Kerogen as a Source of Sulfur in MVT Deposits

Experimental data are presented showing that the release of sulfur as H2S from the organic-rich New Albany shale is a pseudo-zeroth order process with a rate constant at typical Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) temperatures of 100° and 150°C of 10−11.4 and 10−8.0 (gH2S)(gshale)−1y−1, respectively. These rates allow calculation of the volume of shale required to release the amount of sulfur found in MVT deposits in time periods from 104 to 107 years. The result is that such an origin for the sulfur is reasonable from a mass balance point of view, as suggested by Kesler et al. (1994) for the central Tennessee region.