Depositional environments and source rock potential of some Upper Palaeozoic (Devonian) coals on Bjørnøya, Western Barents shelf

Abstract

Upper Palaeozoic strata are potential sources for hydrocarbon plays on the Norwegian Barents Shelf. The island of Bjørnøya (Bear Island) is located on the western margin of the Barents Shelf and represents an exposed part of the Stappen High, which makes it an excellent location to investigate the source rock potential of this succession. Here, we investigate the organic geochemical composition and source rock potential of coals and organic-rich mudstones of Late Devonian to middle Permian ages. The thermal maturity of the analysed samples ranges from mature to overmature with some samples being in the late oil generation window, and thus exhibiting higher maturities than age and facies equivalent strata in central Spitsbergen in the NW corner of the Barents Shelf and on the Finnmark Platform to the south. The high maturities and thermal cracking may thus have negatively affected the applied isoprenoid and biomarker-based source facies parameters, which potentially inhibit correct source facies interpretation. However, our results and comparisons with previous studies indicate that the vitrinite- and inertinite-dominated humic coals occurring in the lower part of the succession formed by the accumulation of peat in fluvially-influenced, humid wetlands at paleo-equatorial latitudes during a pronounced episode of rifting in the Late Devonian (Famennian) to earliest Carboniferous (Mississippian). Our source rock evaluation indicates a good potential for liquid hydrocarbon generation for the coals of the Upper Devonian Røedvika Formation prior to maturation. The oil-prone organic matter of these coals is primarily considered as terrestrial and non-aqueous. Because of renewed rifting in the middle Carboniferous combined with a shift to arid climatic conditions, as well as an environmental change from dominantly terrestrial and marginal marine clastic to marine carbonate platform environments, the accumulation of wetland peats effectively came to an end. Thus, the overlying Carboniferous and Permian strata generally seems to yield poor to no hydrocarbon generation potential