Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Geochemical Characterization Of Maceral Concentrates From Herrin No. 6 Coal (Illinois Basin) And Lower Toarcian Shale Kerogen (Paris Basin), B Artur Stankiewicz, Michael A. Kruge, John C. Crelling

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Density gradient centrifugation (DGC) is a physical method for the separation of sedimentary organic matter into its constituents. Using DGC, it is possible to prepare maceral concentrates from a single sample, which are amenable to microanalysis. DGC fractions from a coal sample from the Illinois Basin (Herrin No. 6, Upper Carboniferous) and from the kerogen of a marine shale sample from the Paris Basin (Lower Toarcian) were analyzed by flash pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, after extraction by CH₂Cl₂.

Chemical differences between the coal DGC fractions are the easiest to recognize, indicating very distinctive biological precursors. For example, …

Serravallian Shales In The Monte Dei Corvi Pelagic Sequence (Ancona, Italy): An Organic Geochemical Perspective, Michael A. Kruge, B Artur Stankiewicz, Alessandro Montanari

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In addition to the predominant marly lithologies, the Serravallian-Tortonian sequence at Monte dei Corvi (MDC), south of Ancona, Italy, contains at least 85 thin, dark calcareous shales. Such shales, averaging 14 cm in thickness, comprise 9% of the total Serravallian sequence. Sixteen of them were sampled for a preliminary organic geochemical evaluation. All the MDC shales appear to have been deposited during periodic anoxic events, as demonstrated by the presence of significant quantities of organic matter and authigenic pyrite. The degree of anoxicity (and thus the amount of organic matter preserved) appears to have differed from one event to the …

Fossil Charcoal In Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary Strata: Evidence For Catastrophic Firestorm And Megawave, Michael A. Kruge

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Organic matter separated from calcareous sandstone from the upper portion of a deep-water tsunami deposit at Arroyo el Mimbral, Taumalipas (Mexico), which marks the biostratigraphically-defined Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, consists primarily of fossil charcoal, including semifusinite and pyrofusinite. Analytical pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed the highly aromatic and polyaromatic character of the organic matter assemblage, typical of the products of partial combustion. The organic matter probably originated as terrestrial vegetation that was caught in a firestorm and subsequently transported far offshore in the backwash of a megawave. These data are consistent with the hypothesis of combustion of large masses of vegetation triggered by …