Abstract
A specimen of Zoster sandy-silt mud collected in 1950 from a lagoon on the west coast of the South Caspian was stored for 28 years in a sealed vessel with its natural water content and redox setting, and this has been used in a repeat determination of the hydrocarbons in the bitumen. During that time, the hydrocarbon content of the bitumen increased from 6.7 to 14.1%, i.e., by about a factor of two. Hydrocarbons are obviously being formed. In October 1952, the Azneft geological bureau (Caspian oil and gas industry) drilled 28- and 36-m holes on the western shelf of the South Caspian within one of the troughs in the Baku archipelago. These pass through Quaternary and Early Quaternary (Khvalyn) beds, mainly of silty-clay and clay sediments. In one borehole, uncemented fine sand transitional to coarse sand was collected at a depth of 30-36 m. The sand was examined for organic matter that year. The benzene fraction of the bitumen showed 15.6% hydrocarbon on chromatography. The sand remaining after the analysis, with the same water content and redox setting, was placed in a sealed vessel and kept at room temperature for 32 years. In August 1984, the tank was openedmore » and the organic matter was reexamined. This paper discusses the results.« less
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