Seismic interpretation reveals the rift basin in the south segment of the western Sichuan foreland basin

which had been developed before Permian

might be filled up with thousands of meters of Silurian-Carbo-(niferous) strata.The late stage of the area had gone through a tectonic compression in the Cenozoic

and as a result

the foreland basin exhibits a double-layer structure characterized by shallow fold-thrust structures and deep rift basins.The shallow structures consist of some flat-and ramp-related thrust faults and the associated fault bend folds

while the deep structures occur as graben-type basins and half-graben-type basins

which had experienced local positive inversion

resulting in the synchronous folding of the Permian

Mesozoic

and Cenozoic.The deep rift structures

to some extent

controlled the development of the shallow ones.It is suggested that the deep rift basins in the Paleozoic and the inverted anticlines in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic in the south segment in western Sichuan foreland basin may have large hydrocarbon potentials

thus are frontiers for exploration.