In chemistry and geology, biomarkers are any suite of complex

organic compounds In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. The s ...

composed of carbon, hydrogen and other elements or heteroatoms such as oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur, which are found in crude oils,

bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

source rock In petroleum geology, source rock is rock which has generated hydrocarbons or which could generate hydrocarbons. Source rocks are one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sediments that may have been depos ...

and eventually show simplification in molecular structure from the parent organic molecules found in all living organisms. Essentially, they are complex carbon-based molecules derived from formerly

living organisms In biology, an organism () is any life, living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy (biology), taxonomy into groups such as Multicellular o ...

.Wang, Z.; Stout, S.; Fingas, M. ''Environmental Forensics'', 2006 7, 105-146. Each biomarker is quite distinctive when compared to its counterparts, as the time required for

organic matter Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have c ...

to convert to crude oil is discreet. Most biomarkers also usually have high

molecular mass The molecular mass (''m'') is the mass of a given molecule: it is measured in daltons (Da or u). Different molecules of the same compound may have different molecular masses because they contain different isotopes of an element. The related quanti ...

. Some examples of biomarkers found in petroleum are

pristane Pristane is a natural saturated terpenoid alkane obtained primarily from shark liver oil, from which its name is derived (Latin ''pristis'', "shark"). It is also found in the stomach oil of birds in the order Procellariiformes and in mineral oil ...

, triterpanes,

sterane Sterane (cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrenes) compounds are a class of tetracyclic compounds derived from steroids or sterols via diagenetic and catagenetic degradation and saturation. Steranes have an androstane skeleton with a side chain at carb ...

phytane Phytane is the isoprenoid alkane formed when phytol, a constituent of chlorophyll, loses its hydroxyl group. When phytol loses one carbon atom, it yields pristane. Other sources of phytane and pristane have also been proposed than phytol. Pris ...

and

porphyrin Porphyrins ( ) are a group of heterocyclic macrocycle organic compounds, composed of four modified pyrrole subunits interconnected at their α carbon atoms via methine bridges (=CH−). The parent of porphyrin is porphine, a rare chemical com ...

. Such petroleum biomarkers are produced via

chemical synthesis As a topic of chemistry, chemical synthesis (or combination) is the artificial execution of chemical reactions to obtain one or several products. This occurs by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions. In moder ...

using biochemical compounds as their main constituents. For instance, triterpanes are derived from biochemical compounds found on land

angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

plants. The abundance of petroleum biomarkers in small amounts in its reservoir or source rock make it necessary to use sensitive and differential approaches to analyze the presence of those compounds. The techniques typically used includes gas chromatography and

mass spectrometry Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is use ...

Uses

Petroleum biomarkers are highly important in petroleum inspection as they help indicate the depositional territories and determine the geological properties of oils. For instance; they provide more details concerning their maturity and the source material. In addition to that they can also be good parameters of age, hence they are technically referred to as "chemical fossils". The ratio of pristane to phytane (pr:ph) is the geochemical factor that allows petroleum biomarkers to be successful indicators of their depositional environments.

Geologists A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and geochemists use biomarker traces found in crude oils and their related

to unravel the stratigraphic origin and migration patterns of presently existing

deposits. The dispersion of biomarker molecules is also quite distinctive for each type of oil and its source, hence, they display unique fingerprints. Another factor that makes petroleum biomarkers more preferable than their counterparts is because they have a high tolerance to environmental weathering and corrosion. Such biomarkers are very advantageous and often used in the detection of

oil spillage An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into t ...

in the major waterways. The same biomarkers can also be used to identify contamination in

lubricant A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces, t ...

oils. However, biomarker analysis of untreated rock cuttings can be expected to produce misleading results. This is due to potential hydrocarbon contamination and

biodegradation Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. It is generally assumed to be a natural process, which differentiates it from composting. Composting is a human-driven process in which biodegrada ...

in the rock samples.

References

{{reflist Petroleum geology