Journal of Petroleum Geology, Vol.6, No.2, pp.217-220, 1983

©Copyright 2000 Scientific Press, Ltd.

GENERATION OF METHANE IN CARBONATE OOIDS

J. Ferguson*

*Imperial College of Science and Technology, Dept. of Geology, Prince Consort Road, London SW72BP.

Abstract

The results reported here are from a series of simple experiments designed to test the hypothesis that algal material associated with modern carbonate ooids is capable of regeneration after prolonged periods of desiccation. Although they do not provide any positive proof of this, they do show evidence for the generation of methane gas associated with ooids, as well as possible evidence for the consumption of methane by sulphate reducing bacteria. The implication is that the ooids themselves provide a suitable anaerobic environment in which methanogenic bacteria can live. These results are in line with the conclusions of Ferguson and Ibe (1981), that there is some process acting within the individual ooids which allows the formation of hydrocarbons in an otherwise aerobic marine environment.