Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons as the Tracers of Hydrocarbon Migration in Volcanic Rocks of the Dead Sea Rift

Galant, Yuri¹, Yuri Pikovsky², Tania Alexeeva², Muza Ramenskaya² (1) Independent Researcher, Yokneam Moshava, Israel (2) Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

The large oil-gas bearing provinces of world are connected with rift systems. The vol­canic stratums play a significant role in geological rift structure. The effusive rocks are the best pools for study migration processes of hydrocarbons going along faults because these rocks have not “the source beds”. In this connection were made tests of polycyclic aromat­ic hydrocarbons (PAH) in basalts of the Dead Sea rift system.

The samples were selected both along the rift margin (to north and south from Kinneret Lake) and in a few ten kilometers distance from it of separate batholiths intruded in sedi­mentary stratums. There were analyzed non-changed basalts, changed basalts, tuffs and, for comparison, sedimentary minerals – dolomites. Identification of the PAH have been carried out in Biosphere’s Carbonaceous substances Laboratory of Lomonosov’s Moscow State University (Russia) by.”spectroscopy of E. Shpolsky” using a “Bird Atomic Fluoricord” spec­trofluorometer.

Four types of PAH associations were identified in volcanic rocks and minerals: first is naphtalehe association (PAH 0.03-0.20 mg/kg, naphthalene 99-100%), second is naphtha-lene-pyrene association (PAH 0.03-0.2 mg/kg, pyrene – 5-12%), third is naphthalene­coronene association (PAH 0.2-0.4 mg/kg, coronene 19-58%), fourth is association of PAH homologous (PAH 0.2-8.8 mg/kg, substituted homologous – 8-80%). It is suggested that 1 st and 2 nd associations are the traces of the gas migration, 3 rd is a trace of a hydrother­mal migration of the heavy hydrocarbon molecules, 4 th association shown a migration of the petroleum compounds.