Historical review and methods of determining thermal alteration of organic materials
- 1 December 1977
- journal article
- other
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Palynology
- Vol. 1 (1) , 1-7
- https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.1977.9989145
Abstract
Early geologic work by H. D. Rogers (1859) recognized that coal was a heat sensitive recorder of thermal events in the geologic record, and that increased temperature was the mechanism by which oil and gas were generated from vegetable debris. Subsequent coal oriented observations by Hilt (1873), White (1915, 1935) and Seyler (1943), plus many other individuals expanded on these original concepts, which were then applied in exploration for oil and gas. Once the concept was widely accepted that hydrocarbons were thermally generated from specific types of organic matter, development of methods to measure these changes in coal and particulate organic matter rapidly followed. Techniques used to interpret past thermal history of organic matter in general use today include: palynomorph color, spore translucency, vitrinite reflectance and fluorescence microscopy. Additional methods applicable in specific situations include: electron spin resonance of kerogen, liquid inclusions in minerals, conodont coloration and infra‐red spectra analysis.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Coal-like substances from low-temperature pyrolysis [of cellulose and pine sawdust] at very long reaction timesThe Journal of Physical Chemistry, 1970
- On the four visible ingredients in banded bituminous coal; studies in the composition of coal, No. 1Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character, 1919