Torbanite, also known as boghead coal or channel coal, is a variety of fine-grained black
oil shale
Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitute ...
. It usually occurs as
lenticular masses, often associated with deposits of
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
s.
[
] Torbanite is classified as lacustrine
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
type oil shale.[
]
Torbanite is named after Torbane Hill near Bathgate
Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, Blackburn, Linlithgow, Livingston, West Calder and Whitburn. Situated sout ...
in Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, its main location of occurrence.[
] Torbanite found in Bathgate may have formations of bathvillite
Bathvillite is a naturally occurring organic substance. It is an amorphous, opaque, and very friable material of fawn-brown color, filling cavities in the torbanite or Boghead coal of Bathville, Lothian, Scotland. It has a specific gravity of 1. ...
found within it.
Other major deposits of torbanite are found in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
and Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, USA, in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa, in the Sydney Basin
The Sydney Basin is an interim Australian bioregion and is both a structural entity and a depositional area, now preserved on the east coast of New South Wales, Australia and with some of its eastern side now subsided beneath the Tasman Sea. ...
of New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, Australia, the largest deposit of which is located at Glen Davis, and in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
, Canada.[
]
Organic matter (telalginite Telalginite is a structured organic matter ( alginite) in sapropel, composed of large discretely occurring colonial or thick-walled unicellular algae such as '' Botryococcus'', '' Tasmanites'' and '' Gloeocapsomorpha prisca''. Telalginite is prese ...
) in torbanite is derived from lipid
Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids include ...
-rich microscopic plant remains similar in appearance to the fresh-water colonial green alga
The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...
''Botryococcus braunii
''Botryococcus braunii'' is a green, pyramid-shaped planktonic microalga that is of potentially great importance in the field of biotechnology. Colonies held together by a lipid biofilm matrix can be found in temperate or tropical oligotrophic l ...
''.[ This evidence and extracellular ]hydrocarbon
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ex ...
s produced by the alga have led scientists to examine the alga as a source of Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
torbanites[
] and a possible producer of biofuel
Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (E ...
s.[
] Torbanite consists of subordinate amounts of vitrinite
Vitrinite is one of the primary components of coals and most sedimentary kerogens. Vitrinite is a type of maceral, where "macerals" are organic components of coal analogous to the "minerals" of rocks. Vitrinite has a shiny appearance resembling gla ...
and inertinite
Inertinite is oxidized organic material or fossilized charcoal. It is found as tiny flakes within sedimentary rocks. The presence of inertinite is significant in the geological record, as it signifies that wildfires occurred at the time that the ho ...
; however, their occurrence varies depending on deposits.[
Torbanite typically comprises 88% ]carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent
In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
and 11% hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...
.[ Paraffin oil can be distilled from some forms of torbanite, a process discovered and ]patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
ed by James Young in 1851.
See also
*Cannel coal
Cannel coal or candle coal is a type of bituminous coal, also classified as terrestrial type oil shale. Hutton(1987) Dyni (2006), pp. 3–4 Speight (2012), pp. 6–7 Due to its physical morphology and low mineral content cannel coal is considered ...
* Kukersite
* Lamosite
* Marinite
*Tasmanite
Tasmanite is a sedimentary rock type almost entirely consisting of the prasinophyte alga ''Tasmanites''. It is commonly associated with high-latitude, nutrient-rich, marginal marine settings find in Tasmania. It is classified as marine type oil ...
*Oil shale geology
Oil shale geology is a branch of geologic sciences which studies the formation and composition of oil shales–fine-grained sedimentary rocks containing significant amounts of kerogen, and belonging to the group of sapropel fuels.
Oil shale f ...
References
{{Reflist
Coal
Oil shale geology