This book addresses the principles and methods for determining petroleum source rocks based on fossil spores and pollen. Studying petroliferous basins in China, we discovered that there are often as many as three different sources of the microfossils: the source rocks, the rocks along the pathway, and the reservoir rocks. Therefore, fossil spores, pollen and algae from inland and coastal shelf petroliferous basins are analyzed and illustrated to show this complex process. Furthermore, the organic origin theory of oil is proven and environmental characteristics for hydrocarbon source-rock formation are discussed. Along with the geochronical and geographic distribution of non-marine petroleum source rocks in China, the mechanisms of petroleum migration following the pathways to the reservoirs are investigated. It will be a valuable reference work as well as a textbook for a wider research areas ranging from stratigraphy, palynology, palaeontology and petroleum geology.

Jiang Dexin, Professor, born in 1933 in Zhejiang of China and graduated from Beijing College of Geology in China (now the China University of Geosciences, Beijing) in 1956. Affiliation: Lanzhou Center for Oil and Gas Resources, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (formerly the Lanzhou Institute of Geology, Chinese  Academy of Sciences). Her major study areas include: terrestrial oil and gas reservoir formation and distribution in NW China, the formation of petroleum, identification of source rocks and mechanisms of petroleum migration. In particular, she has focused on petroleum source rocks based on palynological studies. More than 70 papers have been published in international and Chinese journals. As a visiting scholar of Chinese Academy of Sciences, she cooperated with Dr. Alfred Traverse at the Palynological Laboratory of the Pennsylvania State University in 1984. Her scientific publications on sporo-pollen in crude oils and petroleum source rocks were awarded the Scientific Technical Progress Prize in 1986 and the Nature Science Prize in 1992 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Eleanora I. Robbins, Ph.D., is a paleopalynologist, having 34 years of experience as an economic geologist and palynologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia, working on mineral deposits, petroleum, and coal.  Born in 1942 in Washington, DC, she is presently adjunct faculty at San Diego State University in San Die

go, California. She also worked for the Geological Survey of Tanzania, exploring for mineral deposits. Her specialties include Precambrian, Triassic, and Cretaceous palynology. She has also published extensively in geomicrobiology, focusing on coal and metal mine remediation.

Yongdong Wang, Ph.D., Professor of palaeontology in Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Born in 1967 in Gansu of China, he obtained bachelors and masters degrees in Lanzhou University and Lanzhou Institute of Geology, CAS. He has gained Ph.D. from the Department of Geology, Northwest University in 1996 in Xian, China. His major research fields include Mesozoic terrestrial stratigraphy, palaeobotany and palynology, palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment. More than 100 papers have been published in international and Chinese journals. He was a senior visiting scholar at the University of Florida, USA, and a visiting professor at the University Lyon in France; and received the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship of Germany in 2000. He is the Secretary General of the Palaeontological Society of China; the Voting Member of the International Subcommission on the Jurassic System, ICS; and co-leader of UNESCO-IUGS International Geoscience Program IGCP 506.

Yang Huiqiu, Associate Professor, born in 1930 in Sichuan of China and graduated from Department of Biology, Lanzhou University in 1956. A

ffiliation: Lanzhou Center for Oil and Gas Resources, Institute ofGeology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (formerly the Lanzhou Institute of Geology, Chinese  Academy of Sciences). Her major study areas include: petroleum source rocks based on palynological studies. Many papers have been published in international and Chinese journals. Her scientific publications on sporo-pollen in crude oils and petroleum source rocks were awarded the Scientific Technical Progress Prize in 1986 and the Nature Science Prize in 1992 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Introduction.- Geological Background.- Fossil Spores and Pollen in Crude Oils.- Petroleum Sporo-pollen Assemblages and Judgment of Petroleum Source Rocks.- Spore/Pollen Fossil Coloration and Petroleum Source Rock Quality.- Palynological Evidence for Organic Petroleum Origin Theory.- Environment for Formation of Petroleum Source Rocks.- Mechanisms of Petroleum Migration.- Geochronic and Geographic distribution of Nonmarine Petroleum Source Rocks.