Skip to main content

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds in both recent and ancient marine sediments can provide information about the sediment history (Hunt, 1975; Hunt and Whelan, 1979; Whelan et al., 1980a and references cited therein). In recent sediments (subbottom depths less than 3 m), these compounds are related to factors such as depositional environment, organisms (including microorganisms) living in or which have lived in the sediment, and surface oil seeps. In more deeply buried sediments, these compounds can give an indication of past geothermal history and petroleum generation. Investigations of these compounds with respect to petroleum generation have been carried out in a number of laboratories (see, for example, Thompson, 1979; Leythauser et al., 1982; Kvenvolden and Claypool, 1980; Hunt, 1979, Chap. 5 and references cited therein; Tissot and Weite, 1978, Chap. 6 and references cited therein).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bernard, B. B., 1978, Light hydrocarbons in marine sediments, Ph.D. Thesis, Texas A &M University, Department of Oceanography, College Station, Texas 77843.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumer, M., Guillard, R. R. L., and Chase, T., 1971, Hydrocarbons of marine phytoplankton, Marine Biology 8:183.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Claypool, G. E., 1976, Manual on pollution prevention and safety, JOIDES J. 1: Special Issue No. 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Claypool, G. E., and Kaplan, I., 1974, “The Origin and Disbribution of Methane in Marine Sediments,” in Natural Gases in Marine Sediments (I. Kaplan, ed.), pp. 99–139, Plenum Press, New York.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Claypool, G. E., Presley, B. J., and Kaplan, I. R., 1973, “Gas Analysis in Sediment Samples from Legs 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18, and 19,” in Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project ,Vol. 19, pp. 879–884, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durand, B., and Espitalie, J., 1971, Formation et evolution des hydrocarbures de C1 a C15 et des gaz permanents dans les argiles du Toarcien du Bassin de Paris, Advances in Organic Geochemistry 1971:455.

    Google Scholar 

  • Einsele, G., Gieskes, J. M., Curray, J., et al.,1980. Intrusion of basaltic sills into highly porous sediments, and resulting hydrothermal activity, Nature 283:441.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hilpert, L. R., May, W. E., Wise, S. A., Chesler, S. N., and Hertz, H. S., 1978, Interlaboratory comparison of determinations of trace level petroleum hydrocarbons in marine sediments, Anal. Chem. 50:458.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hue, A. Y., and Hunt, J. M., 1980, Generation and migration of hydrocarbon in offshore South Texas Gulf Coast sediments, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 44:1081.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, J. M., 1975, Origin of gasoline range alkanes in the deep sea, Nature 254:411.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, J. M., 1979, Petroleum Geochemistry and Geology ,Freeman, San Francisco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, J. M., and Whelan, J. K., 1978, “Dissolved Gases in Black Sea sediments,” in Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project ,Vol. 42B, pp. 661–665, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, J. M., and Whelan, J. K., 1979, Volatile organic compounds in Quaternary sediments, Org. Geochem. 1:219.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, J. M., Huc, A. Y., and Whelan, J. K., 1980a, Generation of light hydrocarbons in sedimentary rocks, Nature 288:688.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, J. M., Miller, R. J., and Whelan, J. K., 1980b, Formation of C4-C7 hydrocarbons from bacterial degradation of naturally occurring terpenoids, Nature 288:577.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kartsev, A. A., Tabasaranskii, Z. A., Subbota, M. I., and Mogilevskii, G. A., 1959, Geochemical Methods of Prospecting and Exploration for Petroleum and Natural Gas, University of California Press, Berkeley, Chaps. 4 and 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kvenvolden, K. A., and Claypool, G. E., 1980, Origin of gasoline-range hydrocarbons and their migration by solution in carbon dioxide in Norton Basin, Alaska, Am. Ass. Pet. Geol.Bull. 64:1078.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kvenvolden, K. A., and Redden, G. D., 1980, Hydrocarbon gas in sediment from the shelf, slope, and basin of the Bering Sea, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 44:1145.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leythaeuser, D., Schaefer, R. G., and Weiner, B., 1979, Generation of low molecular weight hydrocarbons from organic matter in source beds as a function of temperature and facies, Chemical Geology 25:95.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leythaeuser, D., Schaefer, R. G., and Yukler, X., 1982, Role of diffusions in primary migration of hydrocarbons, Am. Assoc. of Petr. Geol. Bull. 66:408.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, D. A., and Stofïers, P., 1978, Report C: General data on bottom sediments including concentration of various elements and hydrocarbons in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Technical Report No. WHOI-78–39, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, pp. 62–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayles, F. L., 1979, The composition and diagenesis of interstitial solutions-I. Fluxes across the seawater-sediment interface in the Atlantic Ocean, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 43:527.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schaefer, R. G., Weiner, B., and Leythaeuser, D., 1978, Determination of sub-nanogram per gram quantities of light hydrocarbons (C2-C9) in rock samples by hydrogen stripping in the flow system of a capillary gas Chromatograph, Anal. Chem. 50:1848.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, R. D., and Brasseaux, D. J., 1963, Resolution of complex hydrocarbon mixtures by capillary column gas liquid chromatography. Composition of the 28° to H4°C portion of petroleum, Anal. Chem. 35:1375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scranton, M. I., and Whelan, J. K., 1983, Dissolved gases in water and sediments from the Gulf of Maine, in Georges Bank ,R. Backus, ed., MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shriver, D. F., 1969, The Manipulation of Air-Sensitive Compounds ,McGraw-Hill, New York, Chaps. 7–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simoneit, B. R. T., Mazurek, M. A., Brenner, S., Crisp, P. T., and Kaplan, I. R., 1979, Organic geochemistry of recent sediment from Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California, Deep-Sea Res. 26A:879.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strausz, O. P., Jha, K. N., and Montgomery, D. S., 1977, Chemical composition of gases in Athabasca bitumen and in low-temperature thermolysis of oil, sand, asphaltene and maltene, Fuel 56:114.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swinnerton, J. W., and Linnenbom, V. J., 1967, Determination of C1-C4 hydrocarbons in sea water by gas chromatography, J. Gas Chromatogr. 5:570.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, K. F. M., 1979, Light hydrocarbons in subsurface sediments, 1979, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 43:657.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tissot, B. P., and Weite, D. H., 1978, Petroleum Formation and Occurrence ,Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, J. K., 1979, “C1-C7 hydrocarbons from IPOD Holes 397 and 397A”, in Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project ,Vol. 47A, pp. 531–539, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, J. K., and Hunt, J. M., 1980, C1-C7 Volatile Organic Compounds in Sediments from Deep Sea Drilling Project Legs 56 and 57: The Japan Trench, in Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project ,Vol. 56–57, pp. 1349–1365, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington ,D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, J. K., and Sato, S., 1980, “Q-Cs Hydrocarbons from Core Gas Pockets, Deep Sea Drilling Project Legs 56 and 57, Japan Trench Transect”, in Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project ,Vol. 56–57, pp. 1335–1347, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, J. K., Hunt, J. M., and Berman J., 1980a, Volatile C1-C7 organic compounds in surface sediments from Walvis Bay, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 44:1767.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, J. K., Hunt, J. M., and Huc, A. Y., 1980b, Applications of thermal distillationpyrolysis to petroleum source rock studies and marine pollution, J. Anal. Appl. Pyr. 2:79.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, J. K., and Hunt, J. M., 1982, “C1-C8 Hydrocarbons in Leg 64 Sediments, Gulf of California”, in Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project ,Vol. 64B, pp. 763–779, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, J. K., and Hunt, J. M., 1983, “Volatile C1-C8 Organic Compounds in Sediments from the Peru Upwelling Region”, Org. Geochem. in press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1984 Plenum Press, New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Whelan, J.K. (1984). Volatile C1–C8 Compounds in Marine Sediments. In: Odham, G., Larsson, L., Mårdh, PA. (eds) Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry Applications in Microbiology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4526-8_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4526-8_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-4528-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-4526-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics