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After Rock-Eval & TOC screening and heterogeneity evaluation on 91 Palaeogene source rock samples from a well drilled in the Austrian Molasse Basin, ten shale samples were selected for detailed investigations by means of pyrolysis-gas chromatography, bulk kinetics and biomarker identification and quantification. Afterwards, 2-D biplots based on principal component analysis were applied to unravel the palaeo-environmental control on the development of petroleum source rocks.

All samples are immature source rocks with good petroleum generation potentials. The redox environment during deposition was generally reducing, and palaeosalinity is suggested to be the main factor causing the differences in organic carbon contents among the samples. The hydrogen index values, the gas generation preferences and the aromaticity of the products are controlled by both depositional environment and precursors, and the product of a salinity indicator (MTTC) and the oleanane index is introduced as predictive proxy to evaluate these features. The maturity indicator (Tmax) is revealed as dominated by the stability of the kerogen structure which is controlled by the proportion of organic sulphur compounds in the kerogen. The global Eocene-Oligocene climate change from a greenhouse to an icehouse world is suggested to play an important role in changing the palaeoenvironment and further in influencing the development of petroleum source rocks by triggering upwelling, increasing the palaeo-sea water salinity and decreasing the deposition of carbonate-minerals.

The chemometric method suggested here acts as a powerful tool in identifying the controlling factors for the petroleum generation potential among many variables, and can be applied more widely in petroleum geology when multi-parameters are involved to get quick and meaningful correlations.