Studies of Polish Paleozoic shale rocks using FTIR and TG/DSC methods

Thermal methods (TG/DSC) made it possible to trace the reactions during heating the samples in an oxidizing and inert atmosphere. The pyrolysis peaks in DSC curves indicate kerogen of type II, which agrees with a classification based on Rock-Eval measurement. Basing on the DTG curves the maximum temperature of the pyrolysis peak could be determined, and in a consequence - the thermal maturity of the organic matter in the sample. The enthalpy of organic matter in examined samples, calculated from DSC curves correlates very well with TOC value (Rock Eval), what demonstrates that thermal analysis can be successfully used to determine the content of organic matter in fine grained rocks, such as gas-shales or similar ones.