Migration Markers from the Test Bench: Extending the Use of Benzocarbazoles as Migration Markers by Measuring Their Compound-Specific Nitrogen Isotopic Composition

Christian Ostertag-Henning
Organic Geochemistry - Hydrocarbon research, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Hannover, Germany

During the past two decades numerous studies have been published on the ultility of the ratio of benzocarbazoles as a marker for migration distances. In addition to that straightforward approach several more detailed investigations have shown that there might be an additional influence of e.g. source organic matter type, maturity (Clegg et al. 98) or biodegradation (Huang et al. 03) on the relative concentrations of the individual benzocarbazoles in oils.

In order to unravel the different effects a combined method was developed for further purification of the benzocarbazoles by preparative HPLC and the consecutive compound-specific nitrogen isotopic measurement of individual benzocarbazoles by GC-irmMS. Molecular and compound-specific nitrogen-isotopic data for the benzocarbazoles from flow-through experiments and of selected oils from a migration pathway in the German Molasse Basin will be presented.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas