Observations and morphological analysis of supermolecular structure of natural bitumens by atomic force microscopy

The supermolecular structures of natural bitumens of the thermal consequent row asphaltites ⇒ lower kerites (albertites) ⇒ higher kerites (impsonites) ⇒ anthraxolites from the Timan–Pechora petroleum province and Karelian shungite rocks, Russia, were studied in details.The experimental technique used was atomic force microscopy (AFM), following fracture preparation. The element distribution of the sample surfaces was analyzed by an X-ray microanalyser “Link ISIS”, combined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM).In this work, we characterized the supermolecular evolution of natural solid bitumens in the carbonization sequence by quantitative parameters. We showed that supermolecular structure can be important in defining to which classification group solid bitumens belong.