scholarly journals Oil yield and uranium content of black shales

1960 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.E. Swanson
Keyword(s):  
Uranium Content ◽  
Black Shales ◽  
Oil Yield

scholarly journals The Study of Uranium Accumulation in Marine Bottom Sediments: Effect of Redox Conditions at the Time of Sedimentation

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 332
Author(s):  
Nadezhda Khaustova ◽  
Yulia Tikhomirova ◽  
Svetlana Korost ◽  
Elena Poludetkina ◽  
Andrey Voropaev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bottom Sediments ◽  
White Sea ◽  
Uranium Content ◽  
Black Shales ◽  
Redox Conditions ◽  
Source Rocks ◽  
Shelf Zone ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
The White Sea ◽  
Run Off

To evaluate the effect of redox conditions at the sedimentation stage on uranium content and U/TOC ratio in marine source rocks, we analyzed the accumulation of uranium in modern marine bottom sediments formed in different redox conditions. The behavior of uranium from bottom sediments formed in oxidizing and sub-oxidizing settings has been studied on the sediments of the Upper Pleistocene–Holocene age accumulated in the coastal area of the White Sea (Kandalaksha Gulf). We studied the content of uranium, Eh, pH, TOC, C, H, N, and S element and isotope compositions and other parameters in two sampled columns of bottom sediments at a depth of 0–2.5 m. The composition of sediments was typical for the shelf zone where marine genesis mixes with the continental run-off. The upper layer of sediments (0–50 cm) were characterized by oxidizing conditions (Eh ~ 400 mV); with the increase in depth, redox conditions changed from oxidizing to reducing (0 ÷ 200 mV). The uranium concentration in the upper layer was 1–1.5 ppm, U/TOC ratio varied in the range of 0.8–1.1 ppmU/%TOC. The uranium content and U/TOC ratio increased up to the values of 2.6 ppm and 1.4 ppmU/%TOC at a depth of 0.5−2.5 m, respectively, but the general content of uranium in the studied environment was close to the values characterizing continental run-off. The results obtained for the White Sea sediments were compared with the sediment of the Black Sea, formed in the anoxic conditions of hydrogen sulfide contamination. In these conditions, the uranium content varied from 10 to 20 ppm. The obtained data were interpreted using thermodynamic modeling of the uranium forms in the seawater at different pH and Eh. This study demonstrated that the change of redox conditions from oxidizing to reducing leads to increased uranium content due to a decrease in uranium’s solubility in water. These results show that oxidation–reduction potential could be one of the most important factors controlling uranium content in black shales formed in the marine environment.

scholarly journals Identification of early Llandovery (Silurian) anoxic palaeo-depressions at the western margin of the Murzuq Basin (southwest Libya), based on gamma-ray spectrometry in surface exposures

GeoArabia ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuri Fello ◽  
Sebastian Lüning ◽  
Petr Štorch ◽  
Jonathan Redfern
Keyword(s):  
Black Shale ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Regional Distribution ◽  
Uranium Content ◽  
Organic Content ◽  
Black Shales ◽  
Gamma Ray Spectrometry ◽  
Hydrocarbon Source Rock ◽  
Western Margin ◽  
Anoxic Event

ABSTRACT Following the melting of the Gondwanan icecap and the resulting postglacial sea-level rise, organic-rich shales were deposited in shelfal palaeo-depressions across North Africa and Arabia during the latest Ordovician to earliest Silurian. The unit is absent on palaeohighs that were flooded only later when the anoxic event had already ended. The regional distribution of the Silurian black shale is now well-known for the subsurface of the central parts of the Murzuq Basin, in Libya, where many exploration wells have been drilled and where the shale represents the main hydrocarbon source rock. On well logs, the Silurian black shale is easily recognisable due to increased uranium concentrations and, therefore, elevated gamma-ray values. The uranium in the shales “precipitated” under oxygen-reduced conditions and generally a linear relationship between uranium and organic content is developed. The distribution of the Silurian organic-rich shales in the outcrop belts surrounding the Murzuq Basin has been long unknown because Saharan surface weathering has commonly destroyed the organic matter and black colour of the shales, making it complicated to identify the previously organic-rich unit in the field. In an attempt to distinguish (previously) organic-rich from organically lean shales at outcrop, seven sections that straddle the Ordovician-Silurian boundary were measured by portable gamma-ray spectrometer along the outcrops of the western margin of the Murzuq Basin. It was found that the uranium content of the shales remained largely unaltered by the weathering processes and could therefore be used as a valid proxy parameter to distinguish between pre-weathering organically rich and lean shales. It is now possible to identify and map-out the thickness and approximate organic richness of the black shale using measurement of uranium radiation. Five of the newly measured sections are characterised by uranium-enriched intervals, representing areas of earliest Silurian palaeo-depressions. Major uranium peaks are absent in the spectral gamma-ray curves of two other sections, which are interpreted to mark earliest Silurian palaeo-highs. The new data on the distribution of Silurian black shales from the outcrop belt was integrated with subsurface data from the Murzuq Basin. The resulting map of the distribution of black shales may help with predictions of the occurrence of this unit in less well-explored areas of the basin. Graptolite biostratigraphic data suggests that the anoxic event centred on the middle Rhuddanian, with more oxygenated conditions and onset of deposition of organically leaner shales having commenced sometime during the late Rhuddanian. The presence of anoxic palaeo-depressions during the earliest Silurian within the Ghat outcrop belt indicates that the Tihemboka High at the western margin of the Murzuq Basin could not have been a positive structure during this time.

Reconstructing the paleoceanographic and redox conditions responsible for variations in uranium content in North American Devonian black shales

2021 ◽  
pp. 110763
Author(s):  
Michelle L. Abshire ◽  
Natascha Riedinger ◽  
John M. Clymer ◽  
Clint Scott ◽  
Silke Severmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Uranium Content ◽  
Black Shales ◽  
Redox Conditions
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