Minhe Basin is situated on central Qilian uplift belt. The basement of the basin includes the Proterozoic and Lower Paleozoic

the caprooks are Jurassic

Cretaceous

Tertiary and Quaternary. The basal structures are primarily in NW direction. The structures formed in Yenshan movement are mainly distributed in NW

EW

nearly EW

NS and nearly NS directions; the superimposition of milti directional structures has made them more complicated. The structures formed in Himalayan movement are predominantly distributed in NW direction within Bazhou Depression and Zhoujiatai uplipt . Multi stage superimposition and composition of the structures resulted in netted tectonic framework of the basin.