Hydrocarbons from Mines and Deposits in the Herkimer Mining District

The evidence that most of the black substance we find in connection with Herkimer diamonds is related to the migration of oilis continually increasingform the early mineralization to the later at the district.. There are multiple sources of evidence and some of that will be shown here - pictures of the hydrocarbon as it occurs in the rock.,

Click on the button next - to see the sulfides page

There is a map showing that there are oil and gas wells not far from from the Herkimer Mining District. What is interesting is that some of these wells have fault controlled, and layer controlled, dolomite mineralization very similar to the Herkimer Mining District. The diagram showing this also has some size references, that might be similar to what we see in the district

There are a series of photos showing the different variations of the hydrocarbon found in the Herkimer Mining District. These include the following:   1.  Coatings - common 2.  As sand layers 3.  Vug filling 4.  Small grains/dust 5.  Spheres (variation) 6.  Containing Holes 7.  Ripples 8.  Dropplets 9. Veins (+/- clay). The intermingling of clay with hydrocarbon in veins, cross - strata fracture fillings, is connected with vertical flow and likely higher temperatures.

Inclusions of hydrocarbon within quartz  is given its own seperate pags because of the wide variation in features.  Click above to go to the inclusion page.

In the slide show, there is a discussion the CORRECT way to lablel any specimen which contains black or brown hydrocarbon material.  The term “anthraxolite” should not be used. Use the label “solid hydrocarbon” if its black (pyrobitumen is also acceptable) and if brown then the term hydrocarbon. More appropriate labelling until your can get a chemical anaylsis.

An important part of the “Oil and Seed Crystal Theory” for making Herkimer diamonds is that there was a mixing of hydrocarbon solutions and solutions carrying quartz.  If the the theory is to represent what happened across the district then evidence of this interactions should be visible in the rocks. Click button to see this evidence.

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