Section 4.3: Organic geochemistry

In Section 4.3 we study the distribution, composition and changes in organic material that take place over geologic time. Our investigations span the time from the beginning of life on Earth more than three billion years ago to today. In this sense, organic geochemistry can be viewed as forensic science that combines aspects of geology, chemistry and biology and applies them to a colossally long time scale. Molecular and microscopic fossils provide the indicators on which we base our reconstructions of past events and ecosystems. We not only perform basic research, but also work closely with petroleum industrial partners to investigate the processes which lead to the development of fossil fuels.

In our work package, which comprises more than twenty projects, we concentrate on three main topics. As part of "Fossil Fuels", we study the formation of oil and natural gas with the primary goal of finding ways to predict the quality of fossil fuels. Kinetics and phase behaviour feature strongly here. A newly instigated multidisciplinary central project concerns the investigation of unconventional natural gas resources in the impermeable mudstone horizons of Europe, or “gas shales”. In the research area "Carbon Cycles", we work on the changes in the physical, chemical and biological processes through time and space, which over geologic time have led to the collection of 1016 metric tonnes of organic material in sedimentary basins. The overarching project within this category, "Methane on the Move (MOM)", is directed toward improving our understanding of the contributions of organic carbon to the global climate change process throughout the Cenozoic to present day. Finally, we also investigate the "Deep Biosphere". Sediments and sedimentary rocks at great depth have joined the growing list of localities where microbial life exists under extreme conditions. The as yet mostly unexplored deep biosphere plays a fundamental role in the global biogeochemical cycles. Within the framework of the three focussed research topics in this area, we demonstrate the existence of such microbial communities using biogeochemical and geomicrobiological methods, including so-called “life markers”. We model metabolic processes in the geosphere and in biogenic natural gas formation. We also investigate the mechanisms of biological degradation of hydrocarbons in oil and natural gas reservoirs, and the factors responsible for causing physical and chemical heterogeneities in petroleum reservoirs that are manifested as discrete production compartments.

Industry Partnership Programme  

• HitMe - High Temperature Methane
• BioMeP – Biogenic Methane Potential
• Ngen – Nitrogen Generation
• BioPetS Flux – Bioactivity in Petroleum Systems
• PPQ - Predicting Petroleum Quality 

Flagship Projects  

• GASH - Gas Shales of Europe (unconventional fossil fuel resource)
• MOM – Methane on the Move (natural emissions of greenhouse gases)
• GeoEn
• Inkaba yeAfrica – Southern Africa from Core to Space

News
Neue Helmholtz - Nachwuchsgruppen: Dr. Zahie Anka: “Quantification of thermogenic greenhouse gas (Methane) emissions and its influence on global Carbon budget and paleoclimate. A multi-scale approach.“ Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum - GFZ und TU Berlin

Seminars
Internal and external contributions on a biweekly basis