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.