Abstract: The subject is treated on the basis of field experiences and large amount of geochemical data. It is proposed that (1) the content and distribution of organic matter in continental source rocks are something related to the types of lake sediments deposited, generally expressed by the presence of organic carbon, chloroform extract asphalt "A" and hydrocarbons content (2) From the study of the types of organic matter by means of chromatogram, infrared spectrum, chromatogrammass spectrogram, it has been found that in addition to the above, sedimentary facies zone also plays a part and that the source rocks contain kerogen of many types. (3) According to the genetic relationship between soluble and insoluble organic matter in the source rocks, coupled with data of kerogen, organic matter in continental source rocks is classified into 5 types: the sapropel type, the humus-sapropel type, the sapropel-humus type, the humus type and kerogen coal.