SOME PROBLEMS CONCERNING PETROLEUM GEOLOGY OF THE TARIM BASIN

This paper gives mainly an explanation that the Tarim Basin is a unified piedmont basin formed in the Cenozoic by shear stress and superimposed on a dissected fault depression basin of the Middle Cenozoic. According to our analysis of the insoluble residues of Carboniferous rocks, trace elements, oxygen and carbon isotopes and clay minerals, the basin was then a dustpan-like one with the southern part deeper than the northern part.From the viewpoint of oil generation, the most favorable should be the Jurassic source rock (though limited in distribution), the less——the Carboniferous-Permian rocks which feature wide distribution and ample potentialities of oil generation, and the least——the Cretaceous-Eogene rocks which are found in a certain area.