Issue 36, 2023

Applying biomarkers as paleoenvironmental indicators to reveal the organic matter enrichment of shale during deep energy exploration: a review

Abstract

Analysis of biomarkers in geological materials such as shales is very crucial because they can provide useful information on the depositional conditions and environments, organic matter input, thermal maturity as well as the geological age of shales in some cases. The paleoenvironment, and its impact on organic matter enrichment of the shales, plays a vital role in the exploration and development of the resource. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction can be conducted using elemental, isotopic, maceral, and biomarker proxies. However, the literature on the biomarkers for paleoenvironment reconstruction to reveal the organic matter enrichment of shales in many petroleum systems throughout the world is still insufficient. Hence, this paper seeks to critically review the application of biomarkers during paleoenvironmental reconstruction in shales. The uses of biomarkers as indicators of modern and ancient marine and brackish/saline lacustrine depositional environments are considered. This review shows that biomarkers could be used to establish the sedimentary depositional environments, redox conditions, and organic matter enrichments of shales that are critical to deep energy exploitation. Nevertheless, despite the fact that biomarkers are significant indicators of depositional conditions, secondary processes such as source facies, thermal maturity, migration, and reservoir alteration can greatly influence their uses as paleoenvironmental condition indicators in source rocks and oils. Hence, for a reliable paleoenvironmental evaluation, there is a need to combine isotopic, elemental and maceral proxies with biomarkers.

Graphical abstract: Applying biomarkers as paleoenvironmental indicators to reveal the organic matter enrichment of shale during deep energy exploration: a review

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
03 jul 2023
Accepted
21 aug 2023
First published
29 aug 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2023,13, 25635-25659

Applying biomarkers as paleoenvironmental indicators to reveal the organic matter enrichment of shale during deep energy exploration: a review

A. B. Ogbesejana, B. Liu, S. Gao, S. A. Akinyemi, O. M. Bello and Y. Song, RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 25635 DOI: 10.1039/D3RA04435A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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