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Geological Magazine; November 2008; v. 145; no. 6; p. 868-885; DOI: 10.1017/S0016756808005384
© 2008 Cambridge University Press (CUP)
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Mesozoic non-marine petroleum source rocks determined by palynomorphs in the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, northwestern China

DE-XIN JIANG*, YONG-DONG WANG{dagger},{ddagger}, ELEANORA I. ROBBINS§, JIANG WEI and NING TIAN{dagger}

* Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, People’s Republic of China
{dagger} Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, People’s Republic of China
§ U.S. Geological Survey, Reston VA 20192, USA
Norfolk State University, Norfolk VA 23504, USA

{ddagger} Author for correspondence: ydwang{at}nigpas.ac.cn, ydwang-67{at}163.com

The Tarim Basin in Northwest China hosts petroleum reservoirs of Cambrian, Ordovician, Carboniferous, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary ages. The sedimentary thickness in the basin reaches about 15 km and with an area of 560 000 km2, the basin is expected to contain giant oil and gas fields. It is therefore important to determine the ages and depositional environments of the petroleum source rocks. For prospective evaluation and exploration of petroleum, palynological investigations were carried out on 38 crude oil samples collected from 22 petroleum reservoirs in the Tarim Basin and on additionally 56 potential source rock samples from the same basin. In total, 173 species of spores and pollen referred to 80 genera, and 27 species of algae and fungi referred to 16 genera were identified from the non-marine Mesozoic sources. By correlating the palynormorph assemblages in the crude oil samples with those in the potential source rocks, the Triassic and Jurassic petroleum source rocks were identified. Furthermore, the palynofloras in the petroleum provide evidence for interpretation of the depositional environments of the petroleum source rocks. The affinity of the miospores indicates that the petroleum source rocks were formed in swamps in brackish to lacustrine depositional environments under warm and humid climatic conditions. The palynomorphs in the crude oils provide further information about passage and route of petroleum migration, which is significant for interpreting petroleum migration mechanisms. Additionally, the thermal alternation index (TAI) based on miospores indicates that the Triassic and Jurassic deposits in the Tarim Basin are mature petroleum source rocks.

Key Words: spores and pollen • petroleum source rocks • petroleum migration • oil field • Triassic–Jurassic • Tarim Basin






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