It is not commonly known that there exist in Sweden a series of oils and migrated bitumen, and that also the Oslo Graben contains bitumen (migrated oil) in rocks at certain locations – most of which being originally discovered by palaeontologists and other geologists working in the “Oslo Graben”. Very often is the existing bitumen only existing in “hermetically sealed” minerals – like in fossils, see below, where it has been protected against bacteria, but the petroleum ay also exists as “oil” as e.g. at Siljan in Sweden.
Traditionally, these “odd-ball” examples of oil and bitumen samples, were assumed related to the Paleozoic Alum shale, with potential also for source rocks belonging to the Silurian and the Ordovician as source rocks. Generation is believed linked to the Caledonian orogeny. There is also light oil a diabase at Tvedestrand, and its origin remains elusive.
In this MSc project, the aim is to familiarize the student with the Oslo Graben and the paleo-oil generation in the foreland setting of the Caledonian mountain range.
The student will in this project apply analytical methods such as liquid chromatography, GC-FID and GC-MS methodologies, biomarkers (BM) and geomarkers (GM), and it is believed that new application of some age-specific biomarkers may shed more light on the origin of some of these old and peculiar bitumen occurrences and their place in the “Petroleum Systems” of the Scandinavian realm.
Below are two illustrations from existing work on some of these occurrences shown, taken from Pedersen et al., (2007) – AAPG Bull, 91, 2007, 1189-1212.
Credit: Pedersen et al., (2007) – AAPG Bull, 91, 2007, 1189-1212
Credit: Pedersen et al., (2007) – AAPG Bull, 91, 2007, 1189-1212.