Abstract
Publisher Summary The oceans and seas contain 2.6 x 1012 tons of organic matter, which is approximately equal to the world's resources of coal or peat. A large portion of this organic matter is entrapped among the conglomeration of mineral particles, shells and skeletons of marine organisms, and natural marine rocks forming the marine sediments. In its present state, the dissolved organic matter is inaccessible because of its prior adsorption by suspended mineral particles to form a firmly bonded, insoluble mass. The sources of marine organic matter are atmospheric and riverine introduction of pollutants, accidental spillages, decompositional debris of marine organisms, metabolic end products from natural biota, and the numerous forms of intermediates derived from the interaction among the various decomposed products of living organism. Thus, stable terrestrial organic molecules can be treated as end products or different stages in the geochemical diagenic process of simple bioorganic molecules. Because of the similarities in genesis, physical, and chemical properties between the marine and oil shale kerogens and between the marine bitumen and tar sands, both marine kerogen and bitumen have undergone serious consideration as alternative energy sources.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call