The multi-staged “golden zones” of hydrocarbon exploration in superimposed petroliferous basins of onshore China and its significance

The hydrocarbon generation model proposed by Tissot et al. points out the temperature and depth of “liquid HC window”, which has become a “golden zone” for hydrocarbon exploration. It has been proved by exploration that multi-staged “golden zones” for hydrocarbon exploration is commonly developed in the superimposed petroliferous basins of onshore China. There are three factors for the formation of multi-staged “golden zones” of HC exploration in the superimposed basins: (1) source kitchens developed with multi-periods and multi-centers which have verified to lead multi-stages of HC generation with large scale, (2) multi-staged reservoirs develop with large scale, (3) hydrocarbon accumulations occur with the multi-periods and late effectiveness. The conventional source kitchens, dispersed liquid HC-cracking gas kitchens and effective reservoirs with large scale join together to control the distribution of “golden zones” in timing and space. Explorational “golden zones” have the characteristics of inherited stacking and lateral variation. Paleo-highs, paleo-slopes, paleo-platform margins, and multi-period inherited fault zones control the distribution of hydrocarbons in the explorational “golden zones”. The concept of multi explorational “golden zones” helps to deepen the knowledge of new hydrocarbon distributional regularity which revealed recently in China. It shows that there exist economic resources in the deep section of the superimposed basins of onshore China. The hydrocarbon discovery history in the superimposed petroliferous basins has the feature of multi-peaks of proven reserve increase and lasting a quite long, which indicates a huge potential for future exploration.