Source rock

<p>In <a href="/facts/Petroleum_geology/jMPyPVmN">petroleum geology</a>, source rock is rock which has generated <a href="/facts/Hydrocarbons/Dcg95Ju5">hydrocarbons</a> or which could generate hydrocarbons. Source rocks are one of the necessary elements of a working <a href="/facts/Petroleum_system/wYoSQmGN">petroleum system</a>. They are organic-rich sediments that may have been deposited in a variety of <a href="/facts/Sedimentary_depositional_environment/D9msL28T">environments</a> including deep water <a href="/facts/Marine_biology/3pNR9o6L">marine</a>, <a href="/facts/Lake/YP0xxn0E">lacustrine</a> and <a href="/facts/River_delta/fmWuaRqX">deltaic</a>. <a href="/facts/Oil_shale/WSREUH8t">Oil shale</a> can be regarded as an organic-rich but immature source rock from which little or no oil has been generated and expelled. Subsurface source rock mapping methodologies make it possible to identify likely zones of petroleum occurrence in sedimentary basins as well as <a href="/facts/Shale_gas/Pwp8R3DQ">shale gas</a> plays.
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Source rock open-in-new

Source rock