Conditions of clay pulp formation in mud volcanoes of the Kerch-Taman Region according to the data of pyrolytic and geochemical studies

The pyrolytic characteristics of dispersed organic matter were determined in clay pulp samples collected from 23 mud volcanoes of the Kerch-Taman area (Crimean-Caucasian region). It belongs to type III kerogen, and its level of change corresponds to the earliest stages of oil generation. It is also shown that the organic matter carried out by volcanoes, by its pyrolytic characteristics, is almost a complete analog of the dispersed organic matter present in the clays of the Maikop series sediments. At the same time, in comparison with the latter, the mud-volcanic pulp has a higher content of bitumoids. The relationship between the kerogen parameter Tmax and different temperature-dependent characteristics of the water (t(Mg-Li) and δ18O in H2O) and gas (δ13C in CH4) phases of mud volcanic emissions was found for the first time for the mud volcanic systems of the Kerch-Taman region. These dependences demonstrate that the the gaseous, liquid, and solid phases of mud-volcanic emissions form in a single deep mud-volcanic reservoir and show the overall direction of changes in the composition of fluid systems with rising formation temperatures. Simultaneously, no discernible organic matter contamination of the clay pulp from the surrounding sediments or the walls of the mud-volcanic channel was found.