Thermal evolution and maturation of Sinian and Cambrian source rocks in the central Sichuan Basin, Southwest China

The Sichuan Basin is among the basins with the most abundant oil and gas resources in China. The Sinian and Cambrian strata are the most important source rocks. Previous studies of the thermal history of the central Sichuan Basin have focused on the Late Paleozoic and studies of the Early Paleozoic thermal history are not available in literature and the thermal evolution of the Sinian and Cambrian source rocks are yet to be examined. A new thermal history was reconstructed using integrated thermal indicators, including apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He, zircon fission tracks, and equivalent vitrinite reflectance. The modeled results indicated that the heat flow was relatively low (