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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

Volume: 64 (1980)

Issue: 7. (July)

First Page: 1078

Last Page: 1086

Title: Origin of Gasoline-Range Hydrocarbons and Their Migration by Solution in Carbon Dioxide in Norton Basin, Alaska

Author(s): Keith A. Kvenvolden (2), George E. Claypool (3)

Abstract:

Carbon dioxide from a submarine seep in Norton Sound, Alaska, carries a minor component of gas- and gasoline-range hydrocarbons. The molecular and isotopic compositions of the hydrocarbon gases and the presence of gasoline-range hydrocarbons indicate that these molecules are derived from thermal alteration of marine and/or nonmarine organic matter buried within Norton basin. In the gasoline-range hydrocarbons, individual cyclic and branched-chain molecules are much more abundant than straight-chain hydrocarbons. This distribution suggests that the hydrocarbon mixture is an immature, petroleumlike condensate of lower temperature origin than normal crude oil. The submarine seep provides a natural example in support of a carbon dioxide solution transport mechanism thought to be operative in the migration of hydrocarbons in certain reservoirs.

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