Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) can provide crucial information on the molecular structure of organic and inorganic components and has been used extensively for chemical characterization of geological samples in the past few decades. In this paper, recent applications of FTIR in the geological sciences are reviewed. Particularly, its use in the characterization of geochemistry and thermal maturation of organic matter in coal and shale is addressed. These investigations demonstrate that the employment of high-resolution micro-FTIR imaging enables visualization and mapping of the distributions of organic matter and minerals on a micrometer scale in geological samples, and promotes an advanced understanding of heterogeneity of organic rich coal and shale. Additionally, micro-FTIR is particularly suitable for in situ, non-destructive characterization of minute microfossils, small fluid and melt inclusions within crystals, and volatiles in glasses and minerals. This technique can also assist in the chemotaxonomic classification of macrofossils such as plant fossils. These features, barely accessible with other analytical techniques, may provide fundamental information on paleoclimate, depositional environment, and the evolution of geological (e.g., volcanic and magmatic) systems.

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Petrographic features, C, O, S, and Sr isotopes were determined, and fluid inclusions (FI) were analyzed on various stages of vug‐ and fracture‐fillings from the Cambrian and Lower Ordovician reservoirs in the Tazhong area, Tarim basin, NW China. The aim was to assess the origin of pyrite and anhydrite and the processes affecting sulfur during diagenesis of the carbonates. Pyrite from seven wells has δ34S values from −22‰ to +31‰. The pyrites with low δ34S values from −21.8‰ to −12.3‰ were found close to fracture‐filling calcites with vapor‐liquid double‐phase aqueous fluid inclusions homogenization temperatures (FI‐Th) from 55.7 to 73.2°C, salinities from 1.4wt% to 6.59wt% NaCl equiv and δ13C values from −2.3‰ to −14.2‰, indicating an origin from bacterial sulfate reduction by organic matter. Other sulfides with heavier δ34S values may have formed by thermochemical sulfate reduction (TSR) during two episodes. The earlier TSR in the Middle and Lower Cambrian resulted in pyrites and H2S having δ34S values from 30 to 33‰, close to those of bedded anhydrite and oilfield water (approximately 34‰). The later TSR is represented by calcites with δ13C values as light as −17.7‰ and FI‐Th of about 120–145°C, and pyrite and H2S with δ34S values close to those of the Upper Cambrian burial‐diagenetic anhydrite (between +14.8‰ and +22.6‰). The values of the anhydrite are significantly lighter than contemporary seawater sulfates. This together with 87Sr/86Sr values of anhydrite and TSR calcites from 0.7091 to 0.7125 suggests a source from the underlying Ediacaran seawater sulfate and detrital Sr contribution.

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