AUTHOR=Lan Xiaodong , Bai Zhongkai , Yang Youxing , Jiang Zhenglong , Zhang Jile TITLE=Source and geological significance of Jurassic asphalt in the Ruoqiang Sag of Southeast Depression, Tarim Basin, Northwestern China JOURNAL=Frontiers in Earth Science VOLUME=12 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/feart.2024.1371358 DOI=10.3389/feart.2024.1371358 ISSN=2296-6463 ABSTRACT=
The Southeast Depression of the Tarim Basin has a very low petroleum exploration degree, and currently, no industrial oil and gas have been discovered. Many hydrocarbon shows exist in the Ruoqiang Sag, where hydrocarbon sources and accumulation processes are unclear. Only two potential Jurassic hydrocarbon source rocks developed in the Ruoqiang Sag, the Yangye (J2y) lacustrine mudstone of the Middle Jurassic and the Kangsu (J1k) coal-bearing mudstone of the Lower Jurassic. In this study, the Jurassic asphalt found in the QD1 well, combined with the source rocks of drilling cores and outcrops, was used to explore the possible hydrocarbon source and forming process in the Ruoqiang Sag using oil-source correlation and hydrocarbon accumulation geochronology methods. The asphalts have lower light and heavy rare earth fractionation than the J2y mudstone, and the total rare earth element (ΣREE) content, chondrite-normalized curves, and δEu and Y/Ho values are similar to those of the J1k mudstone, especially for the J1k coal. The