The characteristics and distribution of salt lake hydrocarbon source rocks from lower submember of 4th member of the Shahejie formation is short of systematic research. Especially, the hydrocarbon potential of halopelite, gypsum mudstone which are widely developed in salt lake, is less understood. In response to these problems, multiple source rock samples of study layer are collected and analyzed. The experimental results confirmed that, the source rocks interbedded with the gypsum or salt are rich in organic matter, and the type of organic matter in source rocks is mainly II1-I, which is of great oil generation potential. The experiments also confirmed the halopelite, gypsum mudstone have certain hydrocarbon potential, and can function as effective hydrocarbon source rocks. Based on the experiment data, the evaluation methods of salt lake source rocks by logging information are established and the distributions of hydrocarbon source rocks are studied. Results show that, the effective source rocks are mainly distributed in Minfeng area, Lijin sag and downthrown of Shengtuo area. The source rocks in these areas have great total thickness, high organic carbon content. Finally, the evolutions of source rocks are analyzed. The source rocks of lower submember of 4th member of Shahejie formation generally experienced a“fast-slow-fast”burial history, and experienced long oil generated period. At present, the source rock generated wet or dry gas due to the thermal effect, and the crude oil in source rocks and ancient reservoirs started to crack and generate gases.