Hydrocarbon Generation and Accumulation in the Eastern Kuqa Depression, Northwestern China: Insights from Basin and Petroleum System Modeling  
[PERSON]  
1 National Key Laboratory of Deep Oil and Gas, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (K.  
Basin modeling stands at the forefront of modern petroleum exploration, petroleum geology comprehensive research, and petroleum resource evaluation. Basin modeling is based on the basic principles of physics, chemistry, and geological processes, serving as a pivotal tool that integrates processes such as petroleum generation, migration, and accumulation in a quantitative manner, and it can directly reveal the laws of petroleum basin evolution [4; 5]. Based on the burial and thermal history modeling of some single wells, several researchers have mainly analyzed the hydrocarbon generation and charging process in the eastern Kuqa Depression, while the hydrocarbon generation of different lithologic source rocks has not been determined yet. In addition, one-dimensional basin modeling is not conducive to regional comparison [6; 7; 8]. Two-dimensional (2D) basin modeling is based on the accurate interpretation of geological tectonic patterns, which can accurately reflect the actual formation, lithology, and structure, especially regarding the regional distinction [9].  
Two-dimensional basin modeling needs to be realized by meshing the geological section first. It is required that the same stratigraphic boundary can only appear once on the same vertical grid line. However, in the restoration process, not only thickness changes in the vertical strata but also compression in the horizontal direction should be considered. The occurrence of reverse faults can cause a set of strata to be drilled multiple times in the same vertical line, with multiple depth values [5; 10]. The Kuqa foreland thrust belt has experienced intensive tectonic deformations, and a large number of thrust faults have developed, resulting in serious formation fragmentation, vertical repeated stacking, and complex structural characteristics, which make it difficult to carry out 2D basin modeling research in this area. This mainly manifests in two ways: (1) the accurate simulation of the effects of the thrust process, rapid deposition, and the erosion process on heat flow and source rock maturity is the key issue in thermal and maturity history analysis [9]; (2) it is hard to establish a 2D basin model for a tectonic compressional geological section.  
In this study, based on an analysis of the effects of the extrusion thrust process, rapid deposition, and the erosion process on heat flow and source rock maturity, we take a north-south section of the eastern Kuqa Depression (Figure 1d) as the main object of research for 2D basin modeling. The main objectives are to (1) restore the structural evolution history of the section and clarify the tectonic movement; (2) to establish a reasonable 2D basin model and determine the thermal and maturity evolution history; (3) to quantitatively analyze source rock hydrocarbon generation and clarify the main hydrocarbon generation zones and main hydrocarbon generation periods; and (4) to investigate hydrocarbon migration and accumulation evolution in the area and predict favorable traps for oil and gas enriched.