Discovery of the Late Jurassic Shenglihe marine oil shale in the northern Qiangtang basin, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Oil and gas potentials of the Qiangtang basin in northern Tibet are getting more and more attention of the country with deep-going research. However, constrained by harsh natural conditions, there are still many problems or facts in the basin to be found and understood. The authors found a set of high-quality oil shale in the Upper Jurassic Suowa Formation between the west of Shenglihe and the southeast of Margog Caka in May 2006, The oil shale consists of two beds, extending steadily for above 2.5 km, with a thickness of -5 m. The discovery of the oil shale is not only important for analyzing the Late Jurassic evolution and reconstructing the paleogeographic framework of the northern Qiangtang basin but also adds a new Jurassic hydrocarbon rock type. This has great significance for the further evaluation of the potential of oil and gas resources in the Qiangtang basin.