The influence of organic sources and environments on source rock deposition during the periods of Cretaceous–Eocene and Oligocene–Miocene, northern Kalimantan
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Abstract: The sedimentary system of Kalimantan has undergone significant development since the Oligocene. Previous research have largely ignored the capacity of the Cretaceous–Eocene sediments to produce hydrocarbons, focusing instead primarily on the Oligocene–Miocene coal as the principal source rocks. Shales and coals from the outcrops in the northern margin of Kalimantan were analyzed with palynological and geochemical methods to characterize the palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological differences between the Cretaceous–Eocene and the Oligocene–Miocene samples. The high proportion of Cheirolepidoaceae, Schizaeoisporites and Ephedripites in the pollen assemblage from the Cretaceous–Eocene outcrops reflects an arid tropical/subtropical climate. The relatively low abundances of gymnosperm-derived biomarkers including isopimarane, β-phyllocladane, β-kaurane, suggest the gymnosperm features in flora. High C27/C29 ααα 20R sterane ratios, (C19–C29) tricyclic terpanes/C30 αβ hopane and extremely low oleanane/C30 αβ hopane, bicadinane T/C30 αβ hopane, and diterpenoid abundance indicate that there was a dominance of algae relative to higher plants in the organic matter. The gymnosperm-derived biomarkers, including isopimarane, β-phyllocladane, β-kaurane, suggest that palaeovegetation during this period was dominated by gymnosperms. The saline and reducing conditions in the bathyal and abysmal sea, evidenced by rather low Pr/Ph and high Gammarerane index, are beneficial for the preservation of hydrogen-rich organic matter. It is presumed that the Cretaceous–Eocene shales had great hydrocarbon generation potential in the southern South China Sea. During the period of Oligocene to Miocene in the Zengmu Basin and the Baram-Sabah Basin, the climate changed to a dominant humid and warm condition, which is corroborated by abundant pollen of Florschuetzia and Magnastriatites hawardi. Low C27/C29 ααα 20R sterane ratios, (C19–C29) tricyclic terpanes/C30 αβ hopane, and high oleanane/C30 αβ hopane, bicadinane T/C30 αβ hopane suggest that the palaeovegetation was dominated by angiosperms including the mangrove plants. The extremely abundant higher plants provide ample terrigenous organic matter for the formation of coal-measures in delta facies. The low gammacerane index and high Pr/Ph indicate the fresh and sub-oxic water in delta-neritic-abysmal faces, which is not beneficial for the accumulation of hydrogen-rich organic matter. Thus, the Oligocene–Miocene marine argillaceous rocks can be potential sources of natural gas.
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Key words:
- biomarkers /
- source rocks /
- palynological records /
- palaeoclimate /
- South China Sea
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Figure 1. Locations of the outcrop samples in Kalimantan (a) and the generalized stratigraphic column of the Sarawak area (b) (modified after Wang et al. (2016)).
Figure 2. Main calcareous nannofossils detected in K12 (a–d) and Q14 (e–h) samples. a. Cretarhabdus crenulatus; b. Cretarhabdus conicus; c. Cribrosphaerella ehrenbergii; d. Chiastozygus plicatus; e. Cyclicargolithus floridanus; f. Discoaster deflandrei; g. Reticulofenestra minuta; h. Sphenolithus moriformis.
Figure 5. The m/z 123 mass chromatograms and the parent-daughter m/z 274−123 transition of representative samples from the Cretaceous–Eocene (a) and the Oligocene–Miocene (b), showing the distributions of diterpanes. 1: β-labdane; 2: 19-norisopimarane; 3: 18-norisopimarane; 4: rimuane; 5: 17-nortetracyclane; 6: beyerane; 7: isopimarane; 8: β-phyllocladane; 9: β-kaurane; 10: Atisane; 11: ent-kaurane.
Figure 7. Typical taxa of spores and pollen detected in outcrop samples. a–g. Classopollis annulatus, flourished in the Cretaceous; h. Schizaeoisporites sp, flourished in the Cretaceous, especially from late period of the early Cretaceous to early period of the late Cretaceous; i. Ephedripites sp., common in the Cretaceous–Neogene period; j–k. Cicatricosisporites spp., flourished in the Cretaceous; l–n. Cicatricosisporites minor, flourished in the Cretaceous; o–p. Klukisporites sp., widely distributed from the Barremian to the Cenomanian in the Cretaceous; q–s. Florschuetzia semilobata, flourished in the early Miocene; u–v. Florschuetzia levipoli, flourished in the early Miocene to early stage of the middle Miocene in Southeast Asia; t. Magnastriatites hawardti, first found in the very late Eocene and became extinct since the Oligocene.
Figure 8. Correlations between various geochemical parameters reflecting types of organic matter and/or depositional environments in the southern SCS, showing the differences in biomarker compositions and TOC between the Cretaceous–Eocene and the Oligocene–Miocene samples. For compound abbreviations see Table 1.
Table 1. Geochemical parameters of the outcrops in the north margin of Kalimantan
Sample ID Period/series Facies P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 P11 P12 P13 P14 P15 K1 C.–E. B –24.0 1.1 468 2.6 43 0.83 0.08 0.11 0.98 0.10 0.12 0.11 0.40 6.88 1.95 K2 C.–E. B –23.9 0.6 436 2.5 22 N.A. 0.07 0.72 1.04 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.58 8.79 2.06 K3 C.–E. B –23.8 0.5 449 1.7 31 0.83 0.09 0.75 0.85 0.14 0.24 0.10 0.29 13.00 1.95 K4 C.–E. B N.A. 0.7 484 1.3 56 N.A. 0.07 0.14 0.39 0.27 0.46 0.16 0.88 6.09 1.96 K5 C.–E. B –22.0 0.1 593 2.1 3 1.47 0.06 0.06 0.25 0.41 0.80 0.14 0.23 6.87 1.74 K6 C.–E. B –23.5 0.1 588 2.7 5 1.12 0.08 0.00 0.39 0.40 0.71 0.15 0.31 5.99 1.86 K7 C.–E. B –24.6 0.1 369 0.9 8 2.27 0.07 0.04 0.34 0.47 0.74 0.15 0.25 5.27 1.64 K8 C.–E. B –24.8 0.0 477 0.8 4 3.61 0.05 0.21 0.36 0.43 0.82 0.15 0.34 5.05 1.74 K9 C.–E. B –26.2 0.1 597 1.5 5 2.42 0.07 0.04 0.25 0.51 0.77 0.15 0.19 4.74 1.52 K10 C.–E. B –26.7 0.1 596 2.6 4 2.26 0.07 0.03 0.36 0.43 0.73 0.14 0.22 4.71 1.77 K11 C.–E. B –27.3 0.1 598 3.0 4 2.57 0.07 0.05 0.38 0.33 0.57 0.17 0.38 5.15 1.40 K12 C.–E. B –24.6 0.2 448 0.6 30 N.A. 0.02 0.07 0.56 0.52 0.73 0.06 0.35 1.57 0.99 Q1 C.–E. B –27.2 0.0 576 0.8 4 1.50 0.07 0.01 0.36 0.60 1.11 0.12 0.34 4.52 1.54 Q2 C.–E. B –27.8 0.0 477 0.6 5 3.64 0.07 0.02 0.47 0.56 0.91 0.14 0.25 3.81 1.64 Q3 C.–E. B –27.9 0.3 461 0.4 77 N.A. 0.11 0.07 0.78 0.36 0.43 0.15 0.48 4.95 1.44 Q4 C.–E. B –26.8 0.1 597 0.5 10 2.66 0.06 0.02 0.54 N.D. N.D. 0.12 0.44 4.65 1.54 Q5 O.–M. B –26.8 0.6 457 0.9 67 N.A. 0.46 8.72 2.53 1.48 0.57 0.11 0.48 4.40 0.28 Q6 O.–M. B –26.5 0.3 439 0.4 73 N.A. 0.16 2.12 2.43 2.53 0.98 0.10 0.68 0.71 0.76 Q7 O.–M. B –27.0 0.3 444 0.3 84 0.81 0.21 1.19 1.97 1.69 0.95 0.11 0.49 0.52 1.33 Q8 O.–M. B –28.4 0.3 415 1.0 29 0.79 0.66 1.21 1.27 1.29 1.12 0.05 0.35 2.68 0.77 K13 O.–M. D-N –26.0 1.0 527 3.2 33 0.95 0.13 0.17 0.12 0.37 0.76 0.11 0.26 2.40 1.51 K14 O.–M. D-N N.A. 2.6 443 2.7 98 N.A. 0.21 3.35 3.10 2.11 0.62 0.05 0.39 1.44 0.47 Q9 O.–M. D-N –27.8 4.5 448 2.9 154 0.47 1.63 3.69 3.11 2.06 0.61 0.10 1.39 0.63 0.58 Q10 O.–M. D-N –27.0 0.4 433 0.4 120 N.A. 0.26 1.12 3.13 3.86 1.10 0.11 0.73 0.49 0.27 Q11 O.–M. D-N –26.5 0.2 435 0.3 70 1.66 0.08 1.36 1.39 1.34 0.89 0.07 0.68 0.94 0.78 Q12 O.–M. D-N –27.2 0.7 440 0.6 107 0.39 0.19 1.20 2.49 2.21 0.89 0.08 1.01 0.32 0.62 Q13 O.–M. D-N –27.5 0.8 442 0.7 109 0.49 0.19 1.99 2.65 2.12 0.87 0.07 0.75 0.36 0.62 Q14 O.–M. D-N –27.1 0.5 451 0.5 99 1.06 0.41 1.43 2.56 2.07 0.79 0.08 1.40 0.30 0.57 Q15 O.-M. D-N –27.1 1.2 411 1.7 75 0.65 4.39 1.21 11.98 N.D. 0.36 0.06 0.69 0.82 0.34 Q16 O.–M. D-N –28.3 1.0 441 0.7 133 N.A. 0.31 0.98 2.97 3.10 1.28 0.11 0.48 0.67 0.48 Q17 O.–M. C –27.4 29.8 445 18.7 159 0.61 0.14 0.11 4.55 1.09 0.20 0.07 3.47 0.39 0.77 Q18 O.–M. C –28.0 12.3 455 9.2 134 0.78 0.76 36.64 3.45 1.60 0.53 0.03 1.12 1.78 1.42 Q19 O.–M. C –27.2 145.7 441 53.3 273 0.71 0.13 0.80 3.66 3.14 1.35 0.05 3.10 0.09 0.89 Q20 O.–M. C –26.7 29.4 433 14.9 197 0.63 0.20 2.26 3.37 4.09 1.86 0.08 1.42 0.09 1.02 Q21 O.–M. C –27.9 31.9 426 21.1 152 N.A. 1.27 0.57 3.60 0.44 1.24 0.11 0.58 0.59 0.00 Q22 O.–M. C –26.8 1.8 412 7.3 25 0.40 2.03 0.80 2.54 2.82 1.68 0.04 0.16 3.59 0.27 Note: C.–E.=Cretaceous–Eocene; O.–M.=Oligocene–Miocene; B=bathyal; N-D=delta-neritic; C=coaly; N.A.=not analyzed; N.D.=no data; P1=$ \text{δ}^{13} $Ckerogen; P2= S2, mg/g; P3=Tmax, ℃; P4=total organic carbon (TOC), %; P5=HI=hydrocarbon index, mg/g; P6=Ro, %; P7=Oleanane/C30 $\alpha \beta $ hopane; P8=bicadinane T/C30 $\alpha \beta $ hopane (m/z 412); P9=Pr/Ph; P10=Pr/nC17; P11=Ph/nC18; P12=Gam/C30 $\alpha \beta $ hopane; P13=(C19+C20)/(C23+C24) tricyclic terpanes; P14=(C19−C29) tricyclic terpanes/C30 $\alpha \beta $ hopane; P15=C27/C29 $\alpha \alpha \alpha $ 20R steranes. -
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