Queensland tertiary oil shales

Preparation of this paper has only been possible with the co-operation of a large number of colleagues representing a range of disciplines and skills, and all of whom have been involved in aspects of documenting the properties of Queensland Tertiary oil shales for the past few years. I am particularly indebted to Messrs. J. Best, J. Gannon,... 

There are at least 13 Tertiary oil shale deposits scattered along 900 km of coastal Queensland with an in situ shale oil resource totalling in excess of 25 billion barrels of shale oil. The paper compares aspects of the geochemistry for five of these deposits, which contain about two thirds of the demonstrated resource. 

The oil shale of the Condor deposit is a tough, more competent rock than the other Tertiary oil shales of Queensland and also possesses slower moisture content (9% moisture by weight). The brown oil shale unit contains scattered collophane nodules, commonly enclosed by marcasite and an outer paler carbonate-rich halo. Buddingtonite occurs persistently in the brown oil shale and younger units, comprising up to 10% of the rock (8). 

Boreham, C.J., Summons, R.E., Roksandic, Z., Dowling, L.M., Hutton, A.C. (1994) Chemical, molecular and isotopic differentiation of organic facies in the Tertiary lacustrine Duaringa oil shale deposit, Queensland, Australia. Organic Geochemistry, 21, 685-712. 

Lamosite is pale, grayish brown and dark gray to black the chief organic constituent of lamosite is lamalginite derived from lacustrine planktonic algae. Other minor components in lamosite include vitrinite, inertinite, tel-alginite, and bitumen. The Green River formation oil shale deposits in the western United States and a number of Tertiary lacustrine deposits in eastern Queensland, Australia, are lamosites. 

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