Chemical analysis of rock and meteorite samples for hydrocarbon conten

Polgar, A. G.

Stevenson, D. P.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

L r i  . .  ‘I 
Development of Analytical’ ‘ I - -  
Techniques Hydrocarbons for 
Mineral Aggregates 
for 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
r. 
Contract N o .  NASw-438 
Quarterly Status Report N o .  4 
July - September, 1964 
Except for use by or on behalf of the United States 
Government. in accordance with contractual arranee- 
ments all iights with respect to this report in- 
cludi$ without , limitation. technical informahon. 
data, rawin s, and specifications contained herein. 
are reserved f y  Shell Development Company. i a  
W 
SHELL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY 
Emeryville, California 
A DIVISION OF SHELL OIL COMPANY 
- -  
X I  - n o  
I -  1 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19650003544 2020-03-17T00:12:09+00:00Z
DEVELOPMENT OF ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR 
HYDRCCARBONS I N  IvIINERAL AGGREGATES 
fo r  
National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
under 
CGNTRACT NO. NAN-438 
Quarterly Status Report No. 4 
Ju ly  - September, 1964 
Written by: D. P. Stevenson 
A. G. Polgar 
SHaL DEVELOPMENT COMF'ANY 
meryville,  California 
S-13930 
In the previous phase of t h i s  investigation, a method was developed, 
and tested,  for  t h e  recovery and characterization of small quant i t ies  of C 1 4  
plus, nominally saturated hydrocarbons tha t  may be associated wi th  mineral 
matter, par t icular ly  sedimentary rocks. m m e t h o d ,  consisting of Soxhlet 
-extraction of t h e  sample followed by -el&ign_chronr;ltograghy oyer s i l i c a  gel  
andchlz’%cterixation of t h e  isolated fract ions by ul t raviolet- ,  infrared- and 
mass spectrometry, was Jesigned for the  purpose of examining the organic 
chemicals content of meteoritic or other ex t ra - te r res t r ia l  matter for possible 
biological origin.  
t h e  present phase of our work, we plan t o  apply thi-s &od t o  
t h e  examina 4 ion of a var ie ty  of meteoritic specimens, and t e r r e s t r i a l  rocks 
spanning a wide geological period. 
group a re  t o  serve a s  background for  t h e  interpretat ion of results of analyses 
of ex t ra - te r res t r ia l  specimens. 
Analytical data on samples i n  the  l a t t e r  
There a re  f ive  meteoritic specimens, from 150 mg t o  1 g each, on 
hand. O f  these, three (Grgueil, Murray and Felix) represent Classes I, I1 and 
I11 of t h e  carbonaceous chondrites. 
but non-carbonaceous. 
s e r i e s  of young marine sediments t o  t h e  nearly three billion-year o l d  py r i t i c  
s l a t e s  from Western Australia (see Table 1). 
yield extracts  of adequate s i ze  for detailed examination. 
The other two meteorites a re  a lso stony 
The t e r r e s t r i a l  sedimentary rock samples range from a 
Quantit ies on hand promise t o  
The analyt ical  approach t o  be followed is basically tha t  described 
i n  our Report covering the work period of July, 1962 t o  June, 1963. 
expected, however, t h a t  some new techniques w i l l  be added and some of the 
established ones w i l l  undergo refinements necessary t o  assure maximum cleanli-  
ness i n  sample handling. 
It is 
Thus, samples a re  prepared f o r  extraction by crushing them w i t h  
carbide-free too ls  followed by pulverization w i t h  a ceramic b a l l  i n  a high- 
alumina v i a l  of an impact shaker. In addition t o  Soxhlet extraction, the  
t ransfer  of the organic constituents in to  a proper solvent by dissolving t h e  
inorganic framework of t h e  sedimentary samples is being studied. A s  another 
a l ternat ive,  the use of ultrasonics is being contemplated. Beside rapid and 
more complete recovery, a t tent ion is focused on avoiding any change in  the 
molecular nature of t h e  extracts .  Preliminary experiments wi th  both tech- 
niques a re  encouraging. 
@.S-liqlJid p a r t i t i c n  & ~ ~ ~ & ~ g ~ q ~ $  hzs beer, prover, tz, %e cfie of 
t h e  most poaeful analyt ical  tools .  
t he  fractionation of samples i n  t h e  molecular weight range of our extracts  
is available and is being tested.  
Capillary column equipment sui table  for  
Table 1. LIST OF SEDlM3JTARY ROCK SAMPLES 
Pacif ic  Ocean 
Sediments 
(9 samples) 
Coarse-grained 
Irvrhite1l limestone 
Fine-grained 
I1blue1l limestone 
ItGrayl1 limestone 
Chattanooga Shale 
Black Shale 
Black Shale 
Pyr i t i c  Slate  
(2 samples) 
Geographical 
Location Rock me 
1 ca. 300 m i .  north of 
Darwin, No. Terri- 
tory,  Australia 
San Bernardino 
County, California 
San Bernardino 
County, California 
Mono County, 
California 
Young's Bend, 
Tennessee 
Haggum, Sweden 
Billingen, Sweden 
Kalgoorlie, 
!Vestern Australia 
- 
Geological 
Period 
~ ~~~ 
Pliocene 
Pennsylvanian 
Pennsylvanian 
Mississippian 
Upper Devonian 
Upper Cambrian 
Upper Cambrian 
Pre-Cambrian 
Approx . Age, 
10s yrs. 
1 t o  8 
310 
310 
350 
365 
510 
510 
2700 


Development of anlytical techniques for hydrocarbons in mineral aggregates quarterly status report no. 4, jul. - sep. 1964

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