Abstract
The present study portraits the organic petrological, geochemical and microstructural characters of twenty borehole shale samples for assessing the hydrocarbon generation proficiency of the shales from the Barren Measures Formation (a stratigraphic unit of the Gondwana that is devoid of any workable coal seam) of the Jharia Basin, India, which was underinvestigated until now. The samples consist of vitrinite grains ranging from 5.41 to 20.57 vol%, the dominance of which compared to the inertinite and liptinites may reflect the lignocellulosic organic matter (type-III kerogen) input from the terrestrial plants. The range of the mean random vitrinite reflectance values (0.93–1.27%) may suggest the gas generation potential of the shale samples. The peak palaeotemperature values, may, in addition, suggest wet gas generation from these shales in complementary to some shale samples having efficiency to generate dry gas. The total organic carbon in these samples ranging between 3.87 and 15.99 wt% may imply good to excellent hydrocarbon generation capability. Rock Eval pyrolysis suggests the input of type-III kerogen within the mire and the correlations of the pyrolysis parameters exhibit that the shale samples possess significant potential to generate gaseous hydrocarbons (shale gas). The factor of kerogen conversion (f) of many shales suggests almost 20–30% transformation of kerogen to hydrocarbons. On attaining sufficient thermal maturity, the remaining large amount of labile chemical moieties may convert to hydrocarbons. The positive relation of the present-day hydrogen index (HIpd) with the A-factor would suggest the depletion of hydrogen containing functional groups for generating the gaseous hydrocarbons (shale gas). The Raman spectra of the samples reveal poorly organized microstructure, possibly, due to the presence of labile aliphatic compounds that would yet to generate hydrocarbons on attaining relevant thermal maturity as well as because of partially condensed aromatic system containing heteroatoms. The correlations of the Raman data with the mean random vitrinite reflectance data reveal generation of wet and dry gas from these shale samples based on the maturity level. The scientific content of this present study lies in suggesting a set of new equations from the relations obtained between of the Raman spectral parameters and the Rock Eval data in order to suggest the applicability of the Raman spectroscopy in elucidating the shale gas potential. These may be considered as the addendum to the applications of the existing techniques to elucidate the hydrocarbon potential of the organic-rich source rocks, which also add the novelty of this investigation. The new equations and the relations may be tested in the samples of different thermal maturity from other basins for substantiating their world-wide applications.
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