A new study by Rice University geologists has showcased that formations of shale gas and oil fields in an area reaching from Texas to Montana were caused by ash layers from volcanic eruptions that occurred around 100 million years ago.
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Geological Society of America.
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It found that the shale formations can be traced back to a series of events following enormous volcanic activity towards the end of the period.
The connection between ancient volcanic eruptions and unconventional shale hydrocarbons was established in field research. Ash layers were identified in exposed rock that belongs to the Cretaceous period.
Rice University’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences professor and chairperson Cin-Ty Lee said: “One of the things about these shale deposits is they occur in certain periods in Earth’s history, and one of those is the Cretaceous time, which is around the time of the dinosaurs.
“This was about 90 million to 100 million years ago, which is about the same time as a massive flare-up of arc volcanoes along what is today the Pacific rim of the Western US.”
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By GlobalDataTo investigate the ash beds, Lee set up a team in partnership with Daniel Minisini, a colleague at Shell Oil.
Commenting on samples taken from the ash beds, Lee added: “Their chemical composition didn’t look anything like it would have when they left the volcano. Most of the original phosphorus, iron and silica were missing.”
As part of the study, trace elements such as zirconium and titanium were used to match ash layers to their volcanic sources.
The amount of phosphorus, iron and silica missing was calculated by comparing rock samples from the sources with the depleted ash.
