Abstract: Inductively coupled plasma atomic optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) analytical technique is widely used in a lot of research domains of subjects such as petrology, pharmacy, food nutrition, etc., but less applied to petroleum geology. At present, the oil and gas exploration of Carboniferous igneous rocks in Xinjiang Santanghu basin has achieved some success, but still confronted with numerous research difficulties and technical challenges. The lithology identification of igneous rocks is extremely difficult, "dumb" layer classification and correlation are in lots of problems, which baffle and restrict in-depth research of the igneous rocks in Santanghu basin. Introducing the ICP-OES analytical technique into the igneous rock exploration research will undoubtedly provide new thoughts, methods and means for solving these difficulties and challenges. Now, some substantive breakthrough and progress have been achieved in this basin.

Key words: Santanghu basin, ICP-OES, trace elements, igneous rock, oil-gas exploration