Development of shale gas resources in the United States is already changing the global energy layout and initiating alterations in energy sources in many nations.Shale gas resources were first characterized and commercially developed in the United States because of a focus on geological sciences,and thanks to the rapid advance of technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.Canada has experienced shale gas development activity as well,but at a much smaller scale because Canada has sufficient conventional gas production for domestic consumption,and there are no export facilities for natural gas,except to the United States,where shale gas production is displacing Canadian imports.These two countries have nurtured the technological advances making development possible,and the success in North America is widely regarded as a potential template for of shale gas development activities elsewhere.However,differences in geology,the high level of technology required,and the nature of the resource ownership and geographical disposition in North America suggest that rapid achieving of such a level of development in other countries will be extremely challenging.A review of the geosciences (sedimentology,mineralogy and microfabric,structural geology,etc…) and geomechanics (brittleness,natural fractures,mechanical properties,etc…) of the most well-understood and well-developed shale gas plays in North America is presented; these shale gas plays include Barnett shale and Marcellus shale activity in the United States,and the shale gas play in the Horn River basin of Canada.Also,some results of microstructural and mechanical studies on gas shale samples collected in eastern Canada are included in this article.A comparison between shale gas plays in North America and the shale gas deposition in the Sichuan basin of southwest China in terms of above mentioned characteristics is included,leading to some general comments on the differences and challenges arising for the large-scale development of China’s shale gas resources.