It is virtually impossible to overstate the importance of the successful development of shale gas and tight oil to the energy economy of the United States. According to data tracked by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), by 2009, shale gas had led the United States from natural gas shortages to becoming the largest producer of natural gas in the world (USEIA, 2018). Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals constructed on the US East Coast at the start of the 21st century for energy imports were converted less than a decade later to export LNG to Europe and elsewhere. The Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian basin is now the most productive natural gas formation in the United States (Fig. I.1). <...>

A renaissance in the 1980s concerning geochemistry of sulfur in fossil fuels makes an update of the subject timely. Papers developed from the 1989 ACS Symposium in Dallas provide a cross-section of recent research and progress in our understanding of the abundance and nature of organically bound sulfur in fossil fuels. This chapter furnishes an overview of our understanding of sulfur introduction into the geologic systems and biogenic materials that produce petroleum and natural gas. Many of the geochemical considerations also apply to coal and lignite deposits. A brief historical account leads to a summary of the most recent advances, an appraisal of current understanding, and some remaining challenges and opportunities for further research <...>

В монографии обобщены 500 инфракрасных спектров поглощения микрокомпонентов углей, битумоидов углей и горючих сланцев, рассеянного органического вещества осадочных пород, твердых битумов и ископаемых смол. Главное внимание уделено рассеянному органическому веществу сапропелевого типа как основному источнику нефтяных углеводородов.

Особенности химической структуры органического вещества рассмотрены в зависимости от условий образования и характера вторичных изменений. Для рассеянного органического вещества раздельно описываются растворимая и нерастворимая в органических растворителях части.

Книга предназначена для широкого круга специалистов. занимающихся органической геохимией