Direct Radiometric Dating of Hydrocarbon Deposits Using Rhenium-Osmium Isotopes

Rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) data from migrated hydrocarbons establish the timing of petroleum emplacement for the giant oil sand deposits of Alberta, Canada, at 112 ± 5.3 million years ago. This date does not support models that invoke oil generation and migration for these deposits in the Late Cretaceous. Most Re-Os data from a variety of deposits within the giant hydrocarbon system show similar characteristics, supporting the notion of a single source for these hydrocarbons. The Re-Os data disqualify Cretaceous rocks as the primary hydrocarbon source but suggest an origin from older source rocks. This approach should be applicable to dating oil deposits worldwide.

[1]  J. Luck,et al.  Osmium isotopes as petrogenetic and geological tracers , 1980 .

[2]  B. Kendall,et al.  Constraints on the timing of Marinoan “Snowball Earth” glaciation by 187Re–187Os dating of a Neoproterozoic, post-glacial black shale in Western Canada , 2004 .

[3]  S. Creaney,et al.  Oil Families of the Western Canada Basin , 1991 .

[4]  R. Creaser,et al.  Re-Os geochronology of organic rich sediments: an evaluation of organic matter analysis methods , 2003 .

[5]  Grant D. Mossop,et al.  Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin , 1988 .

[6]  K. Turekian,et al.  Application of the 187Re-187Os system to black shale geochronometry , 1989 .

[7]  D. Waples,et al.  Quantitative Evaluation of Lower Cretaceous Mannville Group as Source Rock for Alberta's Oil Sands , 1985 .

[8]  P. Brooks,et al.  Biological marker and conventional organic geochemistry of oil sands/heavy oils, Western Canada basin , 1988 .

[9]  A. Coe,et al.  Precise Re–Os ages of organic-rich mudrocks and the Os isotope composition of Jurassic seawater , 1999 .

[10]  S. Creaney,et al.  Hydrocarbon generation and migration in the Western Canada sedimentary basin , 1990, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[11]  S. Eggins,et al.  Enhanced mantle-to-crust rhenium transfer in undegassed arc magmas , 2003, Nature.

[12]  S. Bachu,et al.  [3]4 Use of a Quantitative Basin Analysis System in the Evaluation of Hydrocarbon Generation, Migration and Accumulation , 1991 .

[13]  D. Symons,et al.  Paleomagnetism of the Pine Point Zn–Pb deposits , 1993 .

[14]  C. Beaumont,et al.  Paleotemperature History of Two Transects Across the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin: Constraints from Apatite Fission Track Analysis , 1999 .

[15]  D. Leckie,et al.  Foreland Basins and Foldbelts , 1993 .

[16]  D. Manning,et al.  The Role of Organic Matter in Ore Transport Processes , 1993 .

[17]  R. Macdonald,et al.  Origin and Alteration of Lower Cretaceous Mannville Group Oils from the Provost Oil Field, East Central Alberta, Canada , 1999 .

[18]  C. Mendoza,et al.  Coupled fluid flow, heat and mass transport, and erosion in the Alberta basin: implications for the origin of the Athabasca oil sands , 2004 .

[19]  B. Peucker‐Ehrenbrink,et al.  The marine osmium isotope record , 2000 .

[20]  D. Symons,et al.  Dating penecontemporaneous dolomitization in carbonate reservoirs: Paleomagnetic, petrographic, and geochemical constraints , 2003 .

[21]  R. Creaser,et al.  Further evaluation of the Re-Os geochronometer in organic-rich sedimentary rocks: A test of hydrocarbon maturation effects in the Exshaw Formation, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin , 2002 .

[22]  Thomas J. Ahrens,et al.  Rock physics & phase relations : a handbook of physical constants , 1995 .

[23]  K. Turekian,et al.  The osmium isotopic composition of the continental crust , 1993 .