Indicator signs of carbonate microbialites in black shale formations: isotopic composition and biomarkers

Carbonate rocks represented by nodules, lenses, layers of different morphology and length are typical for the black shale formations of different ages. They are of the greatest interest in oil source rocks as indicators of complex and not always unambiguously interpreted geological processes. A special place among these sedimentary bodies is occupied by microbialites, which indicate suppression of development of marine organic biocenoses, and often reflect emanation processes in ancient strata. Proof of these phenomena is fundamentally important for predicting and assessing the oil and gas potential of unconventional reservoirs. On the example of carbonate solids of Triassic and Jurassic black shale formations, we present a complex analytical method to determine the microbial biochemical genesis of rocks on the base of the isotopic composition of carbon and oxygen, together with the hydrocarbon molecular markers of organic matter. The geochemical features of the isolated microbialites suggest that they are resulted from a complex history of black shale formations, which reflects both background lithogenetic transformations and superimposed processes, including high-temperature hydrothermal ones.