Organic geochemical comparison of Cretaceous green and black claystones from Hole 530A in the Angola Basin.

Abstract

Three pairs of Upper Cretaceous black shales and adjacent green claystones from Hole 530A were analyzed to compare types and amounts of organic matter and lipids and to seek information about their environments of deposition. Geochemical and stratigraphic evidence suggests much of the organic matter in these samples originated on the African continental margin and was transported to the Angola Basin by turbidity flow. Rapid reburial of organic-carbon-rich sediments led to formation of the black shales. -from Authors