Publication Name: Eromanga Basin Symposium Summary Papers (1982)
Authors: M. Glikson
Date Published: November 1982
Number of Pages: 1
Abstract:
The oil shales of the Toolebuc Formation consist of irregularly spaced calcareous laminations alternating with black organic-rich laminae - suggestive of "algal-mats". Cyanobacteria of Nostoc and Anabaena types were encountered in SEM observations of whole-rock fragments. TEM observations of the organic matter (OM) concentrates revealed a wealth of microbial remains. These bacteria were most likely responsible for the degradation of the primary OM leading to the production of the amorphous OM that is visible with optical microscopy. The so-called 'amorphous OM" in TEM observations consists of mesh-structured "palaeoproteins", humic acids and more or less homogenous OM of lipidic nature.