Abstract: As oil shale is an important unconventional oil and gas resource,its exploration and development has received increasing attention.Microtremor exploration based on seismic ambient noise is a passive,efficient and low-cost method of seismic exploration,which can be used to image the shear wave velocity of underground medium and can become a potential new exploration method for oil shale more in line with the requirements of "environmental protection".For the first time,the authors applied microtremor method to oil shale exploration based on the spatial cross correlations of common central panel and conducted a study of the identification of oil shale in Songliao Basin.The results show that the geometry of microtremor method can be flexible according to the real situation,the shear wave velocity profile corresponds well with the results of borehole cataloging near the survey line and the main stratum is well divided.The second member of the Nenjiang Formation,which is mainly oil-bearing shale,exhibits low velocity characteristics.