Factors controlling the abundance of organic sulfur in flash-pyrolyzates of Upper Cretaceous kerogens from Sergipe Basin, Brazil

Abstract The molecular and elemental composition of immature kerogens isolated from Upper Cretaceous marine carbonates from Sergipe Basin, Brazil were investigated using combined pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and organic petrographic techniques. The kerogens are predominantly composed of reddish-fluorescing amorphous organic matter (AOM) and variable amounts of yellow-fluorescing alginite and liptodetrinite. The abundance of organic sulfur in the kerogens inferred from the ratio 2-ethyl-5-methylthiophene/(1,2-dimethylbenzene + dec-1-ene) in the pyrolyzates is variable and may be related to changes in the type of primary organic input and/or to variations in rates of bacterial sulfate reduction. A concomitant increase in S/C and O/C ratios determined in situ using the electron microprobe is observed in AOM and alginites and may be related to a progressive oxidation of the organic matter during sulfurization. The S/C ratio of the AOM is systematically higher than the S/C ratio of the alginites. Combined with a thiophene distribution characteristic of pyrolyzates of Type II organic matter, the higher S/C of AOM in Sergipe kerogens suggests that sulfurization and incorporation of low-molecular weight lipids derived from normal marine organic matter into the kerogen structure predominated over direct sulfurization of highly aliphatic algal biomacromolecules.