Encyclopedia > Kerogen

  Article Content

Kerogen

Kerogens are chemical compounds formed by the low-grade metamorphism (i.e. diagenesis) of organic molecules derived from decaying plant and animal matter.

Kerogens are the precursors to hydrocarbons (fossil fuels). Labile kerogen breaks down to form heavy hydrocarbons (i.e. oils), refractory kerogen breaks down to form light hydrocarbons (i.e. gases) and inert kerogen forms graphite.

See also: petroleum geology.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
DB

... is the abbreviation of Dominion Breweries[?], a major beer brewing company of New Zealand. This is a disambiguation page; that is, one that just points to other pages ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 22.9 ms