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Shale of rich organic matter presents in Upper Carboniferous in Qaidam Basin, Northwest of China. Carboniferous shale thickness is between 100 ~ 300m in the Qaidam Basin, the shale includes silty mudstone shale, calcareous mudstone, shale and carbonaceous shale, and it is very favorable lithology type for shale gas. According to the shale organic geochemical analysis, the abundance of organic matter reaching the middle - good degree of hydrocarbon source rocks; the type of organic matter is mainly II2 and III type. The maturity of organic matter is mainly between 1 % -1.3 %. The Upper Carboniferous shale thermal evolution is in mature oil and gas stage. The Upper Carboniferous hydrocarbon-rich shale distribute stability, with great thickness. Shale gas potential in Upper Carboniferous is quite large.

Based on analyses of the components of crude oil hydrocarbons and carbon isotopes, the content of normal alkane decreased from 49.00% to 20.10% when moving from the No.3 to No.5 tectonic belt of the Lenghu area of the Qaidam Basin, while cycloalkanes increased from 30.00% to 52.20% and aromatic and branch chain alkanes increased gradually as well. The maturity of sterane in crude oil is higher than that of its source-rock, which shows that the hydrocarbons were generated from a deep source-rock of high maturity around the tectonic belts of the Lenghu area. The analysis of the characteristics of carbon isotopes also shows that these isotopes of hydrocarbon compounds in the No.4 and No.5 tectonic belt are apparently heavier than those in the No.3 belt. The results of our research show that the hydrocarbons in the No.3 tectonic belt are mainly from a relatively rich sapropelic substance, while the hydrocarbons in the No.4 and No.5 tectonic belt originated mainly from organic matter of a relatively rich humic type substance.

We investigated the geological factors associated with unsuccessful exploration wells in the northern margin of the Qaidam basin to better understand their cause. The structural situation, the hydrocarbon accumulation mechanism and unsuccessful well data collected from 1996 to 2005 were studied. The results show that the main geological factors associated with unsuccessful exploration wells are a lack of effective source rocks and a lack of effective traps, as well as the migration-accumulation conditions that exist in this area. The basin was reformed by Meso-Cenozoic tectonic evolution. Multi-stage tectonic activities have both positive and negative effects on hydrocarbon accumulation. Source rocks distribution, effective migration channels, effective traps and the tectonic evolution effects on hydrocarbons should be the key objects for further studies.