Abstract: If evaporization of the lake-water is stronger than influxion of fresh-water, the lake becomes a saline deposition environment, where carbonate, sulfate and chlorate as well as sand and mud are deposited. Having been investigated for over 20 years, the authors belive that the saline lakes are good places for excellent source rocks deposition. The water column in the saline lake is stratified by gravitation, so that the surface water is of lower salinity and is suitable for aquatic organism; in contrast, the base water of the lakes is of higher or super-high saline and in anoxic conditions, and is the best place for organic matter accumulation. Therefore, in the lakes the hydrocarbon source rocks and evaporites are deposited together. The Tertiary sediments in the Qaidam basin and Eocene sediments in the Dongying Depressrion are important deposits of saline lakes. The deposition models of the evaporites and hydrocarbon source rocks outlined by the authors are a guide to better understand the evolution of saline lacustrine basins and distribution of high potential hydrocarbon source rocks. In burial history of the saline deposits, some of evaporite minerals interacted with organic matter in the hydrocarbon source rocks including catalysis on thermal degradation of organic matter into hydrocarbons, which results in immature oil generation from the hydrocarbon source rocks. This paper presents a series of experiments conducted on the interaction between evaporites and source rock to examine mechanism of oil and gas generation the saline deposits. The study may provide new ideas to petroleum exploration in saline lacustrine basins.