This paper aims to analyze the tectonic framework of the Tarim Basin using regional tectonics. There is a large scale E-W fracture tectonic belt in the center of the Tarim basin, called the Central Tarim tectonic belt or the Central Tarim fracture belt whose geometric plane roughly corresponds to the Central uplift belt of the Tarim basin. Its eastern section extends to connect a group of large-scale near-vertical E-W ductile shear zones and fault zones in the Altyn Tagh orogenic complex, and its western section extends to intersect the binding sites of the West Kunlun orogenic belt and South Tianshan orogenic belt. Regarding its profile, it presents a back-thrust (anticlinal thrust) fracture combination whose formation began in the Early Paleozoic period and whose intense activities continued until after the Triassic Period. The fracture belt, which comprises natural features caused by the geographic thrusting, slipping and vertical squeezing, includes the major oil-bearing zones of the Tarim basin. The E-W highly positive anomaly zone, located roughly at latitude 39 degrees 30' similar to 40, is a large-scale E-W tectonic complex rock zone formed with a crystalline basement and represented by basic granulites, mafic dykes, and granite rocks, as well as superimposed with a Late-Proterozoic-Early Paleozoic active continental margin magmatic arc. The areas from the foreland basin of South Tarim to the Central Tarim fracture belt (the Central uplift belt of Tarim) is distinguished by the basic characteristics of an E-W tectono-magmatic belt, and superimposed with NEE faulted structure(fault rifts and fault sags), whose fracture assemblages are analogous to the fracture assemblages of South Altyn terrene at the south of the Central Altyn fault. The range from the north of the Central Tarim fracture belt to the foreland basin of the northern Tarim is a region characterized by a long-term down-warping. The conjunction belt at the West Kunlun-Tarim basin is manifested as the northward thrust faulting of the West Kunlun Mountains, the intense compression of its piedmont zone, and the sharp subsidence of the foreland basin of South Tarim. On the other hand, the conjunction belt at the West Tianshan Mountains-Tarim basin is manifested as the southward thrust faulting of the South Tianshan Mountains and uplifting at the back of the foreland basin of the northern Tarim, due to the strong northward subduction of Tarim massif against the orogenic complex of Tianshan Mountains. In its present state, the Tarim basin is featured by complex tectonic stress bearing the extrusion towards the basin space, squeezed by both north and south sides, sinistral strike-slip at the east, and dextral strike-slip at the west. Therefore, the formation of the current tectonic framework of Tarim basin is basically result of the four different types of tectonic stress fields mentioned above, which have attached multiple, intense transformations and superpositions against the pre-existing E-W directional tectonic texture.
