Organic Geochemistry

The science of organic Geochemistry bridges the gap between living and fossil organisms. It is concerned with the processes by which organic material changes after death, during sediment burial, diagenesis and maturation, to produce gas, liquid petroleum and coal. It is equally concerned with the way in which organic matter of geological origin enters the biosphere and interacts with living organisms. Applications of organic geochemistry to the petroleum industry include exploration (developing the ability to predict the occurrence of petroleum within a sedimentary basin) and production (predicting the response of reservoir rocks to interaction with organic-rich pore fluids) as well as in fingerprinting oil spills. The short papers collected together in this book represent the long abstracts which accompanied posters presented at the 15th Meeting of the European Association of Organic Geochemists, held at Manchester University in September 1991. Environmental aspects of the science include improved abilities to monitor and control waste disposal arising from modern demands, ranging from the disposal of sewage to improved understanding of landfill waste disposal.
Organic geochemistry draws upon materials from ancient rocks, extending back to the earliest traces of life and from modern lake and sea-floor sediments. With careful sampling of natural materials and coordinated laboratory studies of synthetic systems organic geochemists are now able to predict the rates at which diagenetic changes take place, laying the foundations for dynamic predictive models of sediment burial and the consequent formation of petroleum and certain mineral deposits. A particular goal is to link the patterns of the geological record to the behaviour of the atmosphere, increasing our understanding of the fundamental causes of climate change.