There are abundant oil shale resources in northwest China. Field geological section survey, standard mining investigation, and laboratory analysis of important samples indicate that the oil shale in northwest China has the following features: 1) oil shale strata 1~36 m thick exist in this region; 2) the color of the oil shale is mostly brown-black, black, whereas the color of some oil shale outcrops is maroon; 3) in hand specimen, oil shale is mainly composed of clay minerals and silt-sized detrital minerals; 4) the main chemical components of oil shale are SiO2 and Al2O3; 5) oil shale deposits can be mainly divided into 3 types: littoral-neritic facies sedimentary deposits in middle and Late Carboniferous-Early Permian strata; 6) in this region, the total amount of predicted resources of oil shale is at least 30 000×108 t; and 7) in northwest China, identified oil shale deposits are located in the vicinity of large and medium-sized cities.
