Evaluation of Carboniferous Source Rocks in Santanghu Basin

The distribution of the Carboniferous source rocks in Santanghu basin is characterized by thick in south and thin in north,in which Malang and Tiaohu sags have the maximum thickness of them.The lithologic types of source rocks mainly include dark mudstone,tuffaceous mudstone and carbonaceous medstone deposited in littoral-neritic or marine-continental alternating environment.The total organic carbon content,potential hydrocarbon generation amount and bitumen extraction abundance in them are all higher.RockEval pyrolysis parameters suggest that the organic matter in Carboniferous source rocks is dominated by Type-II kerogen,with minor Type-I and-III kerogen contribution.Vitrinite reflectance(Ro) values for most source rock samples are bigger than 0.7%,corresponding Tmax values is over 435oC,indicating a mature to high-mature stage for most source rocks.The study shows that all the Carboniferous source rocks in Santanghu basin are high quality source rocks,with a good potential for hydrocarbon generation.