Color analysis of organic constituents in sedimentary rocks for thermal maturity

摘要

In accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, the state of the thermal maturity of organic matter extracted from a sedimentary rock sample is determined by using a microscope in combination with a color video camera to provide an image of the organic matter in transmitted and filtered light, using the output of the camera to compute RGB and HSB values for a selected area of the image on a per- pixel basis, and plotting values integrated over the selected area in the form of a thermal maturation pathway from which a likelihood that oil has been generated in the rock can be determined.