A hydrocarbon is strictly a compound composed of only the elements hydrogen and carbon. However, the term “hydrocarbons” is often extended within the Earth Sciences to include all the organic compounds that comprise petroleum and bitumen (the portion of organic matter that can be extracted from a rock using organic solvents) even though these include compounds containing other elements, especially nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen (NSO compounds). The elements carbon and hydrogen make up about 97.5 percent of an average oil (Hunt, 1996, p.24). Hence it is not surprising that hydrocarbons make up 80 percent to 90 percent of a normal crude oil with the remainder being NSO compounds and asphaltenes. The proportion of hydrocarbons in bitumen is more variable than in oils, depending on the thermal maturity and lithology of the rock, the type of organic matter and the solvent used for the extraction. Generally less than 50 percent of the bitumen, and commonly much less, are hydrocarbons. The...
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© 1978 Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc.
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Fowler, M. (1978). Hydrocarbons in sediments. In: Sedimentology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg . https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31079-7_113
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31079-7_113
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