Geology

Environmental chemistry

Mineralogy

Total organic carbon

Paleontology

Maturity (psychological)

Developmental psychology

Composite material

Mineral

Organic chemistry

Oil shale

Clay minerals

Organic matter

Psychology

Chemistry

Metallurgy

Materials science

Porosity

International Journal of Coal Geology

Understanding the distribution of pores and organic matter with varying organic matter concentrations and maturity is essential to understanding fluid flow in shale systems. Analysis of samples with low, medium, and high total organic carbon (TOC) and varying maturities (gas-mature and oil-mature) enables the impact of both organic matter concentrations and thermal maturation on organic matter porosity to be examined. Three gas-mature samples of varying TOC (Lublin Basin) and one oil-mature sample (Baltic Basin), both with similar mineral compositions, were selected from the same formation. Samples were imaged in 3D over four orders of magnitudes (pixel sizes from 44 μm to 5 nm). A combination of X-ray computed tomography (XCT) and Focus Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM) enabled the morphologic and topological characteristics of minerals, organic matter and pores to be imaged and quantified. In the studied samples, organic matter primarily has two geometries: lamellar masses (length: 1–100 μm, t...

Multi-scale 3D characterisation of porosity and organic matter in shales with variable TOC content and thermal maturity: Examples from the Lublin and Baltic Basins, Poland and Lithuania