HIGHER LANDPLANT –DERIVED BIOMARKERS IN LIGHT OILS AND CONDENSATES FROM THE COAL-BEARING EOCENE PINGHU FORMATION, XIHU SAG, EAST CHINA SEA SHELF BASIN

Abstract

The Cenozoic Xihu Sag in the East China Sea Shelf Basin contains large reserves of coals together with liquid petroleum derived from coal-associated sediments. However, the origin of the petroleum is not well understood. In this study, biomarker assemblages in a suite of recently discovered light oils and condensates from the Paleogene succession in the western margin of in the Xihu Sag were investigated using gas chromatography – mass spectrometry. The objectives were to investigate the samples' thermal maturity and the depositional environment of the precursor source rocks which generated the oils. The light oils are believed to have been derived from coaly source rocks in the Eocene Pinghu Formation.

Assessment of thermal maturity based on CPI, pristane/n-C₁₇ ratio and isomerisation ratios of C₂₉ steranes and C₃₁ homohopanes suggest that the hydrocarbons have a relatively low maturity in the early to mid oil generation window. The distribution of isoprenoids relative to n-alkanes, the high pristane/phytane ratios (5.1–10.7), the almost complete absence of gammacerane and C₃₃₊ homohopanes, and the low dibenzothiophene/phenanthrene ratios indicate that the source rocks of the hydrocarbons were deposited in a relatively oxic and sulphate-poor fluvio-deltaic environment which was favourable for coal measure development.

Abnormally abundant gymnosperm-derived diterpanes including labdane, 19-norisopimarane, fichtelite, rimuane, pimarane, isopimarane, 17-nortetracyclic diterpene, phyllocladanes and abietane were detected in the samples analysed. 16a(H)-Phyllocladane was identified unambiguously and kauranes were confirmed to be absent. In addition, three 19-norisopimarane isomers, 13β(H)-atisane, and 20-normethylatisane were tentatively identified in the studied samples. The distributions of n-alkanes, isoprenoids and regular steranes, the presence of 4β(H)-eudesmane and oleanane, high Pr/Ph ratios and the abundant diterpanes together suggest that the hydrocarbons were derived from a coaly source rock. Gymnosperms of the conifer families Cupressaceae (especially the former Taxodiaceae) and Pinaceae are interpreted to be the major source of the diterpanes and to have made a significant contribution to the coaly source rock. However, the low abundance of oleanane relative to diterpanes may underestimate the contribution from angiosperms relative to gymnosperms. This could be due to differential preservation and alteration of the di- and triterpenoid precursors during diagenesis and the occurrence of non-specific precursors in higher land plants.