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Petroleum surface oil seeps from a Palaeoproterozoic petrified giant oilfield
Author(s) -
Melezhik Victor A.,
Fallick Anthony E.,
Filippov Michail M.,
Lepland Aivo,
Rychanchik Dmitry V.,
Deines Yuliya E.,
Medvedev Pavel V.,
Romashkin Alexander E.,
Strauss Harald
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2009.00864.x
Subject(s) - geology , petroleum seep , clastic rock , geochemistry , source rock , organic matter , petroleum , paleontology , structural basin , petrology , sedimentary rock , methane , ecology , chemistry , organic chemistry , biology
Early Palaeoproterozoic rocks from the Onega Basin in Russian Fennoscandia contain evidence for substantial accumulation and preservation of organic matter (up to 75 wt% total organic carbon) with an estimated original petroleum potential comparable to a modern supergiant oilfield. The basin contains a uniquely preserved petrified oilfield including evidence of oil traps and oil migration pathways. Here, we report the discovery of the surface expression of a migration pathway, along which petroleum was flowing from the sub‐surface. This surface oil seep, the first occurrence ever reported from the Palaeoproterozoic, appears as original bitumen clasts redeposited in Palaeoproterozoic lacustrine turbidites. The δ 13 C org of clastic pyrobitumen ranges between −35.4 and −36.0‰ ( n = 14), which is within the range of interbed‐ and vein‐trapped fossil oil (−46 and −24‰), suggesting similar source. Biogenic organic matter, whose isotopic composition was modified during thermal maturation, is the likely source for the migrated hydrocarbon.