AN AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 1, NUMBER 6
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1987
0 Copyright 1987 by the American Chemical Society
Editorial PYROLYSIS Pyrolysis plays an extremely important role in petroleum exploration geochemistry. Pyrolysis methods are used by organic geochemists for a variety of purposes: evaluation of the petroleum generative potential of rock samples from exploration wells, determination of the kinetics of petroleum generation for different rock organic matter types for input to basin models, and simulation of the effects of sedimentary burial maturation on organic matter. All of these approaches are important, because they can be used to reduce the risk in finding and exploiting new petroleum reserves. This issue contains selected papers from the Symposium on Pyrolysis in Petroleum Exploration Geochemistry held at the 193rd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Denver, CO, April 54,1987. The symposium, sponsored by the Geochemical Division, provided an international forum for the extensive and rapidly developing application of pyrolysis to petroleum exploration problems. Additional papers from the symposium will appear in subsequent issues of Energy & Fuels. I gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Drs. M. D. Lewan (Amoco), S. R. Larter (University of Oslo), J. K. Whelan (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute), and G. E. Claypool (US. Geological Survey), who served as chairpersons at the symposium. I also thank Drs. R. H. Filby (Washington State University) and J. M. Moldowan (Chevron), who, as Chairman and Past-Chairman of the Geochemistry Division, helped make the symposium a success. Acknowledgment is made to the donors of the Petroleum Research Fund, administered by the American Chemical Society, for partial support of this symposium. Kenneth E. Peters, Organizer
