Pyrolysis of Tertiary oil shale by a dolerite intrusion,Stuart Deposit,Queensland, Australia

The mid to late Eocene oil shale sequence of the Stuart Deposit, eastern Queensland, Australia, has been intruded by an alkali dolerite laccolith. The dolerite pyrolysed the intruded sediments with the observed aureole up to 68 m thick. Petrographic studies of samples from five drill holes that intersected the aureole showed that vitrinite reflectance near the top of the aureole generally decreases with depth but closer to the contact vitrinite reflectance rapidly increases. The lowest reflectance values are associated with a zone of bitumen, derived from the thermal alteration of alginite, in each of the five drill holes. The decrease in vitrinite reflectance is accompanied by a decrease in the fluorescence intensity of alginite and a shift in fluorescence colour towards the red end of the spectrum. In the zone characterized by the rapid increase in vitrinite reflectance, the alginite was pyrolysed and pyrolytic carbon formed.