Molecular and isotopic compositions of bitumens in Silurian tar sands from the Tarim Basin, NW China: Characterizing biodegradation and hydrocarbon charging in an old composite basin

Biodegradation and oil mixing in Silurian sandstone reservoirs of the Tarim Basin, one of the largest composite basins in China, were investigated by analyzing the molecular characteristics and stable carbon isotopic signatures of low-molecular-weight (LMW) saturated hydrocarbons and high-molecular-weight (HMW) asphaltenes. Detection of 25-norhopanes and 17-nortricyclic terpanes in most Silurian tar sands from the Tabei Uplift in the Tarim Basin suggests a much greater degree of biodegradation here than in the Tazhong Uplift. This explains the relatively more abundant tricyclic terpanes, gammacerane, pregnane and diasteranes in tar sands from the Tabei Uplift than in those from the Tazhong Uplift. Hence, care must be taken when assigning oil source correlations using biomarkers in tar sands because of the biodegradation and mixing of oils derived from multiple sources in such an old composite basin. Asphaltenes in the tar sands seem to be part of the oil charge before biodegradation, depending on the relative anti-biodegradation characteristics of asphaltenes, the similarity in carbon isotopic signatures for asphaltenes and their pyrolysates, and the consistent product distribution for flash pyrolysis and for regular steranes in asphaltene pyrolysates, regardless of whether the tar sands were charged with fresh oil. According to the relative distributions of regular steranes and the relatively abundant 1,2,3,4-tetramethylbenzene significantly enriched in C-13, the oil sources for asphaltenes in the tar sands might be related to lower Paleozoic marine source rocks formed in euxinic conditions. Nevertheless, the relatively low abundance of gammacerane and C-28 regular steranes observed in asphaltene pyrolysates and residual hydrocarbons, within limited samples investigated in this work, made a direct correlation of oils originally charged into Silurian tar sands with those Cambrian source rocks, reported so far, seem not to be possible. Comparison of carbon isotopic signatures of n-alkanes in asphaltene pyrolysates with those of LMW saturated hydrocarbons is helpful in determining if the abundant n-alkanes in tar sands are derived from fresh oil charges after biodegradation. The limited carbon isotopic data for n-alkanes in LMW saturated hydrocarbons from the tar sands can be used to classify oils charged after biodegradation in the composite basin into four distinct groups. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.