A desorptive Soxhlet extraction technique and a high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure were used to isolate saturates from tar sand bitumens and produced oils. The oils had been thermally recovered by combustion and hot-gas injection from samples of the Asphalt Ridge and the Tar Sand Triangle deposits in Utah. The distributions of the saturates in the produced oils and in the tar sand bitumens have been identified, and the effects of thermal processing conditions on bitumen composition have been evaluated. Oil recovered by reverse combustion of Asphalt Ridge tar sand contained a lesser amount of saturates compared with the amount in the bitumen; oil recovered by forward combustion of Tar Sand Triangle tar sand contained a greater amount of saturates compared with the amount in the bitumen. The hot-gas injection process at temperatures greater than 493/sup 0/C recovered more oil high in saturate content than either combustion process. Results from field ionization mass spectrometric analysis indicated larger amounts of saturates with a mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) of less than 400 were present in the product oil from forward combustion than were present in the bitumen from the Tar Sand Triangle. The saturates in the oil from forward combustion were comprised mostly of acyclic alkanes, and mono- and dicycloalkanes. The saturates in the product oil from reverse combustion of Asphalt Ridge tar sand were comprised of nearly equal amounts of acyclic alkanes, and mono-, di-, and tricycloalkanes. Greater amounts of material with an m/z from about 200 to 500 were present in oils recovered by hot-gas injection than in the bitumens. The product oil yields were due, in part, to low- or high-temperature oxidation reactions. The extent of thermal cracking of the tar sand bitumens was found to be a function of the pyrolysis temperature, and the distribution of saturates reflected the severity of thermal cracking. 24 refs., 8 figs., 4 tabs.