I.D. Timoshina, A.N. Fomin, L.S. Borisova
Geochemistry of organic matter of bituminous shales in Dmitrievskoye field of Kuznetsk Basin
DOI 10.47148/0016-7894-2025-5-97-112
Key words: Devonian; bituminous shale; organic carbon; pyrolysis; biomarker hydrocarbon.
For citation: Timoshina I.D., Fomin A.N., Borisova L.S. Geochemistry of organic matter of bituminous shales in Dmitrievskoye field of Kuznetsk Basin. Geologiya nefti i gaza. 2025;(5):97–112. DOI: 10.47148/0016-7894-2025-5-97-112. In Russ.
Funding: This article is prepared with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project № FWZZ-2022-0011.
Devonian bituminous shales of the Dmitriyevskoye field of the Kuznetsk Basin have been studied from the outcrop near the Sergeyevsky village. The rocks contain type I kerogen (sapropelic lacustrine): HI – 570-879 mg HC/g TOC; δ13CTOC is −35 to −32 ‰; 9,9 % hydrogen in kerogen; nC27/nC17<1 and Paq>Pwax in n-alkanes; and Ts/Tm<1 in hopanes. High C28 levels in the steranes are typical of the lake organic matter. The presence of a terrestrial contribution is indicated by the increased tricyclane index and concentrations of certain odd high-molecular alkanes in many samples. An admixture of ground vegetation was also recorded during the study of the thin sections. Significant concentrations of C29 steranes (C29/C27>>1) are of algal origin, typical of the Proterozoic and traceable to the Devonian, as well as retene found in all bitumens. A unique feature of Dmitriyevskoye bituminous shales is a very high content of triaromatic steroids (46.1 to 92.6 %). The diagenesis of bituminous shales took place in clay sediment (in steranes βα/(αα+ββ) >3) under no sulfur excess in bottom water (in homohopanes C35/C34<1, and low concentrations of dibenzothiophenes). According to coal petrography data (Rovt – 0.50 to 0.57 %) consistent with the results of pyrolysis, the elemental composition of kerogen and the triaromatic steroid maturation, the organic matter reached proto- and early mesocatagenesis stages. Allochthonous bitumens recorded in the northeast of the bituminous shale outcrop have several differences: their source organic matter accumulated in the carbonate sediments (low diasterane contents) of a basin with slightly increased salinity (increased gammacerane concentrations), with a lower admixture of terrestrial organic matter (low tricyclane index). These bitumens have some biodegradation signs (higher asphaltene content, increased Pr/nC17 ratios in acyclic hydrocarbons). Judging by the pyrolytic parameter HI and the abundance of hydrogen in kerogens, the bituminous shales of the Dmitriyevskoye field have a high hydrocarbon generating potential.
Irina D. Timoshina ORCiD Scopus
Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences,
Senior Researcher
The Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics,
Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
3, prospekt Koptyuga, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
e-mail: TimoshinaID@ipgg.sbras.ru
ResearcherID: AAT-9374-2020
SPIN-код: 164437
Aleksandr N. Fomin ORCiD Scopus
Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences,
Chief Researcher
The Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics,
Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
3, prospekt Koptyuga, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
e-mail: FominAN@ipgg.sbras.ru
ResearcherID: W-2215-2019
SPIN-код: 68499
Lyubov’ S. Borisova ORCiD Scopus
Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences,
Leading Researcher
The Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics,
Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
3, prospekt Koptyuga, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
e-mail: BorisovaLS@ipgg.sbras.ru
ResearcherID: AAT-9411-2020
SPIN-код: 60332
1. Timoshina I.D., Fomin A.N., Kontorovich A.E. Geochemistry of organic matter of brown coals in Barzas field of Kuznetsk basin. Geologiya nefti i gaza. 2024;(2):73–86. DOI: 10.47148/0016-7894-2024-2-73-86.
2. Tyzhnov A.V. Geologicheskii ocherk Barzasskogo raiona Kuznetskogo basseina [Geological outline of the Barzas region of the Kuznetsk basin]. Materialy po geologii Zapadnoi Sibiri. Tomsk;1938;3(45):91–131.
3. Kotlukov V.A., Larishchev A.A. Oil shales of the Kuznetsk basin and the Minusinsk basin. In: Geology of deposits of coal and oil shales of the USSR. Vol. 11: Oil shales of the USSR (ed. by V.A. Kotlukov, S.S. Baukov, E.A. Mustyigi). Moscow: Nedra. 1968:479–491.
4. Gritsko G.I., Kashirtsev V.A., Kuznetsov B.N., Kochetkov V.N., Moskvin V.I., Parmon V.N., Startsev A.N., Fedorin V.A. Sapropelity Barzasskogo mestorozhdeniya Kuzbassa [Sapropelites of the Barzasskoye field of Kuzbass]. Novosibirsk: INGG SO RAN; 2011. 126 p.
5. Larishchev A.A. On the nature of the Minusinsk and Barzassky oil shales. Scientific notes of the Tomsk State University. 1947;(5):37–46.
6. Patrakov Yu.F., Kuznetsova L.V., Anferov B.A. Dmitrievsky oil shale deposit of Kuzbass – prospects of complex development. Bulletin of the Kuzbass State Technical University. 2016;(4):33–43.
7. Lopatin N.V., Emets T.P. Piroliz v neftegazovoi geokhimii [Pyrolysis in oil and gas geochemistry]. Moscow: Nauka; 1987. 144 p.
8. Borisova L.S., Fursenko E.A., Kostyreva E.A., Timoshina I.D. Kompleks khimicheskikh i fizicheskikh metodov polucheniya i issledovaniya komponentov organicheskogo veshchestva porod i naftidov: Uchebno-metodicheskoe posobie [The complex of chemical and physical methods for obtaining and researching components of organic matter of rocks and naphthides: An educational and methodological guide]. Novosibirsk: IPTS NGU; 2019. 84 p.
9. Bogorodskaya L.I., Kontorovich A.E., Larichev A.I. Kerogen: Metody izucheniya, geokhimicheskaya interpretatsiya [Kerogen: Methods of study, geochemical interpretation]. Novosibirsk: Geo; 2005. 254 p.
10. Borisova L.S., Timoshina I.D. Geochemistry of Asphaltenes in Organic Matter of Low Thermal Maturity. Geochemistry International. 2021;66(3):251–261. DOI: 10.31857/S0016752521030031.
11. Borisova L.S., Timoshina I.D. Conversion of asphaltenes and kerogen in dia- and catagenesis In: Chemistry of Oil and Gas: Proceedings of the XI International Conference dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Petroleum Chemistry SB RAS (Tomsk, September 28–October 2, 2020). 2020. pp. 81. Available at: https://www.ipc.tsc.ru/conf/11m2020/Conference_materials_2020.pdf (accessed 05.03.2025).
12. Ficken K.J., Li B., Swain D.L., Eglinton G. An n-alkane proxy for the sedimentary input of submerged/floating freshwater aquatic macrophytes. Organic geochemistry. 2000;(31):745–749.
13. Connan J., Cassou A. Properties of gases and petroleum liquids derived from terrestrial kerogen at various maturation levels. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 1980;44(1):1–23.
14. Petеrs K.E., Moldowan J.M. The biomarker guide: interpreting molecular fossils in petroleum and ancient sediments. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Englwood Cliffs. 1993. 363 p.
15. Zheng Y., Zhou W., Meyers P. A., Xie S. Lipid biomarkers in the Zoigê-Hongyuan peat deposit: indicators of Holocene climate changes in West China. Org. Geochem. 2007;(38):1927–1940. DOI: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2007.06.012.
16. Coolen M.J.L., Orsi W.D. The transcriptional response of microbial communities in thawing Alaskan permafrost soils. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2015;(6):1–14. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00197.
17. Waples D.W., Machihara T.M. Biomarkers for geologists – a practical guide to the application of steranes and triterpanes in petroleum geology. AAPG Methods in explorations. 1991. № 9. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. 91 p.
18. Petrov Al.A. Geochemical typing of oils. Geochemistry International. 1994 (6):876–891.
19. Kontorovich A.E. The evolution of naphthydogenesis in the history of the Earth. Russian Geology and Geophysics. 2004; 45(7):784–802.
20. Fang R., Littke R., Zieger L., Baniasad A., Li M., Schwarzbauer J. Changes of composition and content of tricyclic terpane, hopane, sterane, and aromatic biomarkers throughout the oil window: A detailed study on maturity parameters of Lower Toarcian Posidonia Shale of the Hils Syncline, NW Germany. Organic Geochemistry. 2019;138(103928). DOI: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2019.103928.
21. Kontorovich A.E., Bakhturov S.F., Basharin A.K., Belyaev S.YU., Burshtein L.M., Kontorovich A.A., Krinin1V.A., Larichev A.I., Li Godu, Melenevskii V.N., Timoshina I.D., Fradkin G.S., Khomenko A.V. Heterochronous centers of naphthide formation and accumulation in the North Asian craton. Russian Geology and Geophysics. 1999;40(11):1676–1693.
22. Kontorovich A.E., Timoshina I.D. Saturated biomarker-hydrocarbons in Precambrian oils and bitumen-saturated rocks of the Katanga oil and gas region. Geologiya nefti i gaza. 2009;(1):90–98.
23. Kashirtsev V.A., Moskvin V.I., Fomin A.N., Chalaya O.N. Terpane and sterane hydrocarbons in coals of various genetic types of Siberia. Russian Geology and Geophysics. 2010;51(4):516–524.
24. Bushnev D.A., Burdel’naya N. S., Snigirevskii S. M., Beznosov P. A., Kotik O. S., Pronina N. V., Grin’ko A. A. Geological and geochemical features of the Upper Devonian coals of the Northern Timan (coal occurrence along the Sula River).
Russian Geology and Geophysics. 2024;65(1):516-524. DOI: 10.15372/GiG2023139
25. Otto A., Simoneit B.R.D. Chemosystematics and diagenesis of terpenoids in fossils and conifer species and sediment from the Eocene Zeitz formation, Saxony Germany. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta. 2001;(64):3505–3527. DOI:10.1016/S0016-7037(01)00693-7.
26. Kashirtsev V.A., Parfenova T.M., Golovko A.K., Nikitenko B.L., Zueva I.N., Chalaya O.N. Biomarkers are phenanthrenes in the organic matter of Precambrian and Phanerozoic sediments and in the oils of the Siberian Platform. Russian Geology and Geophysics. 2018; 59(10):1720-1729. DOI: 10.15372/GiG20181013.
27. Sarmiento M.F.R., Riboulleau A., Vecoli M., Versteegh G.J.M. Occurrence of retene in upper Silurian-Lower-Devonian sediments from North Africa: Origin and implication. Org. Geochem. 2010;(41):302–306. DOI:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2009.10.003.
28. Zhang L., Huang D., Liao Z. High concentration retene and methylrenene in Silurian carbonate of Michigan Basin. Chinese Sci. Bull. 2001;(44):2083–2086. DOI: 10.1007/BF02884927.
29. Kontorovich A.E., Melenevskii V.N., Ivanova E.N., Fomin A.N. Phenanthrenes, aromatic steranes and dibenzothiophenes in Jurassic sediments of the West Siberian oil and gas basin and their significance for organic geochemistry. Russian Geology and Geophysics. 2004;45(7):873–883.
30. Chakhmakhchev V.A., Kartsev A.A., Prasolov E.M. Geochemical indicators of the biogenic nature of naphthides. Geologiya nefti i gaza. 2005;(1):47–52.
Section: Geochemical surveys