Overthrust structure on the northern edge of East Qinling-Dabie orogenic belt consists of the southern and the northern overthrust faults

which constitutes the structural link between the East Qinling-Dabie orogenic belt and the southern North China basin. The overthrust structure is characterized by segmentation along the strike and zonation in the dip direction

i. e. it can be divided into frontal zone

overthrust sheet zone and root zone in the dip direction

and into Yuxi

southern edge of Zhoukou and Huainan-Hefei 3 overthrust segments along the strike. The tectonic evolution can be divided into 3 stages

namely Indosinian collision orogenic stage

late Yanshanian intracontinental orogenic stage and the end of Yanshanian-early Himalayan strike slip extension stage. The preservation condition of source rocks varies greatly in different zones and segments and oil and gas shows are concentrated around the frontal zone. Therefore

the frontal thrust fault zone and the foredeep zone (basin/depression) can be evaluated as the most favorable areas for exploration

while the overthrust sheet zone (basin/depression) that lies between the southern and northern thrust fault zones would be relatively favorable for exploration.