Light hydrocarbons(LHs) are one of the main petroleum fractions in crude oils, and carry much information regarding the genetic origin and alteration of crude oils. But secondary alterations—especially biodegradation—have a significant effect on the composition of LHs in crude oils. Because most of the LHs affected in oils underwent only slight biodegradation(rank 1 on the biodegradation scale), the variation of LHs can be used to describe more the refined features of biodegradation. Here,23 crude oils from the Dawanqi Oilfield in the Tarim Basin, NW China, eleven of which have been biodegraded to different extents, were analyzed in order to investigate the effect of slight to minor biodegradation on C_6–C_7 LHs.The study results showed that biodegradation resulted in the prior depletion of straight-chained alkanes, followed by branched alkanes. In slight and minor biodegraded oils,such biodegradation scale could not sufficiently affect C_6–C_7cycloalkanes. For branched C_6–C_7 alkanes, generally,monomethylalkanes are biodegraded earlier than dimethylalkanes and trimethylalkanes, which indicates that branched alkanes are more resistant to biodegradation, with the increase of substituted methyl groups on parent rings.The degree of alkylation is one of the primary controlling factors on the biodegradation of C_6–C_7 LHs. There is a particular case: although 2,2,3-trimethylbutane has a relative higher alkylation degree, 2,2-dimethylpentane is more resistant to biodegradation than 2,2,3-trimethylbutane. 2,2-Dimethylpentane is the most resistant to biodegradation in branched C_6–C_7 alkanes. Furthermore, the 2-methylpentane/3-methylpentane and 2-methylhexane/3-methylhexane ratios decreased steadily with increasing biodegradation,which implies that isomers of bilateral methyl groups are more prone to bacterial attack relative to mid-chain isomers. The position of the alkyls on the carbon skeleton is also one of the critical factors controlling the rate of biodegradation. With increasing biodegradation, Ma
Lu YangChunming ZhangMeijun LiJing ZhaoXuening QiJinxiu Du
Variations in the distributions of carbazoles and dibenzothiophenes were investigated in a set of source rocks, which differ mainly in their maturity levels during immature-mature stages. A comparison of the distributions of carbazoles and dibenzothiophenes has revealed the main results as follows: variations in the relative amounts ①of C0-, C1-, C2-dibenzothiophenes show a low correlation with that of the corresponding carbazoles, with the former's being much higher than the latter's; variations in the relative amounts of methyldibe② nzothiophene isomers also display a low correlation with that of the corresponding methylcarbazoles, with 4-/4- +1-methyldibenzothiophene ratio ranging from 0.52 to 0.96, while the corresponding carbazole ratio of 1-/1- +4-methylcarbazole only being 0.71±0.05; the mat③ urity parameter for 4,6-/4,6- +1,4-dimethyldibenzothiohene, ranging from 0.34 to 0.75, shows a remarkable linear correlation with the corresponding ratio of 1,8-/1,8- +1,4-dimethylcarbazole(R2>0.84). The un-correlation may indicate some different geological-geochemical fates for some isomers of dibenzothiophenes and carbazoles. The high correlation may reveal a strong maturation dependence on the dimethylcarbazole distributions, indicating that attention should be paid when 1,8-/1,8- +1,4-dimethylcarbazole is used as a petroleum migration indicator.
