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Oil Shale

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Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Synonyms

Cannel coal; Immature source rock; Kukersite; Lamosite; Marinite; Tasmanite; Torbanite

Definition

Oil shales are fine-grained sedimentary rocks formed in many different depositional environments (terrestrial, lacustrine, marine) containing large quantities of thermally immature organic matter in the forms of kerogen and bitumen . If defined from an economic standpoint, a rock containing a sufficient concentration of oil-prone kerogen to generate economic quantities of synthetic crude oil upon heating to high temperatures (350–600 °C) in the absence of oxygen (pyrolysis ) can be considered an oil shale.

Introduction

The term oil shale is often described as a misnomer, in that the organic component is primarily kerogen, not oil and the mineral matrix is not necessarily clay mineral-rich, but can include a variety of different phases (Miknis and McKay 1983). Oil shales are essentially a type of petroleum source rock, the key differences being that: (1) oil shales have...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Energy Resources Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, MS 977, 25046, Denver, CO, 80225, USA

    Justin E. Birdwell

Authors
  1. Justin E. Birdwell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Justin E. Birdwell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Cornell University Department of Earth, Ithaca, New York, USA

    William M. White

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Birdwell, J.E. (2017). Oil Shale. In: White, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_181-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_181-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39193-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39193-9

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