• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.261-271
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• 2022

Six gas samples were collected from coal and coaly shale from core AA-1, which was acquired from the Asem-Asem Basin, southeast Kalimantan, Indonesia. These coalbed gas samples were analyzed for the molecular composition, carbon isotope (δ¹³C_CH4, δ¹³C_C2, and δ¹³C_CO2), hydrogen isotope (δD_CH4), hydrocarbon index (C_HC), and carbon dioxide-methane index (CDMI) to document their origin and methanogenic pathways. Core AA-1 successively consists of lower clastic sedimentary rocks (Sedimentary Unit-1, SU-1) containing coal and coaly shale, and upper limestone (Sedimentary Unit-2, SU-2), unconformably underlain by serpentinized basement interpreted as part of the Cretaceous Meratus subduction complex (MSC). The coal and coaly shale (SU-1) were deposited in a marshes nearby a small-scale river. Compositions of coalbed gases show that methane ranges from 87.35 to 95.29% and ethane ranges from 3.65 to 9.97%. Carbon isotope of coalbed methane (δ¹³C_CH4) ranges from -60.3 to -58.8‰, while hydrogen isotope (δD_CH4) ranges from -252.9 to -252.1‰. Carbon isotope of coalbed ethane (δ¹³C_C2) ranges from -32.8 to -31.2‰, carbon isotope of coalbed carbon dioxide (δ¹³C_CO2) ranges from -8.6 to -6.2‰. The coalbed CO₂ is interpreted to be an abiogenic origin based on a combination of δ¹³C_CO2 and CDMI and could have been transported from underlying CO₂ bearing MSC through faults. The methanogenic pathways of coalbed gases are interpreted to have originated from primary methyl-type fermentation and mixed with CO₂ reduction, affecting thermogenic non-marine coal-type gases based on analyses of isotopic ratios and various indexes.