The author postulated about 20 years ago that petrolierous basings,as a specific kind of sedimentary basins,are the Products of geodynamic(geotectonical and geothermal)regimes which influence the globe as a whole and change with time throughout the geological history of the earth.As there are so many unidirectional changes in earth properties.it would not be unwise to consider the development of petroliferors basin an evolutionary instead of an uniformitaristic way,and to classify the Paleozoic and the Meso-Cenozoic basins on a dualistic basis in accordance with the respective regime of global tectonsics.For practical purposes,especiallyfot the evaluation of less-explored petroliferous basins.it is suggested(see fig.1 in Chinese text)to relate the 4M factors[material,maturity,migration versus nonmigration (trapping) and state of maintenance],which control the location(L) and the potential quantity(Q) of oil and gas,to the 4S conditions(subsidence,sedimentation,stress and style)of a basin taken as a whole.The basin,in its turn,is composed of one or several prototypes(P) Which owe its existence to the mechanisms of formation determinative with the tectonic setting and the thermal regime prevailing at the time of thei,formation(3T).Consequently,we ought to be able topredict the habitat of petroleum in different basin types of different geological agesthrough the analysis of T,S,M,and to treat them with different thoughts and methods of prospecting.To group the Paleozoic basins with the Meso-Cenozoic intraplate basins under the general heading of"cratonic basins"as some current classification schemes do,seems to be inadequate and would not but lead to the disappointing statement that cratonic basins are"deceptively simple",as they do not really be. "Plate tectonics offers a framework within which many of the processes of more recent continental evolution can be understood,but as we deal with increasingly ancient Portions of the continents,it is increasingly difficult to test the applicability of the plate-tectonic concepts".Continental tectonics,of which the development of "cratonic"basins and arches being important constituents,must be explainable asa part of a global geodynamic system,however,whose component processes may have changed through geological times.To reason with it,the author tends to differentiate on historical-geodynamical ground the formation of petroliferous basins since as early as late Proterozoic into 3 stages:1.The ancient global tectonic stage ranging in age from the break-up of the Proto-Supercontinent or Pangea E to the formation of Pangea B;2.An intermediate stage as the mobile Pangea B developped into Pangea A;and 3.A new global tectonics or plate tectonies stage related with the break-up of Pangea A in the latest 200 m.y.
