Organic geochemistry focuses on chemical transformations of biological materials in rocks and the cyclic flow of individual elements (and their compounds) between living and nonliving systems. This includes the incorporation of organic materials in rocks, including carbonaceous material, in sedimentary rocks. In the petroleum industry, it is important to recognize the transformations of biological material present in deposits of coal, petroleum, and natural gas. In addition to characterizing and understanding the systems which produce hydrocarbons, organic chemical reactions influence many geochemical processes such as rock weathering and production of soil, the solution, precipitation, and secretion of dissolved materials as calcium carbonate, and the alteration of sediments to form sedimentary rocks. In addition to analyses such as XRF and ICP, which measure inorganic chemical elements, we provide analysis of organic carbon and sulfur.
Organic Geochemistry Instruments ALS has a variety of versatile instruments:
• LECO Carbon Analyzer
• LECO Sulfur Analyzer
• Hawk Pyrolysis
Chromastratigraphy® and Chromalog®
ChromaStratigraphy® and ChromaLog® analysis are proprietary techniques (U.S. patent 8416413) for lithologic formation logging and identification through accurate measurement of the color of geologic samples.
TOC and pyrolysis
ALS offers services in Total Organic Carbon (TOC-LECO) and Hawk Pyrolysis, two geochemical methods used to quantify the organic content of rocks. These are powerful techniques to identify zones with highest potential for production and to assess the expected production of each organic interval.
Sulfur analysis
Fast, accurate measurement of the sulfur content of soils, sediments, rocks, and other geologic samples is available with our LECO Sulfur analyzer.