The hydrocarbon generation mechanism and the three-stage type model of hydrocarbon generation for carbonate source rocks

Abstract

The diagenetic mechanism and process of carbonate rocks, which is different to that of clastic rocks, decides the existence of different existing state organic matters in carbonate rocks. This has been verified by both the microscopic observation of organic petrology and the analysis of organic geochemistry of many samples. Based on the hydrous pyrolysis simulation experiment of the low-mature carbonate rocks, the contrasting study on the yield and their geochemistry characteristics of different existing state soluble organic matters of a series of various maturity samples shows that the different existing state organic matters make different contributions to hydrocarbon generation during every evolution state. So that, the hydrocarbon generation process of carbonate rocks can be summarized as the following three stages: the first is the direct degradation of biogenic bitumen macromolecules during the immature stage, the second is the thermal degradation of a large amount of kerogen at the mature stage, the last stage is the expulsion or release of inclusion organic matter owing to the increased thermal expansion pressure during the high evolution stage.