The Starunia palaeontological site and idea of the Ukrainian-Polish trans-border geotourist trail “Traces of large extinct mammals, earth wax, oil and salt: from Starunia to Kraków”

The discovery of large Pleistocene mammals at the Starunia ozokerite (named also earth wax) mine (the Ukrainian Carpathians) was a spectacular scientific event on a world scale. The initial discovery was made in 1907 when relics of party preserved mammoth and woolly rhinoceros were excavated. Later, in 1929, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences organized a scientific expedition to that site, which resulted in discovery of unique, nearly completely preserved woolly rhinoceros carcass embedded in Pleistocene sediments. A specific combination of brine, oil and clays into which the animal had sunk, is responsible for almost perfect preservation of this animal. The specimens found in 1907 are exhibited at the Natural History Museum in Lviv, Ukraine, whereas the unique specimen excavated in 1929 is displayed at the Natural History Museum in Kraków, Poland. The three sites: Starunia, a small Ukrainian village in which the geopark with the museum and the tourist centre are planned to be developed and two historical towns: Lviv and Kraków, closely connected with the discoveries of extinct large mammals, will be the key sites at the planned, Ukrainian-Polish trans-border geotourist trail “Traces of large extinct mammals, earth wax, oil and salt: from Starunia to Kraków”. The trail will also include the sites where occurrences of ozokerite, salt, brine and oil are known, i.e., the substances which preserved the animal carcasses. These are: the historical rock-salt mines in Wieliczka and Bochnia (Poland), Kalush and Stebnik (Ukraine), the Polish resorts – Iwonicz-Zdrój and Rymanów-Zdrój and the most famous Ukrainian resort – Truskavets; one of the oldest oilfields in the world – Bóbrka, where the Ignacy Łukasiewicz Memorial Open-Space Museum of Oil and Gas Industry is located and Boryslav oil and ozokerite field – the largest deposit in the Ukrainian Carpathians. The idea of Ukrainian-Polish trans-border tourist trail is strongly supported by geological, natural and cultural values of the Polish and the Ukrainian Carpathians

Simulated maturation by hydrous pyrolysis of bituminous coals and carbonaceous shales from the Upper Silesian and Lublin basins (Poland): Induced compositional variations in biomarkers, carbon isotopes and macerals

Hydrous pyrolysis (HP) to simulate the maturation of organic matter (OM) and a variety of organic geochemical analyses and petrographic analyses of OM were performed to establish the origin and depositional environment in the Serpukhovian (Mississippian) and Pennsylvanian coals and carbonaceous shales from the Upper Silesian and Lublin coal basins. OM of coals and shales is dominated by vitrinite- with subordinate liptinite- and inertinite-group macerals, derived from C3 plants. The OM in both coals and shales is of humic origin, deposited in terrestrial, paralic and terrestrial, deltaic and lacustrine environments. The OM is rich in resins related to the presence of waxes derived from the coat of vascular plants. Shales were deposited in a more brackish-lacustrine environment than coals with algae and microbially reworked OM. Shales occurring above coal seams were deposited in more dynamic conditions than shales below seams. Coal sedimentation occurred in a stagnant setting reflected in the presence of paleosols and diverse plant groups. After heating at HP 330 °C and 360 °C, various new vitrinite forms appear, and semicoke, in the OM. The distributions of some biomarkers and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are characteristic of specific macerals, and their ratios are controlled by OM type and thermal maturity related to the conditions of the HP experiments. This behaviour can be related to OM of type III and chemical reactions at two maturation stages. No significant geochemical or genetic differences in the OM of coals or shales from either basin are evident

Corrigendum to “Simulated maturation by hydrous pyrolysis of bituminous coals and carbonaceous shales from the Upper Silesian and Lublin basins (Poland) : induced compositional variations in biomarkers, carbon isotopes and macerals” [International Journal of Coal Geology volume (2021) 1–27]

Corrigendum to: "Hydrous pyrolysis (HP) to simulate the maturation of organic matter (OM) and a variety of organic geochemical analyses and petrographic analyses of OM were performed to establish the origin and depositional environment in the Serpukhovian (Mississippian) and Pennsylvanian coals and carbonaceous shales from the Upper Silesian and Lublin coal basins. OM of coals and shales is dominated by vitrinite- with subordinate liptinite- and inertinite-group macerals, derived from C3 plants. The OM in both coals and shales is of humic origin, deposited in terrestrial, paralic and terrestrial, deltaic and lacustrine environments. The OM is rich in resins related to the presence of waxes derived from the coat of vascular plants. Shales were deposited in a more brackish-lacustrine environment than coals with algae and microbially reworked OM. Shales occurring above coal seams were deposited in more dynamic conditions than shales below seams. Coal sedimentation occurred in a stagnant setting reflected in the presence of paleosols and diverse plant groups. After heating at HP 330 °C and 360 °C, various new vitrinite forms appear, and semicoke, in the OM. The distributions of some biomarkers and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are characteristic of specific macerals, and their ratios are controlled by OM type and thermal maturity related to the conditions of the HP experiments. This behaviour can be related to OM of type III and chemical reactions at two maturation stages. No significant geochemical or genetic differences in the OM of coals or shales from either basin are evident"

Zechstein Main Dolomite oil characteristics in the Southern Permian Basin:I. Polish and German sectors

Geochemical analyses were used to classify 39 Zechstein (Late Permian, Lopingian) Main Dolomite (Ca2) crude oil samples from fields in the eastern and southern sector of the Southern Permian Basin (SPB) of Europe and to provide new insights into the origin of the oil. Geochemical data indicate that Ca2 oils were generated in the early-to-late oil window and are mostly non-waxy oils. Various biomarker and stable carbon isotopic ratios were used to identify source and depositional settings for source rocks of Ca2 oils arranged within 10 distinct oil groups. Specifically, the geochemical analyses and oil-oil correlations revealed a set of characteristic biomarkers including an even-over-odd predominance (EOP) for the C20-30n-alkanes, C40 carotenoid occurrence (isorenieratane, chlorobactane, β-isorenieratane), bisnorhopane/hopane (BNH/H) ratios >0.1, high abundances of C35 homohopanes and elevated concentrations of C32 and C34 homohopanes, a predominance of C29 homologues among 4-desmethyl steranes in the majority of oil samples, and a high abundance of diasteranes. Stable carbon isotopes and biomarkers provided ample evidence that Ca2 oils were generated from predominantly algal-rich marly carbonate/evaporite source rocks located in the lower slope/shallow-basin and lagoonal facies of the Ca2 basin, all deposited under suboxic-anoxic (euxinic) conditions. In the case of all higher maturity oils, the source rocks could not be reliably identified but high (>2) C24Tet/C23 values suggest a carbonate-evaporite depositional setting

Radiocarbon Dating of Pleistocene Fauna and Flora from Starunia, SW Ukraine

New attempts are presented to determine the age of large Pleistocene mammals excavated at Starunia, ~130 km southeast of Lviv, Ukraine. This remarkable discovery made at the beginning of the 20th century included a complete carcass of woolly rhinoceros (No. 2), fragments of 3 woolly rhinoceroses (Nos. 1, 3, and 4) and remnants of numerous specimens of other fossil fauna and flora. Although attempts to date paleontological findings from Starunia site go back to the early 1970s, the results obtained before 2006 are somewhat misleading, mostly due to unresolved contamination problems. Comprehensive cleaning of the samples adopted in the framework of this study was aimed at removal of 2 potential sources of contamination: (i) radiocarbon-free hydrocarbons abundant at the burial site; and (ii) allochthonous organic materials containing contemporary carbon that were used in the past during preservation of the dated specimens. Two types of samples have been analyzed for their 14C content in the framework of the present study: (i) fragments of bones and teeth collected from specimens stored or exposed in the Natural History museums in Lviv and Kraków; and (ii) samples of terrestrial macrofossils retrieved from sediment cores obtained during the 2007–2008 field campaigns in the Starunia area. 14C analyses of collagen were supplemented by measurements of its elemental C/N ratio and 13C/12C and 15N/14N isotope ratios. Three 14C dates obtained for rhinoceros No. 2 span the age range from 35.3 to 40.0 ka BP, in agreement with the minimum age estimated from macrofossils. The mean value of 37.7 ± 1.7 ka BP falls in the range of ages reported for big Pleistocene mammals from other locations in Europe. The bones of rhinoceros No. 3, which were found in close vicinity to those of rhinoceros No. 2, reveal a 14C age of 36.7 ± 0.6 ka BP. The δ15N and δ13C values obtained for collagen extracted from bones and teeth belonging to rhinoceroses Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are in a broad agreement with analogous literature data for large Pleistocene mammals found in other sites in Europe, North America, and Siberia.The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

Thermogenic gases generated from coals and shales of the Upper Silesian and Lublin basins : hydrous pyrolysis approach

In order to provide a better characterization of the origin and volume of thermogenic gas generation hydrous pyrolysis (HP) experiments were performed on coals and shales at 330 and 360oC for 72 hours. The maturity range of coals and shales used for HP varies from 0.57 to 0.92% Ro. The maturity increase caused by HP at 330 and 360oC ranges from 1.32 to 1.39% and from 1.71 to 1.83%, respectively. δ13C of CH4, 2H6, C3H6 and n-C4H10 in HP gases versus their reciprocal C-number have a concave relationship, and therefore do not follow a linear trend. δ2H of CH4, 2H6 and C3H6 in HP gases versus their reciprocal H-number show both linear and convex-concave relationships. The growth of CO2 yields during HP was higher for shales than for coals. H2S yields from shales are higher than from coals, which can be connected with catalytic and adsorbed influence of shale matrix. H2 was also generated in notable quantities from water and organic matter of coals and bigger amounts from shales. N2 yields grow with the increase of Ro after 3oC HP and it is more enriched in 15N isotope than after 330C