Abstract:

The Tarim basin is the largest inland basin in China,covering an areaof about 0.56 m.sq.km.Considerable work was done in the past of petro-leum prospecting and exploration but was mainly confined to the Kuqa and the Southwestern depressions.Generally speaking,the basin has not been studiedfully.The writer has made an evaluation of the basin in three aspects.Firstly,based on data of stratigraphy,the sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the basin has been described;the structural systems and divisions,as well asthe features in the development of local structures has been expounded fromthe viewpoint of geomechanics and traditional geology;an explanation of main oil source beds,reservoirs and types of potential oil and gas traps hasbeen presented thereafter.Finally,the writer suggested that the Tarim basin would be a verypromising area for oil and gas.According to the available data,it is pointedout that the oil and gas potential varies in following descending order:the Southwestern depression,the Eastern depression and the Kuqa depression,the Central uplift,and the Southeast fault-step area.