Stratigraphy, sedimentology and bulk organic

geochemistry of black shales from the Proterozoic

Vindhyan Supergroup (central India)

S Banerjee1,∗, S Dutta2, S Paikaray1 and U Mann2

1
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076, India.
2
Forschungszentrum Jülich, Institut für Chemie und Dynamik der Geosphäre, Sedimentäre Systeme,
D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
∗
e-mail: santanu@iitb.ac.in

Four organic-rich shale units of the Proterozoic Vindhyan sedimentary succession have been scanned
to reveal their origin and hydrocarbon potential. The wavy-crinkly nature of the carbonaceous
laminae is suggestive of a microbial mat origin of the shales. These shales are thus different from
Phanerozoic black shales which typically exhibit planar laminae. The hydrocarbon potential of the
black shale units has been evaluated by Rock-Eval pyrolysis. Total organic carbon content of many
of the shales exceeds 1%. The mean Tmax for the black shales translate to a vitrinite reflectance
range of 2.05–2.40% Rm based on standard conversion techniques. These shales have reached the
catagenetic stage near the beginning of anthracite formation.

1. Introduction of these organic-rich shales provides insights into

the early evolution of microbial life (Buick et al
Proterozoic shales are generally organic-poor and 1998; Dutkiewicz et al 2002; Greenwood et al 2004
are considered insignificant hydrocarbon source and references therein). The C–S–Fe relationship
rocks (Hunt 1995). However, organic-rich shales of such shales highlights the sedimentary processes
are reported from many Proterozoic basins (Condie (Jackson and Raiswell 1991; Hieshima and Pratt
et al 2001 and references therein) and some of 1991). Study of such shales may also provide valu-
them probably sourced ancient petroleum accu- able clues related to the burial history of Protero-
mulations. At places these organic-rich shales are zoic sedimentary basins (Korsch et al 1991; Crick
considered as possible hydrocarbon source rocks, 1992; Newell et al 1993) and estimates for paleo-
viz., in the Rice Formation (Newell et al 1993) and geothermal gradient (Price et al 1996).
Nonesuch Formation, U.S.A (Imbus et al 1988). Organic richness is indicated for the Proterozoic
Organic-rich (TOC up to 7%), mature kerogens of Vindhyan shales but its source rock potential is yet
the Mesoproterozoic Velkerri Formation and Bar- to be evaluated (Shukla and Chakraborty 1994).
ney Creek Formation of Australia are compara- Petrographic and geochemical investigations of the
ble to potential Phanerozoic hydrocarbon source black shales are in the nascent stage (Sur et al 2002,
rocks and have been targeted for oil exploration 2003, 2004; Banerjee and Schieber 2003). Quality
(Crick 1992; Warren et al 1998). A low degree of and maturation of organic matter of these black
thermal alteration characterizes both these shales. shales are yet to be estimated. Maturation data are
Organic-rich shales of Neoproterozoic have sourced essential in order to reveal the hydrocarbon gener-
a number of oil and gas fields in the Sichuan basin ating potential of the shales and thermal history of
of China (Korsch et al 1991). Biomarker analysis the Vindhyan basin.

Keywords. Proterozoic; black shales; microbial mat; kerogen; maturation; catagenesis.

J. Earth Syst. Sci. 115, No. 1, February 2006, pp. 37–47

© Printed in India. 37
38 S Banerjee et al

Figure 1. Geological map showing outcrop distribution of the Vindhyan basin in the Son valley area (modified after Auden
1933). Map of India within inset (left bottom) and location map of the study areas (right bottom).

This paper presents some new results and a Vindhyan sediments are mildly deformed and a
brief discussion on the stratigraphy and sedimen- little metamorphosed.
tology of the black shales of the Proterozoic Vin- Vindhyan shales are mostly grey-to-green in
dhyan basin in the Son valley area, and provides colour and poor in organic content (Paikaray et al
bulk characteristics of their organic matter content. 2003). Nevertheless four black shale units are
Quantity, quality and maturation of organic mat- identified in the following formations:
ter of individual black shale formations are esti-
mated and assessed separately. Specific attention is • Deoland Formation,
given to the temperature of the maximum pyrolitic • Kajrahat Formation,
degradation of organic matter in order to estimate • Rohtas Formation and
its catagenetic stage. • Kaimur Formation (figure 2).
Black shale units in the last two formations are
thicker, laterally persistent and have formal strati-
2. Geological setting graphic names, e.g., Rampur Shale and Bijaigarh
Shale. A 1.7 to 1.6 Ga age is ascribed for the three
Outcrops of the Vindhyan Supergroup cover vast black shale units of the Semri Group (figure 2).
areas in the Son valley area, central India (fig- The age of the black shale unit in Upper Vindhyan
ure 1). The Vindhyan sedimentary succession is Group (Bijaigarh Shale) is uncertain because of the
two-tiered; an unconformity and its correlative con- inconsistency in radiometric dates, but on the basis
formity surfaces divide the Vindhyan Supergroup of available data a Mesoproterozoic age is inferred
into Lower Vindhyan Group (also known as Semri (Venkatachala et al 1996).
Group) and Upper Vindhyan Group (Bose et al
2001) (figure 1). The Semri Group consists of car-
bonates, siliciclastics and volcaniclastics, whereas,
3. Samples and methods
the Upper Vindhyan Group is dominated by sili-
ciclastics with minor carbonates (figure 2). The
The present work has two components, e.g.,
Vindhyan sedimentary rocks are mostly marine,
sedimentological studies involving field and
possibly deposited in an E–W elongated epeiric
petrographic observations of black shales, and
sea opening westward (Chanda and Bhattacharyya
laboratory studies in organic geochemistry.
1982; Bose et al 2001). Available age dating sug-
gests that the Vindhyan sediments bracket an age
range between 1.7 Ga and 0.6 Ga (Rasmussen et al 3.1 Sampling
2002; Ray et al 2002, 2003; Sarangi et al 2004; fig-
ure 2). Despite its very old age and huge thick- Three of the black shale units belonging to the
ness of sediments (up to 4500 m, Ahmad 1958) the Semri Group were studied and sampled in a N–S
 Stratigraphy, sedimentology and bulk organic geochemistry of black shales 39

Figure 2. Vertical section showing occurrences of black shales and depositional trends within the Vindhyan sedimentary
succession. Detailed stratigraphy of the Vindhyan Supergroup up to member level is presented in the left column and recent
age dating is provided to the right of the vertical section. Maximum flooding surfaces in the Vindhyan megasequence are
indicated by mfs 1 to mfs 6 on the right. The trends of stratigraphic units and positions of maximum flooding surfaces
are from Banerjee (1997) and Bose et al (2001). Note stratigraphic positions of the four black shale units of the Vindhyan
Supergroup. Two thin black shale units are exaggerated in the section.

traverse through Chopan (figure 1). The black and associated lithologies in cliff sections and small
shale unit of the Upper Vindhyan Group (Bijaigarh quarries. Sedimentary structures within the black
Shale) was documented and sampled near Amjhore shale and associated lithologies were recorded in
Pyrite Mines (figure 1). All the samples were the field. Fresh samples were collected taking into
collected from outcrops in the exposed sections. account their exact stratigraphic positions. Thin
Organic geochemical analyses were conducted on sections of shales were prepared from the samples
thirteen fresh samples. For the Deoland Formation with dimensions approximately 2 cm × 3 cm × 1 cm.
only one sample was analysed and from each of Samples were then coated with epoxy solutions
the remaining three black shale units four samples A and B (prepared by Hillquist, U.S.A.). Imme-
were analysed. diately after the coating, samples were kept in a
vacuum chamber for an hour so that the epoxy
3.2 Sedimentological studies solution can enter through the fractures and pore
spaces of the shale samples and make it very hard.
Black shales were documented by erecting logs The hardened samples were taken for further cut-
from the measurement of spot thicknesses of shales ting and polishing. On an average five sections from
40 S Banerjee et al

Table 1. Individual results of elemental analyses for total carbon (TC), total organic carbon (TOC), total sulphur (TS),
volatilized hydrocarbons present in the rock (S1), volatilized hydrocarbons and related compounds generated by pyrolysis
of insoluble kerogen (S2), calculated hydrogen index (HI), and Tmax representing the temperature of maximum pyrolytic
degradation of kerogen.

S1 S2 HI
Sample ID TC TOC TS (mg HC/g (mg HC/g (mg HC/g Tmax
(field) Stratigraphy (%) (%) (%) sample) sample) TOC) (◦ C)

B4 Bijaigarh Shale (top shale) 3.88 3.83 16.50 0.01 0.14 4 551
B6 Bijaigarh Shale (top shale) 4.15 4.15 13.75 0.01 0.12 3 548
B9 Bijaigarh Shale (bottom shale) 1.91 1.89 0.02 0.01 0.02 1 536
B11 Bijaigarh Shale (bottom shale) 1.54 1.53 0.02 0.01 0.03 2 533
Rh-1 Rampur Shale 5.72 0.94 0.20 0.01 0.04 4 537
Rh-2 Rampur Shale 3.60 1.27 0.50 0.01 0.05 4 538
Rh-5 Rampur Shale 5.16 1.08 0.45 0.01 0.05 5 537
RH-9 Rampur Shale 3.96 0.79 0.38 0.01 0.05 6 538
Kaj-1 Kajrahat Formation 2.91 2.74 0.05 0.00 0.02 1 537
Kaj-3 Kajrahat Formation 2.81 2.64 0.25 0.00 0.02 1 539
Kaj-5 Kajrahat Formation 3.34 2.63 0.18 0.01 0.03 1 541
Kaj-7 Kajrahat Formation 3.63 3.14 0.31 0.01 0.03 1 539
DL-1 Deoland Formation 6.44 6.44 0.24 0.01 0.02 2 542

each of the four black shale units were examined.

Photomicrographs of shales were taken with the
help of a Nikon Eclipse E 600 Pol microscope with
the attached Nikon coolpix 8700 digital camera.
A few of the thin sections were stained (Dickson
1966).

3.3 Organic geochemistry

Thirteen selected samples from the four different

black shale units were chosen for analysis of the
amount, quality and maturity of organic matter
(table 1). Figure 3. Schematic Rock-Eval pyrogram displaying
Total carbon (TC) and sulphur content (TS) time-temperature relationships and the amount of
of the samples were measured by combustion of volatilized hydrocarbons present in the rock (area of the
the homogenized rock powders at a temperature S1 peak), and the amount of volatilized hydrocarbons and
related compounds generated by pyrolysis of insoluble kero-
of 2000◦ C in an oxygen-rich environment (LECO gen (area of the S2 peak). Tmax represents the temperature
CS-225 Analyzer) in the Institute for Chemistry at which the maximum pyrolytic degradation of kerogen
and Dynamics of the Geosphere (ICG V), Jüelich. occurs and accordingly the highest amount of hydrocarbons
The resulting CO2 and SO2 -gas phases were deter- are released.
mined simultaneously by an infrared detection
system. Total organic carbon (TOC) contents
were measured in the same way after removal time intervals correspond to the flame ionization-
of the inorganic carbon with 24% hydrochloric detected hydrocarbon amounts, expressed as S1
acid. and S2 peaks, respectively:
Characterization of the finely disseminated S1 – isothermal 300◦ C during 3 min: volatil-
organic material was performed using a Rock-Eval isation of soluble organic matter (liquid and/or
Delsi II pyrolyzer (Espitalie et al 1977). Small adsorbed hydrocarbons).
amounts (∼ 100 mg) of the powdered rock sam- S2 – constant heating rate of 25◦ C/min from
ples were pyrolysed under an inert He-atmosphere 300◦ C up to 550◦ C: hydrocarbons derived solely
according to a specific time/temperature pro- from the cracking of the residual organic matter
gram (figure 3). The following temperature and (kerogen).
 Stratigraphy, sedimentology and bulk organic geochemistry of black shales 41

In this study the CO2 content coming from the shales of the Bijaigarh Shale possibly represent
cracking of kerogen (S3 -peak) is not taken into con- condensed zone deposits.
sideration because of the early decomposition of Thus, except for the black shale unit of the
carbonate minerals below the CO2 trapping tem- Deoland Formation, the black shale units are
perature of 390◦ C due to mineral matrix effects. associated with condensed zones and incorpo-
This produces additional CO2 , which leads to ele- rate maximum flooding surfaces. The remaining
vated oxygen indices (Katz 1983). All values are three maximum flooding surfaces (mfs 2, mfs 5
means of double determinations calibrated on an and mfs 6) are not associated with black shales,
international standard distributed by the Institute although organic content may reach 0.5% in the
Francaise du Pétrole, France (IFP 55000). shales (Paikaray et al 2003).

4. Results and discussion 4.2 Black shales of the Vindhyan basin

4.1 Re-evaluation of the sequence stratigraphic A brief description of each black shale unit and its
frame of the black shale units paleogeographic interpretation is provided below.
Detailed facies analysis of the shale units is beyond
Sequence stratigraphic context of the black shale the scope of this paper. Paleogeography of the
units is presented here taking into account the black shale units is interpreted taking into con-
detailed depositional facies successions discussed sideration the depositional facies succession of
elsewhere (Banerjee 1997; Bose et al 2001). the Vindhyan Supergroup described in detail by
Vindhyan Supergroup represents a megasequence; Banerjee (1997) and Bose et al (2001).
an unconformity and its correlative conformity
surfaces divide the Vindhyan Supergroup into
two sequences. Each of these sequences contains 4.2.1 Black shales in Deoland Formation
three maximum flooding surfaces (MFS, figure 2).
The oldest black shale unit occurs at the top The oldest of the black shale unit of the Vind-
of the Deoland Formation which is conglomeratic hyan basin occurs in an isolated exposure near
in the basal part and fines upward into sand- the top part of the Deoland Formation in Arangi
stones. Together with the overlying Arangi Shale village (figure 1). The Deoland Formation is over-
it forms a transgressive systems tract (TST) (Van all upward fining. Its lower part is dominantly
Wagoner et al 1990). The black shale unit thus sandy and the upper part consists of alternations
occurs towards the top part of the transgressive between shales and siltstones/fine sandstones; it
systems tract. The next black shale unit occurs gradationally passes into Arangi Shale. The black
above this TST (figure 2). The overlying Kajrahat shale unit occurs as a lenticular body within the
Limestone is overall shallowing upward in nature fine siliciclastics of the Deoland Formation and
and considered as a high stand systems tract its maximum thickness is up to 1.5 m (figure 2).
(HST) (Sarg 1988). The black shale unit, thus Dark coloured coaly shales alternate with thin
transitional between a transgressive systems tract siltstones and fine sandstone beds (up to 4 cm in
and a highstand systems tract, represents con- thickness).
densed zone deposits in an outer shelf setting. Detailed study of this black shale unit is not pos-
The maximum flooding surface (MFS, Galloway sible because of its very local occurrence and poor
1990) should occur at the base of the Kajrahat exposure. Limited petrographic observations reveal
Limestone (figure 2). The next black shale unit is wavy and crinkly laminae within the black shales.
Rampur Shale which overlies the Chorhat Sand- The black shale unit occurs towards the top of the
stone. Rampur Shale gradationally passes over to Deoland Formation and possibly represents depo-
the Rohtas Limestone which is mostly inner shelf in sition in an outer shelf setting. The presence of
origin, overall prograding and considered as a high thicker siltstone bands (up to 4 cm) suggests that
stand systems tract. The Rampur Shale thus rep- deposition possibly took place in offshore setting
resents possible condensed zone deposits with the above the storm wave base.
maximum flooding surface occurring at the base of
the Rohtas Limestone (figure 2). The only black 4.2.2 Black shales in Kajrahat Formation
shale unit of the Upper Vindhyan Group is the
Bijaigarh Shale which gradationally overlies Lower The base of the Kajrahat Limestone in the Kajra-
Kaimur Sandstone. The Bijaigarh Shale is over- hat area (figure 1) is characterized by 12.5 m
all upward fining and together with the underly- thick interval of black shale-dolomite alternations.
ing Lower Kaimur Sandstone forms a transgressive Within this interval black shales alternate with
systems tract (TST). Pyritiferous, dark-coloured either plane laminated dolomite (av. thickness
42 S Banerjee et al

Figure 4. (a) Logs showing black shale and dolomite alternation and associated sedimentary structures in the black shale
unit of the Kajrahat Formation and (b) black shale-limestone alternation in the lower part of Rampur Shale.

11 cm) or crinkle laminated dolomite (av. thickness Carbonaceous laminae exhibit wavy, crinkly tex-
15 cm) (figure 4a). Average thickness of the inter- ture (figure 5a). Pyrites are present within the car-
vening black shale is 15 cm. The planar laminated bonaceous laminae. An offshore origin for the black
dolomite beds have sharper lower contacts and gra- shale unit is proposed on the basis of field and
dational upper contacts. Some of the dolomite beds petrographic observations (Banerjee and Schieber
show graded bedding; convolute laminae are also 2003).
found in a few cases. The black shale is pyritifer-
ous; pyrite crystals (up to 1.2 cm length) can be 4.2.3 Black shales in Rohtas Formation
seen within the black shale.
The black shales represent indigenous offshore The Rohtas Formation is two-tiered, Rampur Shale
mud deposits. The planar laminated dolomite rep- at the base and the Rohtas Limestone at the top.
resents possible storm deposits. Storm interpreta- Rampur Shale abruptly overlies the Chorhat Sand-
tion is supported by the sharp base of the dolomite stone. The lower part of the Rampur Shale is
beds, planar and convolute laminae and occasional overall fining upward in nature and contains silt-
graded bedding. The crinkle laminated dolomite stone and sandstone interbeds; it passes upward
resembles microbial laminite. Petrographic study to pyritiferous black shale. The lower part of the
reveals two compositional elements within the Rampur Shale is not exposed in the study area
black shales: near Ghurma (figure 1). The Rampur Shale in
this area is characterized by dark coloured shale
• continuous to discontinuous clay-dolomite (av. thickness 21 cm) alternating with thin (usually
stringers that are intercalated with < 3.5 cm) limestone beds (figure 4b) and is locally
• carbonaceous laminae containing a mixture of pyritic in nature. The intervening limestone beds
organic matter, clay, quartz silt and dolosiltite are mostly crinkle laminated and consist of micritic
grains. calcites. It gradationally passes upward to Rohtas
 Stratigraphy, sedimentology and bulk organic geochemistry of black shales 43

Figure 5. Photomicrographs of black shale under transmitted light showing wavy and crinkly nature in Kajrahat Forma-
tion (a) and in Rampur Shale (b). Photomicrograph of black shale under reflected light showing wavy pyritic laminae in
top shale (c).

Limestone as the thickness and frequency of lime- gradational with the Lower Kaimur Sandstone.
stone beds increase and the shale becomes greyish The bottom shale is mostly argillaceous, grey to
in colour. dark grey in colour, and contains intervening silt-
Microfabric study reveals that the black shales stone and hummocky cross-stratified sandstone
consist of clay lenses, dolomicrites, quartz silt and beds. Gutter casts are frequent at the base of
carbonaceous materials. Wavy and crinkly nature the sandstones. Thickness of the sandstones varies
is exhibited by the carbonaceous laminae (fig- from 2 cm to 12 cm, decreasing from the base of the
ure 5b). The meso- and micro-scale features within Bijaigarh Shale to the pyrite band (figure 6). The
the black shale unit represents possible outer shelf top shale rests on the pyrite band and gradationally
deposits (see also Sakar et al 2002). passes over to the Upper Kaimur Sandstone. The
top shale is sand free, contains fewer siltstone beds
4.2.4 Black shales within the Kaimur and is less fissile than the bottom shale. Interbed-
Formation ded siltstones vary in thickness from 1 cm to 4 cm.
It is highly carbonaceous and also pyritiferous. The
The Bijaigarh Shale Member (up to 70 m thick) at proportion of clay, silt and carbonaceous mater-
the mid-level of the Kaimur Formation is char- ial may vary within the shale resulting in different
acterized by organic-rich shale in the Amjhore types of wavy laminated microfabric. Tiny cubes
area (figures 1 and 2). The thickness of the shale and octahedral pyrites are abundant within the
gradually decreases towards west and ultimately carbonaceous laminae (figure 5c).
terminates west of Chopan. It is the only organic- Bottom shale contains abundant siltstone and
rich shale interval of the Upper Vindhyan Group. sandstone beds and is less carbonaceous. Presence
A pyrite body of average thickness 1.1 m divides of gutter casts possibly suggests storm action and
the shale into two divisions, commonly known as indicates inner shelf setting (see also Chakraborty
bottom shale (av. thickness 32 m) and top shale 1995). High clay content, hummocky cross strat-
(av. thickness 15 m) in Amjhore Pyrite Mines ifications, comparatively low pyrite and organic
(figure 6). Lower contact of the bottom shale is content, carbon content in the bottom shale
44 S Banerjee et al

Figure 6. Vertical log showing bottom shale, top shale and pyrite band in Bijaigarh Shale (a). Details of bottom shale
and top shale are provided by two vertical logs in the right (b and c respectively).

(table 1) corroborates this interpretation. Lack origin (Schieber 1986). The black shales represent
of sandstones, lower clay content, abundant dia- offshore deposition close to the storm wave base.
genetic pyrites and higher organic carbon con- Violent storms might have interrupted mat growth
tent suggest deeper paleobathymetry of the top and deposited the clayey laminae associated with
shale. carbonaceous laminae. Microbial mats of possi-
ble cyanobacterial origin are the main sources of
4.3 Possible sources of organic carbon organic content for these Proterozoic shales (Bauld
in the Vindhyan shales 1981).

Wavy, carbonaceous and pyritiferous laminae are 4.4 Organic matter, sulphur and
very much conspicuous in all the shale units of hydrocarbon content
the Vindhyan Supegroup. The wavy, crinkly car-
bonaceous laminae of the black shales described 4.4.1 Organic carbon content
above are suggestive of benthic microbial mat
growth (cf. Schieber 1986, 1999, 2004). In con- Contents of organic matter expressed by total
trast, Phanerozoic black shales are mostly planar organic carbon contents (TOC) vary between
laminated and represent passive accumulation of 0.79% and 6.44% (table 1). However, TOC main-
organic materials. Pyrites following the wavy car- tains some relationship to individual formations.
bonaceous laminae corroborate the microbial mat Relatively low contents are exhibited by the
 Stratigraphy, sedimentology and bulk organic geochemistry of black shales 45

Rampur Shale (0.79%–1.27%). The bottom shale

division of the Bijaigarh Shale demonstrates high
TOC values in the range of 1.53%–1.89%. Even
higher values are observed in the range of 3.83%–
4.15% for samples belonging to the top shale divi-
sion of the Bijaigarh Shale. The samples from
Kajrahat Formation also display high values in the
range of 2.63–3.14%. The sample from Deoland
Formation reveals a very high content of 6.44%.

4.4.2 Sulphur content

Total sulphur contents vary between 0.02 and

16.5% (TS, table 1). In contrast to TOC con-
tent, sulphur content does not vary according to Figure 7. Conversion of Rock-Eval Tmax -data into vit-
individual formations. Nevertheless, three groups rinite reflectance according to Teichmüller and Durand
(1983).
with relatively different contents are discriminated.
Two samples from the Bijaigarh Shale (B-4 and
B-6) of the Kaimur Formation and one sample
from the Kajrahat Formation exhibit extremely
low values of 0.02–0.05% sulphur. The three other maximum amount of hydrocarbons and related
samples from the Kajrahat Formation and all compounds were released at temperatures between
samples analysed from the Rampur Shale and the 533 and 551◦ C (n = 13). Whereas, eleven sam-
Deoland Formation show intermediate sulphur con- ples show a low variation between 533 and 541◦ C
tents of 0.18–0.50%. It is interesting to note that (mean 537◦ C), two relatively high Tmax values of
the sulphur content is very high in the two sam- 548 and 551◦ C were recorded in the same two sam-
ples from the top shale division of the Bijaigarh ples of the Bijaigarh Shale (B-4 and B-6) which
Shale (13.75% and 16.50%). This shale is rich in contain high quantities of sulphur. At this stage
pyrite (Pandalai and Chandra 1984; Paikaray et al of investigation, it is not possible to ascertain if
2003); it is assumed that most of the sulphur is the high sulphur contents may have influenced the
inorganic. Tmax recordings or if this indicates another type
of organic matter, or if these slightly different
Tmax recordings indicate a real maturity variation.
4.4.3 Hydrocarbon content But the absence of any organic-rich shale in pre-
Vindhyan formations precludes recycled nature of
The fraction of TOC converted by pyrolysis to organic matter. Another important aspect is that
hydrocarbons and related compounds is referred to despite differences in the present overburden by
as the hydrocarbon index (HI = [S2 /TOC] × 100). almost 2 km, all the samples represent the same
It is expressed as milligrams of hydrocarbon per maturation stage. This may indicate one specific
gram of total organic carbon (mg HC/g TOC). In heat flow event which influenced the total sedi-
general, the evaluated outcrop samples display an mentary sequence. Accordingly, the recent geother-
extremely low HI-range below 6 mg hydrocarbons mal gradient represents only a very minor factor
per gram TOC. Only the two samples with high for the Vindhyan shales compared to the long
sulphur contents have S2 values of 0.12 and 0.14 mg time since they were buried and subjected to var-
hydrocarbons per gram of rock. All other samples ious tectonic regimes with probably different heat
exhibit S2 values below 0.07 mg hydrocarbons per flows.
gram of rock. Thus, all the rock samples investi- According to the established conversion of Tmax
gated bear no hydrocarbon potential. According to to vitrinite reflectance, the calculated mean of
the S1 signal, no hydrocarbons occur within the 537◦ C refers to a vitrinite reflectance range of
pore spaces of all samples investigated. 2.05–2.40% Rm (figure 7, after Teichmüller and
Durand 1983). This indicates a catagenetic stage
near the end of the bituminous hard coal stage,
4.4.4 Maturity of organic matter close to the beginning of anthracite formation. This
stage is confirmed by the low hydrocarbon con-
The catagenetic stage of organic matter, and its tents reported above. At this maturation stage,
quality were evaluated simultaneously by Rock- organic matter contains less than 15% of volatile
Eval pyrolysis. Results are depicted in table 1. matter (dry ash free, McCartney and Teichmüller
During the thermal degradation of kerogen, the 1972).
46 S Banerjee et al

Acknowledgements Greenwood P F, Aoruri K R, Logan C A and Summons R E

2004 Abundance and geochemical significance of C-2n
dialkylanes and highly branched C-3n alkanes in diverse
The authors are thankful to David Mossman for Meso-Neoproterozoic sediments; Org. Geochem. 35
his painstaking efforts to improve an earlier version 331–346.
of the manuscript. SB is thankful to the Depart- Hieshima G B and Pratt L M 1991 Sulfur/carbon ratios
ment of Science and Technology, Govt. of India and extractable organic matter of the Middle Protero-
for financial support. Authors acknowledge their zoic (Nonesuch Formation, North American Midconti-
nent rift); Precamb. Res. 54 65–79.
host institutes for providing infrastructural facil- Hunt J M 1995 Petroleum Geochemistry and Geology;
ities. For elemental analyses, we would like to (New York: W.H. Freeman and Company) 2nd edn, 743p.
acknowledge the technical assistance by F Leistner Imbus S W, Engel M H, Elmore R D and Zumberge J E
(Forschungszentrum Jülich, ICG-V). 1988 The origin, distribution and hydrocarbon genera-
tion potential of organic-rich facies in the Nonesuch For-
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