Application of Palynomorph Darkness Index (PDI) to assess the thermal maturity of palynomorphs: A case study from North Africa

Abstract This study focuses on the thermal maturity assessment of Silurian-Devonian sediments from the Ghadamis Basin, North Africa, comparing optical and geochemical analyses of palynomorphs. In southern Tunisia, the investigated subsurface cored section comprises the Argiles Principales Formation of Silurian age. In Libya, the succession studied covers the Awaynat Wanin III and IV formations, assigned to the Late Devonian (Frasnian-Famennian). Geochemical approaches used to reconstruct thermal alteration of sediments necessitate advanced, relatively expensive analytical techniques. In this study, the effectiveness of the less costly, relatively simple approaches of visually assessing palynomorph colour to determine thermal alteration (i.e., SCI: Spore Colour Index, TAI: Thermal Alteration Index and PDI: Palynomorph Darkness Index) was evaluated. SCI and TAI are qualitative methods, strictly related to the operator's perception, which use ten and five point scales respectively, to characterize colour in terms of illustrated specimens and/or descriptions. In contrast, PDI is obtained from the measurement of the red, green and blue (RGB) intensities of light transmitted through palynomorphs, using standard optical microscopes and digital cameras. The palynomorph-based thermal alteration estimates were compared to Rock-Eval pyrolysis data from the same samples. This calibration showed a linear relationship between these quantitative parameters and PDI. These results show that PDI is more reliable than the SCI and TAI methods.