**Author details**

shale are indicative of TST or the highest gamma ray and TOC are criteria for identifying MFS of siliciclastic-dominated fine-grained shales exampled by Barnett, Woodford, Marcellus, Mowry, and Longmaxi shales do not work for carbonate-dominated fine-grained shale. The sequence stratigraphy of the Niobrara carbonate-dominated fine-grained shale in this chapter shows that the rise in the sea level resulted in deposit of fine-grained low gamma-ray organic-lean chalky carbonate in clean water and the fall in the sea level resulted in clay-rich, high gamma ray, and

Both siliciclastic-dominated "shale" and carbonate-dominated "shale" are usually located in anoxic depositional settings, for example, intra-shelf low and slope. The brittle minerals in rich siliciclastic marine and lacustrine shales with high TOC and high hydrocarbon (oil and gas) content occur in the transgressive systems tract (TST) up to the early highstand systems tract (EHST). The brittle condensed section of MFS has the best reservoir quality and comple-

Similarly to clastic sequence stratigraphic models developed for sandstones and carbonates, the sequence stratigraphy of fine-grained shale provides a powerful tool for predicting and mapping stratigraphy, variations of lithology, geochemistry, mineralogy, and shale gas content in time and space, and ultimately the most productive facies of unconventional gas shales.

This study was supported by EGI's multiyear China Shale Plays consortium (100980) and Open fund from Sinopec Key Laboratory of Shale Oil/Gas Exploration and Production Technology (Grant no. G5800-15-ZS-2X038), Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources of Ministry of Education (China University of Geosciences) (TPR-2017-02), Key laboratory of strategy evaluation for Shale gas of Ministry of Land and Resources, U.S. National Science Foundation (No. 1661733) and China National Natural Science Foundation (nos. 41728004, 41302089 and 41472112). We are also grateful to reviewers and handling editor for their critical comments and constructive suggestions. The international collaboration between PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, China University of Geosciences at Beijing, China University of Geosciences at Wuhan, China Geological Survey, China University of Petroleum at Beijing, China University

of Petroleum at Qingdao and EGI also made this research and book chapter possible.

Abbreviations for sequence stratigraphy used throughout this chapter include: SB, sequence boundary; TSE, transgressive surface of erosion; RSE, regressive surface of erosion; LST, lowstand (falling stage) systems tract; TST, transgressive systems tract; HST, highstand systems tract (consisting of EHST—early highstand systems tract and LHST—late highstand systems tract); CS, condensed section; MFS, maximum flooding surface; MRS, maximum regressive

organic-rich marl due to the increase in clay input during the sea-level drop.

30 Seismic and Sequence Stratigraphy and Integrated Stratigraphy - New Insights and Contributions

tion quality.

**Acknowledgements**

**A. Appendix**

surface; TOC, total organic content (wt.%).

Shu Jiang1,2,3,4,5\*, Caineng Zou<sup>6</sup> , Dazhong Dong<sup>6</sup> , Wen Lin<sup>6</sup> , Zhenlin Chen7 , Lei Chen<sup>8</sup> , Lanyu Wu7 , Wei Dang<sup>9</sup> and Yajun Li10

