The relatively high abundance of the aromatic arborane/fernane series has been detected in sediments of the Hongze sag of the Subei basin, and mudstone of the Santanghu basin in Xinjiang, China. The source rocks of the Hongze sag occur in a brackish-saline environment, while those of the Santanghu basin in a fresh-water environment. These series of compounds are found to be widely distributed in the eastern and western parts of China. This may imply that the source material for these compounds are widespread. Based on the characteristics of aromatic arborane/fernane in source rocks of the Hongze sag, the authors found that they mainly occur in the source rocks of excellent organic matter type and postulate that these series of compounds might be related to microbe source input.