Current status of research on source rocks

Abstract

This paper reviews the history and current status of evaluating source rocks from the aspects of organic matter abundance, organic matter type, and organic matter maturity. It also summarizes the evaluation issues of special source rocks (such as immature source rocks, high-maturity, low-organic-matter-content source rocks, carbonate source rocks, coal-bearing strata, and coal-bed source rocks) that have attracted much attention in the petroleum geology community in recent years.