DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS, ORGANIC MATURITY AND PETROLEUM POTENTIAL OF THE CRETACEOUS COAL‐BEARING ATANE FORMATION AT QULLISSAT, NUUSSUAQ BASIN, WEST GREENLAND

Coals and coaly mudstones of the Cretaceous Atane Formation are exposed along the north coast of the island of Disko and the south coast of Nuussuaq peninsula, West Greenland. Numerous oil seepages have been found in the region, but the so‐called Kuugannguaq oil type only occurs at the north coast of Disko. The oil is presumed to have been generated from coaly (Type III) source rocks in the Vaigat strait where the Atane Formation is thermally mature due to deep burial. The exposed coals and coaly mudstones may thus be thermally immature equivalents of the active source rocks.

[1]  G. Pedersen,et al.  The occurrence of marine fossils in the Upper Cretaceous deltaic sediments at Pautut, central West Greenland , 2008 .

[2]  H. Petersen The petroleum generation potential and effective oil window of humic coals related to coal composition and age , 2006 .

[3]  H. Petersen Oil generation from coal source rocks: the influence of depositional conditions and stratigraphic age , 2005 .

[4]  B. Cardott,et al.  Classification of huminite—ICCP System 1994 , 2005 .

[5]  P. Japsen,et al.  Separation of Palaeogene and Neogene uplift on Nuussuaq, West Greenland , 2005, Journal of the Geological Society.

[6]  H. Nytoft,et al.  Age of oils in West Greenland: was there a Mesozoic seaway between Greenland and Canada? , 2004 .

[7]  T. Moore,et al.  Peat/coal type and depositional environment—are they related? , 2003 .

[8]  L. Snowdon,et al.  Guidelines for assessing the petroleum potential of coaly source rocks using Rock-Eval pyrolysis , 2002 .

[9]  H. Petersen A RE‐CONSIDERATION OF THE “OIL WINDOW” FOR HUMIC COAL AND KEROGEN TYPE III SOURCE ROCKS , 2002 .

[10]  Andrew C. Scott,et al.  Coal petrology and the origin of coal macerals: a way ahead? , 2002 .

[11]  I. Banerjee,et al.  Sequence stratigraphy of paralic coal-bearing strata: an overview , 2002 .

[12]  R. Whitmarsh,et al.  Non-Volcanic Rifting of Continental Margins: A Comparison of Evidence from Land and Sea , 2002 .

[13]  L. Larsen,et al.  Rates of volcanic deposition, facies changes and movements in a dynamic basin: the Nuussuaq Basin, West Greenland, around the C27n-C26r transition , 2002, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[14]  H. Petersen,et al.  Drowning of a nearshore peat-forming environment, Atane Formation (Cretaceous) at Asuk, West Greenland: sedimentology, organic petrography and geochemistry , 2001 .

[15]  R. Sykes Depositional and Rank Controls on the Petroleum Potential of Coaly Source Rocks , 2001 .

[16]  T. Pulvertaft,et al.  Development of the continental margins of the Labrador Sea: a review , 2001, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[17]  G. Pedersen,et al.  Sedimentary and structural evidence of a new early Campanian rift phase in the Nuussuaq Basin, West Greenland , 2000 .

[18]  A. Pedersen,et al.  New insight into the structure of the Nuussuaq Basin, central West Greenland , 1999 .

[19]  Brian Horsfield,et al.  Predicting the quantities of oil and gas generated fromAustralian Permian coals, Bowen Basin using pyrolyticmethods , 1999 .

[20]  H. Nytoft,et al.  Oil seepage onshore West Greenland: evidence of multiple source rocks and oil mixing , 1999 .

[21]  J. Bojesen-Koefoed,et al.  Petroleum geological activities onshore West Greenland in 1997 , 1998 .

[22]  M. Ghisler A review of Greenland activities, 1997 , 1998 .

[23]  J. Bojesen-Koefoed,et al.  Petroleum geological activities in East Greenland in 1997 , 1998 .

[24]  W. Hughes,et al.  Application of 24-norcholestanes for constraining source age of petroleum , 1998 .

[25]  M. Storey,et al.  40Ar/39Ar geochronology of the West Greenland Tertiary volcanic province , 1998 .

[26]  C. Diessel,et al.  Isometamorphic variations in the reflectance and fluorescence of vitrinite—a key to depositional environment , 1998 .

[27]  H. Petersen,et al.  Relative sea-level changes recorded by paralic liptinite-enriched coal facies cycles, Middle Jurassic Muslingebjerg Formation, Hochstetter Forland, Northeast Greenland , 1998 .

[28]  R. Suggate RELATIONS BETWEEN DEPTH OF BURIAL, VITRINITE REFLECTANCE AND GEOTHERMAL GRADIENT , 1998 .

[29]  B. Horsfield,et al.  Using natural maturation series to evaluate the utility of parallel reaction kinetics models: an investigation of Toarcian shales and Carboniferous coals, Germany , 1998 .

[30]  J. Boudou,et al.  Predicting generation and expulsion of paraffinic oil from vitrinite-rich coals , 1998 .

[31]  David J. Clifford,et al.  The organic geochemistry of coal: from plant materials to coal , 1997 .

[32]  M. Lewan Experiments on the role of water in petroleum formation , 1997 .

[33]  A. Pedersen,et al.  Petroleum geological activities onshore West Greenland in 1996, and drilling of a deep exploration well , 1997 .

[34]  C. Herbert Relative sea level control of deposition in the Late Permian Newcastle Coal Measures of the Sydney Basin, Australia , 1997 .

[35]  H. Petersen,et al.  Organic facies development within Middle Jurassic coal seams, Danish Central Graben, and evidence for relative sea-level control on peat accumulation in a coastal plain environment , 1996 .

[36]  H. Nytoft,et al.  The Marraat Oil Discovery on Nuussuaq, West Greenland: Evidence for a Latest Cretaceous - Earliest Tertiary Oil Prone Source Rock in the Labrador Sea - Melville Bay Region. , 1996 .

[37]  R. Bustin,et al.  Sulfur in the Changuinola peat deposit, Panama, as an indicator of d the environments of deposition of peat and coal , 1996 .

[38]  J. Dehmer Petrological and organic geochemical investigation of recent peats with known environments of deposition , 1995 .

[39]  P. Moore Biological processes controlling the development of modern peat-forming ecosystems , 1995 .

[40]  G. Hampson,et al.  Application of sequence stratigraphy to coal-bearing coastal plain successions: implications for the UK Coal Measures , 1995, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[41]  K. Bohacs,et al.  Sequence Stratigraphic Distribution of Coaly Rocks: Fundamental Controls and Paralic Examples , 1995 .

[42]  Andrew S. Pepper,et al.  Simple kinetic models of petroleum formation. Part III : Modelling an open system , 1995 .

[43]  T. Dodd,et al.  Simple kinetic models of petroleum formation. Part II: oil-gas cracking , 1995 .

[44]  J. Esterle,et al.  Spatial variability in modern tropical peat deposits from Sarawak, Malaysia and Sumatra, Indonesia: analogues for coal , 1994 .

[45]  J. Esterle,et al.  Peat-accumulating depositional systems of Sarawak, East Malaysia , 1994 .

[46]  W. DiMichele,et al.  Paleobotanical and paleoecological constraints on models of peat formation in the Late Carboniferous of Euramerica , 1994 .

[47]  Jaap J. Boon,et al.  Anatomy of recent and peatified Calluna vulgaris stems: implications for coal maceral formation , 1994 .

[48]  G. Pedersen,et al.  A palynological and sedimentological study of Cretaceous floodplain deposits of the Atane Formation at Skansen and Igdlunguaq, Disko, West Greenland , 1993 .

[49]  P. Crosdale Coal maceral ratios as indicators of environment of deposition: do they work for ombrogenous mires? An example from the Miocene of New Zealand , 1993 .

[50]  L. C. Price Thermal stability of hydrocarbons in nature: Limits, evidence, characteristics, and possible controls , 1993 .

[51]  E. Kosters,et al.  Facies Relationships and Systems Tracts in the Late Holocene Mississippi Delta Plain , 1993 .

[52]  C. Eble,et al.  Palynologic and petrographic characteristics of two Middle Pennsylvanian coal beds and a probable modern analogue , 1993 .

[53]  G. Pedersen,et al.  The nonmarine Cretaceous of the West Greenland Basin, onshore West Greenland , 1992 .

[54]  M. Guerra-Sommer,et al.  Original biomass and coal deposition in southern Brazil (Lower Permian, Parana Basin) , 1991 .

[55]  M. Teichmüller The genesis of coal from the viewpoint of coal petrology , 1990 .

[56]  L. C. Price Hydrocarbon generation and migration from Type III kerogen as related to the oil window , 1989 .

[57]  S. Stout,et al.  A microscopic investigation of woody tissues in peats: Some processes active in the peatification of Ligno-cellulosic cell walls , 1987 .

[58]  A. Cohen,et al.  Preliminary study of the reflectance of huminitic macerals in recent surface peats , 1987 .

[59]  R. S. Clymo Rainwater-fed peat as a precursor of coal , 1987, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[60]  A. Cohen,et al.  Interpreting the characteristics of coal seams from chemical, physical and petrographic studies of peat deposits , 1987, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[61]  Peter D. Moore,et al.  Ecological and hydrological aspects of peat formation , 1987, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[62]  Kenneth E. Peters,et al.  Guidelines for Evaluating Petroleum Source Rock Using Programmed Pyrolysis , 1986 .

[63]  Mary Ann Moran,et al.  Effects of pH and plant source on lignocellulose biodegradation rates in two wetland ecosystems, the Okefenokee Swamp and a Georgia salt marsh1,2,3 , 1985 .

[64]  A. Cohen,et al.  Occurrence and distribution of sulfur in peat-forming environments of southern Florida , 1984 .

[65]  D. Postma Pyrite and siderite formation in brackish and freshwater swamp sediments , 1982 .

[66]  W. Dow Kerogen studies and geological interpretations , 1977 .

[67]  A. Rosenkrantz Marine Upper Cretaceous and lowermost Tertiary deposits in West Greenland. Investigations before and since 1938 , 1970 .

[68]  T. Pulvertaft,et al.  Cretaceous-Tertiary Stratigraphy and Tectonics in Northern West Greenland: Chapter 61: Arctic Regions , 1969 .