Elateritic hydrocarbon from South Crofty Mine, Cornwall: a preliminary note

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Abstract
SUMMARY: Black, viscous, subelastic elateritic hydrocarbon associated with ‘peach’ (tour‐maline‐quartz‐chlorite‐rock), forms a seepage in a movement zone in granite near its contact with killas at South Crofty Mine, near Redruth, Cornwall. The hydrocarbon is paragenetically associated with granular pyrite, but infiltrates the ‘peach’. Readily soluble in aromatic and halogenated alkane solvents, the hydrocarbon is insoluble in paraffinic solvents suggesting a condensed structure. Infrared spectroscopy and N.M.R. spectroscopy indicate a mainly aliphatic content with some aromatic component. Both carbonyl (>C=0) and hydroxyl (−OH) functions are present. Strong methyl absorption bands show a considerable amount of branching or methyl side groups. Gel permeation chromatography and visual spectrometry show no detectable porphyrins. The origin of the hydrocarbon is uncertain; it may represent a distillate of carbonaceous killas (Mylor Series) entrapped in granite at depth, but an abiogenic origin cannot be ruled out.

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