Oil–source correlation in Tertiary deltaic petroleum systems: A comparative study of the Beaufort–Mackenzie Basin in Canada and the Pearl River Mouth Basin in China

Biomarker distributions in crude oil have been routinely used to investigate source rock character, thermal maturity of migrated oil and lateral facies changes in the underlying source rocks in vertically drained basins. Case studies from Tertiary deltaic systems that contain mixed oils from multiple source rocks in the Beaufort–Mackenzie and Pearl River Mouth basins indicate that oil–source correlation using the common fingerprint approach tends to favour the source that contains higher biomarker concentrations, so biomarker concentrations as well as concentration-independent, yet source-definitive, parameters are needed to address the mass balance issues.