Subsurface Laboratory Methods 209 



Studies of Crude Oil 



It will be necessary to develop a technique for studying crude oils in 

 the electron microscope. In one study a specimen of crude oil was mounted 

 in the usual manner on collodion film, and a monotonous gray field was 

 seen, except for one object or group of objects (fig. 89) . This was com- 

 posed of a number of oval bodies; some of these are seen to be solid, 

 while others appear to be breaking up. It is possible that this object was 

 not able to withstand the high vacuum and electron bombardment in the 

 electron microscope, and the photograph caught the material in the process 

 of disintegration. 



Figure 89. Electron-microscope picture (X 20,000) of object found in sample of 

 crude oil from Athabaska tar sands in Alberta. Note dark, oval bodies associ- 

 ated with two somewhat larger, circular bodies. These oval bodies may be 

 spores or minute protozoan tests. (Courtesy R.C.A. Laboratories and Standard 

 Oil Development Company.) 



A possible approach to the study of crude oils in the electron micro- 

 scope may be as follows: 



1. All foreign substances in the oil and in the extracts that are 

 possible to prepare for study in the microscope would be studied. 



2. Bacteria in the oils and in the extracts would be observed and 

 identified. 



3. The nature of coloring material in some of the darker oils would 

 be studied. Is color due chiefly to the presence of foreign materials, or 

 could it be due to molecular combinations? 



