Definition of "kerogen" []

• A fossilized material in shale and other sedimentary rock that yields oil upon heating. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Oil shale is a type of rock that has a petroleum precursor called kerogen trapped inside of it."
• "Oil shale is a precursor of oils, a rock that contains enough organic material – called kerogen – to yield oil and gas when it is cooked."
• "The hydrocarbons locked up in shale rocks in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, known as kerogen, was again touted as the answer to America's energy problem."