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Organic geochemical study of Aleksinac oil shale

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Abstract

This paper summarizes the most important results and conclusions derived from organic geochemical investigations performed on the Miocene Aleksinac oil shale (Serbia) during the last 60 years. The Aleksinac oil shale is one of the richest and most studied European oil shale deposits. This paper is divided into four sections. The first section includes data from Rock-Eval pyrolysis, organic petrography, and biomarkers of outcrop samples, as well as samples taken from two layers (upper and lower), drilled from the well BD-4. The results consistently indicated that the Aleksinac oil shale contains immature, mostly algal-derived organic matter (kerogen types I and II), deposited in reducing brackish to freshwater environment. However, certain differences were observed between the upper and lower oil shale sequences in the well BD-4, which resulted in two times higher source potential index in the upper layer. The Aleksinac oil shale has been used as a model substance in numerous organic geochemical studies. The second section of the review paper describes how a standard procedure for determination of kerogen chemical structure (controlled gradual degradation of kerogen by an alkaline permanganate solution) is established, which was developed using the Aleksinac oil shale as a substrate. This oil shale was also used as a model substance to investigate the influences of native minerals on the thermal changes of bitumen and kerogen in sediments, and this process is described in the third section of the paper. In the final section, studies (performed on the Aleksinac oil shale) related to the influence of the pyrolysis type and variations of kerogen type on the yield and composition of liquid pyrolysis products are presented.

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Acknowledgements

The support from the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of Republic of Serbia (Contract number: 451-03-66/2024-03/200168 and 451-03-65/2024-03/ 200126), is greatly appreciated. We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers, Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Riller and Guest Editor, Prof. Dr. Jan Schwarzbauer, whose constructive comments and suggestions greatly improved this manuscript, as well as to Dr. Ivan Kojić for technical preparation of Figures 6, 7, 8, 9 and to Dr. Aleksandra Skrobonja for language corrections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 12–16, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Branimir Jovančićević & Ksenija Stojanović

  2. Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade, Đušina 7, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Dragana Životić

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  1. Branimir Jovančićević
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  2. Ksenija Stojanović
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  3. Dragana Životić
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Branimir Jovančićević provided the idea for the article. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Branimir Jovančićević. Ksenija Stojanović and Dragana Životić supplemented the work and performed the revision of the manuscript. Ksenija Stojanović adopted the paper according to the submission guidelines. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript and read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Branimir Jovančićević.

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The paper is submitted to the Special Issue of the International Journal of Earth Sciences “From biomolecules and organic matter to sedimentary environments and basin analysis” in honor to University Professor Ralf Littke, Dr. rer. nat.

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Jovančićević, B., Stojanović, K. & Životić, D. Organic geochemical study of Aleksinac oil shale. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-024-02413-x

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