# Torbanite > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Torbanite > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Torbanite.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torbanite > Source revision: 1307761471 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Type of fine-grained black oil shale}} {{distinguish|Torbernite}} {{use dmy dates|date=August 2025}} [[File:Torbanite pm.jpg|thumb|Photomicrograph of torbanite, from [Bathgate](/source/Bathgate), Scotland]] '''Torbanite''', also known historically as '''boghead coal''' or '''kerosene shale''', is a variety of fine-grained black [oil shale](/source/oil_shale). It usually occurs as [lenticular masses](/source/Lens_(geology)), often associated with deposits of Permian [coal](/source/coal)s.{{Cite book | last = Lee | first = Sunggyu | title = Oil Shale Technology | publisher = [CRC Press](/source/CRC_Press) | page = 20 | year = 1990 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=N0wMCusO6yIC&pg=PA20 | isbn = 978-0-8493-4615-6 | accessdate = 2008-05-11}} Torbanite is classified as [lacustrine](/source/Lacustrine_plain) type oil shale. {{Cite journal | last = Hutton | first = A.C. | title = Petrographic classification of oil shales | journal = International Journal of Coal Geology | publisher = [Elsevier](/source/Elsevier) | location = Amsterdam | volume = 8 | issue = 3 | pages = 203–231 | year = 1987 | doi = 10.1016/0166-5162(87)90032-2 | bibcode = 1987IJCG....8..203H | issn = 0166-5162}} A similar mineral, [cannel coal](/source/cannel_coal), is classified as being a terrestrial form of oil shale, not a lacustrine type. Torbanite is named after Torbane Hill near [Bathgate](/source/Bathgate) in [West Lothian](/source/West_Lothian), Scotland, a major location of occurrence.{{cite journal |last1=Dyni |first1=J R |title=Geology and Resources of Some World Oil-Shale Deposits |journal=Oil Shale |date=2003 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=193 |doi=10.3176/oil.2003.3.02 |doi-access=free }} Torbanite found in Bathgate may have formations of [bathvillite](/source/bathvillite) found within it.{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Bathvillite|volume=3|page=521}} Historically, two other names have been used for torbanite. Boghead coal is named after Boghead estate, also near Bathgate in Scotland. In Australia, the historical name for torbanite was kerosene shale.{{Cite report |url=http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp132I |title=Origin of the boghead coals |last=Thiessen |first=Reinhardt |date=1925 |issue=132–I |pages=121–137}}{{Cite news |date=1909-11-13 |title=SCIENTIFIC. |pages=54 |work=Australasian |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139215492 |access-date=2023-07-21}} Other major deposits of torbanite are found in [Pennsylvania](/source/Geology_of_Pennsylvania) and [Illinois](/source/Geology_of_Illinois), US, in [Mpumalanga Province](/source/Mpumalanga_Province) in South Africa, in the [Sydney Basin](/source/Sydney_Basin) of [New South Wales](/source/New_South_Wales), Australia,{{cite web|url=http://web.aanet.com.au/bayling/airly.html|title=Shale mining relics at Airly, Genowlan Creek and Torbane, NSW|author=Brian Ayling|accessdate=2010-01-30}} the largest deposit of which is located at [Glen Davis](/source/Glen_Davis%2C_New_South_Wales), and in [Nova Scotia](/source/Nova_Scotia), Canada.{{cite book |last1=Yen |first1=T.F. |last2=Chilingar |first2=George V. |title=Oil Shale |chapter=Introduction to Oil Shales |series=Developments in Petroleum Science |date=1976 |volume=5 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1016/S0376-7361(08)70041-4 |isbn=978-0-444-41408-3 }} Organic matter ([telalginite](/source/telalginite)) in torbanite is derived from [lipid](/source/lipid)-rich microscopic plant remains similar in appearance to the fresh-water colonial [green alga](/source/green_algae) ''[Botryococcus braunii](/source/Botryococcus_braunii)''. This evidence and extracellular [hydrocarbon](/source/hydrocarbon)s produced by the alga have led scientists to examine the alga as a source of [Permian](/source/Permian) torbanites {{Cite book |last1=Meuzelaar |first1=Henk L. C.| last2=Windig |first2=Willem |last3=Futrell |first3 =Jean H. |last4= Harper |first4 =Alice M. |last5= Larter | first5 =Steve R. | editor-last=Aczel | editor-first=Thomas | title=Mass spectrometric characterization of shale oils: a symposium | chapter=Pyrolysis mass spectrometry and multivariate analysis of several key world oil shale kerogens and some recent alginites | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=X8ZJDf8Od4sC&q=10 | year = 1986 | publisher= [ASTM International](/source/ASTM_International) | location=[Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia) | isbn=978-0-8031-0467-9 | pages=81–105 | accessdate = 2009-07-06}} and a possible producer of [biofuel](/source/biofuel)s.{{Cite book | last=Lee | first=Robert E. | title=Phycology | year=1999 | edition = 3 | publisher=[Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press) | location=[Cambridge](/source/Cambridge), [England] | url = https://archive.org/details/phycology00robe | url-access=registration | isbn=978-0-521-63883-8 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/phycology00robe/page/246 246]–247}}{{Cite news |date=1925-08-22 |title=The value of corrongite. |pages=73 |work=[The Chronicle (Adelaide)](/source/The_Chronicle_(Adelaide)) |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article89631223 |access-date=2023-07-22}} Torbanite consists of subordinate amounts of [vitrinite](/source/vitrinite) and [inertinite](/source/inertinite); however, their occurrence varies depending on deposits. Torbanite typically comprises 88% [carbon](/source/carbon) and 11% [hydrogen](/source/hydrogen). [Paraffin oil](/source/Kerosene) can be distilled from some forms of torbanite, a process discovered and [patent](/source/patent)ed by [James Young](/source/James_Young_(Scottish_chemist)) in 1851.{{cite web | url=https://www.rsc.org/news/2012/april/paraffin-young-landmark-plaque-unveiled-by-great-great-grandson | title=Paraffin Young landmark plaque unveiled by great-great-grandson | publisher=[Royal Society of Chemistry](/source/Royal_Society_of_Chemistry) | accessdate=25 August 2025}}{{cn|date=August 2025}} A rubber-like, elastic, highly-resilient bituminous substance, known as [coorongite](/source/coorongite)—classified as an organic-rich sediment and named after [the Coorong](/source/the_Coorong), a lagoon in [South Australia](/source/South_Australia) where it was found—was in 1925 identified as a "[peat](/source/peat) stage" in the formation of torbanite, which suggested the [lacustrine](/source/lacustrine) and [algal](/source/Algae) origin of torbanite.{{Cite web |title=Coroongite |url=https://www.mindat.org/min-49308.html |website=[Mindat.org](/source/Mindat.org)}}{{Cite web |title=Organic-rich sediment |url=https://www.mindat.org/min-49301.html |website=[Mindat.org](/source/Mindat.org)}} However, a 1989 study looked at coorongite collected on the shores of the [Darwin River Reservoir](/source/Darwin_River_Reservoir) in the [Northern Territory](/source/Northern_Territory), where ''Botryococcus braunii B'' race grows profusely. The authors concluded that torbanite could not be derived from coorongite, because although "torbanite and some coorongites derive from a common algal source, they clearly show distinct structures, as a result of markedly different conditions of early [diagenesis](/source/diagenesis) of the ''Botryococcus'' biomass". Torbanite is characterised by well-separated fossil colonies, while coorongite is not.{{cite journal |last1=Dubreuil |first1=C. |last2=Derenne |first2=S. |last3=Largeau |first3=C. |last4=Berkaloff |first4=C. |last5=Rousseau |first5=B. |title=Mechanism of formation and chemical structure of Coorongite—I. Role of the resistant biopolymer and of the hydrocarbons of Botryococcus braunii. Ultrastructure of Coorongite and its relationship with Torbanite |journal=Organic Geochemistry |date=January 1989 |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=543–553 |doi=10.1016/0146-6380(89)90034-X |bibcode=1989OrGeo..14..543D }} ==See also== *[Cannel coal](/source/Cannel_coal) *[Kukersite](/source/Kukersite) *[Lamosite](/source/Lamosite) *[Marinite](/source/Marinite) *[Tasmanite](/source/Tasmanite) *[Oil shale geology](/source/Oil_shale_geology) ==References== {{Reflist}} Category:Coal Category:Oil shale geology --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Torbanite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torbanite) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torbanite?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.