.
Mango F.D. (1994) The origin of light hydrocarbons in petroleum: ring preference in the closure of carbocyclic rings [J]. Geochim. et Cosmochim. Acta. 58, 895–901.
Schaefer R.G., Leythaeuser D., and Weiner B. (1978) Single-step capillary collumn gas chromatographic methoed for extraction and analysis of sub-parts per billion (10E9) amounts of hydrocarbons (C2-C9) from rock and crude oil samples and its application in petroleum geochemistry [J]. Chromatography. 167, 355–363.
Schaefer R.G. (1980) Analysis of trace amounts of hydrocarbons (C2-C8) from rocks and crude oil samples and its application in petroleum geochemistry [J]. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. 12, 149–156.
Snowdon L.R. (1982) Immature oil and condensate-modification of hydrocarbon generation model for terrestrial organic matter [J]. AAPG. Bull. 66, 775–788.
Ten Haven H.L. (1996) Application and limitations of Mango’s light hydrocarbon parameters in petroleum correlation studies [J]. Org. Geochem. 24, 957–976.
Thompson K.F.M. (1979) Light hydrocarbons in subsurface sediments [J]. Geochimica et. Cosmochimica Acta. 43, 657–672.
Zhang Min (2005) Compositional characteristics and geochemical significance of light hydrocarbons for crude oils in Tarim Basin, China [J]. Chinese Journal of Geochemistry. 24, 228–231.
Zhang Min and Lin Renzi (1994) On the catalysis of transition metals in the process of light hydrocarbons generation [J]. Geological Science and Technology Information. 13, 75–80.
Zhang Min and Zhang Jun (1998) The development and application of Mango’s light hydrocabons parameters [J]. Petroleum Exploration and Development. 25, 26–28.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, X., Zhang, M. Compositional and geochemical characteristics of light hydrocarbons for typical marine oils and typical coal-generated oils in China. Chin. J. Geochem. 27, 407–411 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-008-0407-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-008-0407-5