Synonyms
Bituminous rock; Organic-rich shale; Sapropelites
Definition
Black shales are organic carbon-rich sediments or sedimentary rocks. Black shales are important source rocks of fossil fuels (petroleum and natural gas) (Tissot and Welte 1984) and in some cases host economically viable metal accumulations (Vine and Tourtelot 1970). Sapropels are a geologically young analogue of black shales and offer high-resolution archives to decipher the interplay of paleoclimate and paleoceanography with biogeochemical and biological conditions in marine black shale depositional environments of the more distant geological past (Emeis and Weissert 2009).
Characteristics
Black shales and sapropels represent paleoenvironmental conditions that caused an unusually efficient transfer of mainly marine nonliving biomass into the geosphere and thus have been a key regulation on the global carbon cycle throughout Earth history. The sequestration of organic carbon in the geosphere is a small sink in the...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Emeis K-C, Weissert H (2009) Tethyan–Mediterranean organic carbon-rich sediments from Mesozoic black shales to sapropels. Sedimentology 56:247–266
Grimm R, Maier-Reimer E, Mikolajewicz U, Schmiedl G, Müller-Navarra K, Adloff F, Grant K, Ziegler M, Lourens L, Emeis K (2015) Late glacial initiation of Holocene eastern Mediterranean sapropel formation. Nat Commun 6(7099):1–12
Rohling EJ, Marino G, Grant K (2015) Mediterranean climate and oceanography, and the periodic development of anoxic events (sapropels). Earth Sci Rev 143:62–97
Rossignol-Strick M, Nesteroff V, Olive P, Vergnaud-Grazzini C (1982) After the deluge; Mediterranean stagnation and sapropel formation. Nature 295:105–110
Schlanger SO, Jenkyns HC (1976) Cretaceous anoxic events: causes and consequences. Geologie en Mijnbouw 55:179–184
Tissot BP, Welte DH (1984) Petroleum formation and occurrence. Springer-Verlag, Berlin/Heidelberg/New York/Tokyo
Vine JD, Tourtelot EB (1970) Geochemistry of black shale deposits – a summary report. Econ Geol 65:253–272
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Emeis, KC. (2018). Black Shales and Sapropels. In: White, W.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39312-4_146
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39312-4_146
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39311-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39312-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences