Stress distribution around kerogen particles as a measure of the initiation of bitumen-filled microfractures in organic-rich source rocks

In this article, we present a method used to model the initiation of bitumen-filled microfractures in immature, organic-rich source rocks. The first part presents the method used to calculate the stress distribution around the kerogen particles. The second part explains the method used to calculate the pressure change as a function of the transformation ratio and the resulting overpressure. • The effective principal stresses acting on the kerogen boundary were calculated. • Kerogen geometries were determined using the measured aspect ratio of the kerogen traces obtained from the petrography observation. • To estimate overpressure, the increase in pressure due to the transformation of kerogen to bitumen was calculated.