Chemistry of combustible minerals

The textbook characterizes organogenic elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur) that are part of both the living matter of bioproducts — higher plants, phyto-, zooplankton and bacteria, and combustible fossils. The main part is devoted to the description of the properties and composition of combustible minerals: natural gas, oil and naphthides, peat, brown, hard coals, anthracites, sapropelites, oil shales, as well as their secondary changes in deposits in the zones of hypergenesis and catagenesis. An idea of analytical methods for studying their properties and composition is given. The connection of the molecular composition of living matter with the composition of caustobiolites — chemophossils and their precursors for the geological and geochemical interpretation of analytical data is traced. Examples of material and material-genetic classifications of caustobiolites are described. The review of modern methods of interpretation of data on the molecular composition of oil and organic matter of rocks is presented. The abiogenic and organic concepts of the origin of oil and the arguments of proponents of biogenic hypotheses and sedimentary-migration theory of the origin of oil are considered.

The textbook is intended for students, undergraduates and postgraduates studying in the specialty 1.6.11 "Geology, prospecting, exploration and exploitation of oil and gas fields" at geological faculties of universities.