Geophysical characterization of black shales

Black shales are dark, thinly bedded sedimentary rocks deposited under anaerobic conditions. They are rich in carbon, sulfides and organic matter, and potentially can serve as hydrocarbon source rocks. Black shales may also contain significant enrichments of gas or oil (gas shales, oil shales). Because of the continuous distribution of the natural gas or oil, they are considered to be unconventional reservoir types (Law and Curtis, 2002). During the last decades, increasing economic exploitation was triggered by the development of improved drilling and stimulation techniques, particularly in North America (e.g., Montgomery et al., 2005), but recently also in other regions such as Europe and Asia.