Huahai-Jinta basin lies in Gansu province

occupying an area of 9688km

2

and filled with sedimentary rocks of about 5000m thick. The lower Paleozoic basement was overlain mainly by Jurassic

Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks. The source rocks there have quite abundant organic matters

the maximum thickness is 972m

these rocks have a stable reductive environment and good conditions for oil generation. The threshold depth of oil generation is about 1800m. Some indexes of oil generation is comparable with that of western Jiuquan basin and Songliao basin

the geothermal gradient is similar to that of other basins in the western part of China. Conditions for oil reservation is good and a lot of oil showings are found.Huahai-Jinta basin is really a oil prospect one. It is neccessary to find out various kind of oil traps

pay attention to complex zones of oil accumulation as well as the distributing sequences of oil pools.A tentative prevision for favorable sections of the basin is

made by the author in this study.