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.