CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOURCE ROCKS FROM TWO PALEOZOIC GEOLOGICAL SECTIONS IN THE LOWER YANGTZE AND THE IMPLICATION FOR THE SOUTH YELLOW SEA BASIN

No Paleozoic drilling samples are available in the South Yellow Sea so far. It has brought difficulties to the oil and gas exploration in the region. However, there are 2 sections in the nearby region, i.e. the Lower Paleozoic Cambrian terrigenous mudstone deposits on the Mufu mountain of Nanjing and the Paleozoic Permian marine limestone in the Chaohu region of Anhui province, and both are dark grey to black in color. The former is now the target of shale gas exploration on the Yangtze continent, and the later consisting of silicified limestone is known as the "rotten limestone" widely exposed in the Yangtze region. Oil and gas geochemical testing confirms that both of them are high quality source rocks. Test of physical properties even shows that the latter could also be high quality reservoir rocks. The Lower Yangtze region was then a platform in Paleozoic, the deposits could be extended to the South Yellow Sea. Therefore, it is reasonable to extend the research results of the samples from the outcrops of the land area, to the South Yellow Sea, in particularly the Southern Depression of the South Yellow Sea Basin as potential hydrocarbon source rocks.