Comparison on geochemical characteristics between oil shale and black mudstone of Yanchang formation Chang 7 in the Erdos Basin, China

Geochemical characteristics between high quality oil shale and black mud stone of Chang 7, Yanchang formation of Erdos Basin were compared through certain analyses on sedimentary environment and parent materials of different source rocks combined with comprehensive evaluation of source rocks and parameter analysis of biomarkers. The results showed the oil shale formed from deep-lacustrine reducing environment, but the black mudstone formed from semi-deep-lacustrine weak oxidation environment. In addition, oil shale has better total organic carbon, hydrocarbon potential and organic types while black mudstone has better abundance of 17 alpha(H)-diahopanes and Ts.