Albertite is a variety of

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

found in the

Albert Formation The Albert Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Early Mississippian (Tournaisian) age in the Moncton Subbasin of southeastern New Brunswick. It was deposited in a lacustrine environment and includes fossils of fish and land plants, as well as t ...

Albert County, New Brunswick Albert County (2021 population 30,749) is New Brunswick's third-youngest List of counties of New Brunswick, county, located on the Western side of the Petitcodiac River on the Chignecto Bay in the Bay of Fundy; the County seat, shire town is H ...

, and in a deposit at

Dingwall Dingwall (, ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland (council area), Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest castle north ...

, in the north-east of Scotland. It is a type of solid

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...

. Albertite has a black colour, a resinous luster, and a

hardness In materials science, hardness (antonym: softness) is a measure of the resistance to plastic deformation, such as an indentation (over an area) or a scratch (linear), induced mechanically either by Pressing (metalworking), pressing or abrasion ...

of 2½. It is less soluble in

turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...

than the usual type of asphalt. It was from a mixture of albertite and pitch that

kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

was first distilled in 1846 by

Abraham Gesner Abraham Pineo Gesner (May 2, 1797 – April 29, 1864) was a Nova Scotian and New Brunswickan physician and geologist who invented kerosene. Gesner was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia (now called Chipmans Corner) and lived much of his life i ...

, a

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

geologist who had heard stories of rocks that burned in the area and gave the material its first scientific study.

Origin

Albertite is formed from

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of Organic compound, organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general compos ...

in which some of the hydrocarbons have been remobilised as liquid

. The process is as follows: * Crude oil (petroleum) is produced from source rocks (in the case of

Albert Mines Albert Mines is a community in the southeastern cornerMap of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is due south of the Hillsborough, New Brunswick, Village of Hillsborough and bordered by the communitie ...

, oil shale). * The petroleum migrates through fractures and becomes trapped in the apex of an

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of Fold (geology), fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest Bed (geology), beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex curve, c ...

. * The lighter oils gradually leak out through the weakly permeable

caprock Caprock or cap rock is a hard, resistant, and impermeable layer of rock that overlies and protects a reservoir of softer organic material, similar to the crust on a pie where the crust (caprock) prevents leakage of the soft filling (softer materia ...

. * The bituminous residues (tars, asphaltanes, etc.) are left behind in the fractures as albertite.

Occurrence

Albertite is named after

Albert County Albert County (2021 population 30,749) is New Brunswick's third-youngest county, located on the Western side of the Petitcodiac River on the Chignecto Bay in the Bay of Fundy; the shire town is Hopewell Cape. The county was established in 1 ...

in New Brunswick, Canada, where it was first found in the area that became known as

. There, the albertite occurs as discordant, cross-cutting

veins Veins () are blood vessels in the circulatory system of humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are those of the pulmonary and fetal c ...

in the core of an anticline. It was initially mistaken for

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

. Most geologists of the 1800s were puzzled by how this "coal" came to be discordant to the local

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

, as they did not understand the nature of its

source rock In petroleum geology, source rock is a sedimentary rock which has generated hydrocarbons or which has the potential to generate hydrocarbons. Source rocks are one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sedim ...

, or the fact that the albertite was essentially solidified asphaltum. Extraterrestrial albertite has also been detected on the dwarf planet Ceres.

References

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External links

Albertite occurrences, Albert Mines

Asphaltic substances in Turkey; their physical properties
Petroleum industry in Canada Oil shale in Canada Oil shale geology Bitumen-impregnated rocks