Carbazole compounds in crude oils from the Tazhong uplift of the Tarim basin have been fractionated and detected and successfully used to study petroleum migration and trace source rocks in the study area. Alkylcarbazoles have been found in large amounts in the oil samples analyzed and alkylbenzocarbazoles detected in a small concentration only in part of the samples, but alkyldibenzocarbazoles have not been found in oils. Based on the distribution of G1, G2 and G3 of C2-alkylcarbazoles, the ratio of C3-carbazoles to C2-carbazoles and the relative amounts of alkylcarbazoles and alkylbenzocarbazoles, one can know that the vertical oil migration in the Tazhong uplift is generally from below upward, i.e. from the Ordovician through the Silurian to the Carboniferous. Evidently, source rocks in the uplift should be lower Palaeozoic strata (Ordovician and Cambrian). This study shows that carbazoles are of great importance in the study of petroleum migration and source rocks.