Maturity (geology)
In petroleum geology, the maturity of a rock is a measure of its state in terms of hydrocarbon generation. Maturity is established using a combination of geochemical and basin modelling techniques.
Rocks with high total [organic carbon],, will alter under increasing temperature such that the organic molecules slowly mature into hydrocarbons. Source rocks are therefore broadly categorised as immature, sub-mature, mature and overmature.
The maturity of a source rock can also be used as an indicator of its hydrocarbon potential. That is, if a rock is sub-mature, then it has a much higher potential to generate further hydrocarbons than one that is overmature.