The use of biological markers in organic geochemical investigations of the origin and geological history of crude oils (I) and in the assessment of oil pollution of rivers and river sediments of Serbia (II)

Abstract

Biological markers (BMs) are organic compounds in oils in which a precursor is known, and during the transformation of organic matter these compounds undergo certain structural and stereochemical changes. Based on the established precursors of BMs, the origin of the examined oils can be estimated, and based on the intensity and the type of changes and also geological history. It includes defining the deposition medium, the degree of maturation, the length of the oil migration path, the degree of biodegradation. The most studied and applied BMs are normal alkanes, isoprenoid aliphatic alkanes pristane and phytane, and polycyclic alkanes of the sterane and terapane type. On the other hand, in the environmental chemistry, these compounds can significantly contribute to the identification of petroleum pollutants, as well as to the assessment of the migration mechanism and the intensity of biodegradation. This review paper first presents the results related to the application of BMs in the organic geochemical correlations of oil in the south-eastern part of the Pannonian Basin (I). The second part provides an overview of those researches in which the same BMs were used in the identification of oil pollutants and in monitoring their changes during the migration and the biodegradation in rivers and river sediments of Serbia (II).