Based on field work, four Quaternary terraces are found according to overlapped loess sequences at Pantang-Heiyukou area and its surroundings in northern Chinese Shanxi-Shaanxi Gorge. These four terraces, which are 12, 50, 80 and 130 m above present the Yellow River level respectively, are all rock-seated terraces. The thicknesses of overlapped loess from the lowest terrace to the highest Quaternary terrace are about 20, 33, 37 and 43 m respectively. ESR dating samples were collected from river sediments on T2, T3 and T4. ESR dating result reveals that the formation ages of these three terraces are 0.609, 0.876 and 0.97±0.107 Ma in turn from T2 to T4. In order to corroborate the dating results, powder samples and oriented samples were collected from sections on T3 and T4. Paleomagnetic result shows that section bottom on T3 does not reach the boundary of B/M (Brunhes/Matuyama), which means a formation age younger than 0.78 Ma. This age is younger than that gotten from ESR dating. The bottom age of T4 section reaches an age of 1.07 Ma, which is a bit older than ESR dating result but within its range. The formation ages of the terraces are in accord with other terraces in upper and lower reach of the Yellow River such as Lanzhou and Sanmenxia which suggests river terraces controlled by tectonic movement exist universally in the domain of the Yellow River. A Late Tertiary section was resampled and measured as an improvement to former works. The result is used to discuss the incision rate of different terraces in this region.

A fault scarp striking NW290° is identified through aerial photo examine and field survey. Differential GPS measure and DEM analysis show that the height of this scarp ranges from 3 to 13 m. This height difference is mainly related to different ages of geomorphology surfaces: the higher scarps can be found in the older alluvial fans and lower scarps in the younger ones. In addition, the fan-shaped fluvial deposition in the hanging wall also influences the scarp height on the alluvial fan of the same period, and the depositional effect goes weaker when farther away from the streams, hence higher the scarp is. Trench investigation suggests that at least two paleoseismic events occurred along this fault scarp in the southwest of Yuxiang County since the end of Late Pleistocene. The first event happened between 16720±70 and 7700±40 aBP, and close to 16720±70 aBP; the second event is between 7700±40 and 7020±40 aBP, with an over 2.2 m vertical displacement, suggesting that this is a Holocene fault scarp. The vertical rate of the fault activity is about 0.9 mm/a through comparative studies.

River longitudinal profile can reflect various geomorphic and landform characteristics of its drainage basin. This study is focused on the profile of the 10 mainstreams of the northern Tianshan. SL index(SL) and gradient index (SL/K) are examined for concavity studies of each profile. They are compared with the bedrock distribution, active structures, and geomorphic features to clarify the activity of the northern Tianshan. The results illustrate that, after millions of years of tectonic evolution, the main factor to cause the landform of the drainage basin is tectonic uplifting, instead of what proposed by Davis's graded river theory. The third episode of the Himalayan movement affects the trailing edge of the deformation belt, and the movement at the end of the early Pleistocene leads the southern margin of the Junggar Basin to deform completely. Gradient index increases as each river meeting with the southern margin fault of the Junggar basin in district Ⅱ. Therefore, in a large-scaled view of gradient index, tectonic fault exhibits a strong influence on river profile in the study area. The difference of the lithology and the afflux of the tributaries also make a great influence on gradient index in a subbasin-scaled view.

Seven river terraces are recognized based on detailed field investigation in the Heiyukou area, Shanxi-Shaanxi Gorge of the Yellow River, of which the highest T7 and T6 terraces are covered by red clay. The lithology and grain size of pebbles on different terraces along the river are studied. It is found that the lithology of pebbles on the sixth and seventh terrace is similar to that of lower Yellow River terraces and floodplain in the Heiyukou area, but different from that of Weifen River, a tributary of the Yellow River running from east to west. The limestone pebbles, which are dominant pebbles in Baode area, not only become less in amount, but become smaller in grain size from the upstream to the downstream. This indicates that the pebbles of Late Tertiary are the relic of an ancient river running from north to south. Magnetostratigraphy study shows that the bottom age of the strata, 70 m fine sands in lower part and red clay in the upper part, covering on the pebbles of the T7 terrace is about 6.8 Ma, and the bottom age of the red clay covering on the T6 terrace is about 3.3 Ma. This indicates that the ancient river formed at least before 6.8 Ma in this area, and the age of T6 (3.3 Ma) matches well with Phase A of Qinghai-Xizang Movement. There is about 160 m incision in this area after Phase A of Qinghai-Xizang Movement. The average incision rate is more than five times faster than that before Phase A of Qinghai-Xizang Movement.

Based on the data of 244 wells, the sandstone reservoirs of the Neogene in Huatugou oilfield, Qaidam Basin is tentatively evaluated with Q-model Principal Factor Analysis(PFA) and Fast Clustering Method(FCM). In order to quantitatively analyze the characteristics of the reservoirs and the relation between the characteristics and the sedimentary facies of the reservoirs with the evaluation results, the method is put forward as follows: firstly, the scores of the principal factors obtained by PFA are normalized; then, the normalized scores are multiplied with the weights of the corresponding principal factors and added to get the scores of the samples. The reservoirs are evaluated by applied FCM with the scores of the samples. After analyzing the characteristic of the sandstone reservoir in the area with the statistic of the evaluation results, the authors conclude that, for the characteristic of the reservoir, the lower Youshashan Formation of the Neogene in Huatugou oilfield is better than the upper Ganchaigou Formation, the braided channel deltaic front is the best sub-type facies, the river-mouth bar sand body is the best microfacies sand body, and the submarine distributary sand body and turbidite sand body follow. Authors' method is quantitative and contains the explicit geological significance, so it is worthy of being generalized.

Based on the stream discharge data (1961-2001) of the Manas River in Xinjiang province and the temperature and precipitation data of nine meteorological stations in northern Xinjiang, the characteristics and laws of stream discharge, temperature, and precipitation were analyzed, which were also been made correlation analysis with North Atlantic Oscillation Index. The study shows that in winter the NAO index has positive relationships with stream discharge, while in summer the relationships are negative, and the NAO index has significant relationships with temperatures and precipitations both in winter and summer. Moreover using cross wavelet analysis, the authors found the closest oscillation periods of the relationships between the NAO index and the stream discharge of the Manas River in winter and in summer, also the characteristics of which in different timescale were analyzed.

The analysis of the sedimentary facies of the reservoir is important for the exploration and development of one oilfield. And obvious types of facies symbols which are macro and micro are necessary to the division of the sedimentary facies. During the study of the sandstone reservoir of the Neogene in Huatugou oilfield, Qaidam Basin, on the basis of the general columnar section of the Neogene in Huatugou oilfield and the data of 2 systemic wells and 12 exploration wells, the authors have obtained some macro facies symbols helpful to divide the sedimentary facies with the Markov Main Analysis and Time-Trend Analysis, such as the cycles of the lithologic variation and the main types of the rhythm and its assemblage. Conjoint with the color, the laminations, the deformation structures, the types of the carbonate rocks and the special sediments, the authors analyzed the sedimentary facies of the Neogene reservoir in Huatugou oil field. It is concluded that (1) it is a important assistant means of ascertaining the key beds of a exploration well to obtain the cycles of the lithologic variation with Markov Main Analysis; (2) main deposits and main modes of the lithologic transference obtained by Time-Trend Analysis are helpful to ascertain the hydrodynamic condition and the evolvement process of sedimentary environment; (3) the main types of the sedimentary facies of the Neogene in the Huatugou oilfield include braided channel deltaic plain, deltaic frontal margin, fore-delta, littoral lake and shallow lake facies.

The Manas River is the largest stream across rows of active reverse fault and fold in the north margin of Tianshan Mountains. Eight terraces had developed along the Manas River. Based on the field survey, the distribution, the arched deformation and the dislocation of the river terraces have been studied. The deformation characteristics of these river terraces suggest that the piedmont anticline and the Manas fold have been uplifted at all time. The center of the upheaval migrated from south to north in the process. F₁active reverse fault develops in the northern limb of the Manas fold. F₂active reverse fault situates near the core of the Manas fold. The dislocation of river terraces shows that the F₂fault has two periods activity and the F₁fault has four periods activity at least.

Lithological characteristics, sedimentary structure, mass-specific magnetic susceptibility and frequency-dependent magnetic susceptibility studies and correlation to the δ¹⁸O curve of DSDP607 & V30-97 show that loess began to deposit on the terrace of the Yellow River about 1.20 Ma B P, and passed thirteen climatic changes from drier and cooler to warmer and wetter later. The turn of sedimentation from alluvium to loess, an event of transformation from accumulation to down-cut of the Yellow River, indicates a sharp tectonic uplift occurred around 1.2 Ma B P.

The Heihekou fault, being apart 30 km from Zhangye in the southwest, is a reversed fault which trends to the northwest and dips to the southwest. It is found that the fault on a natural section along the bank of the Heihe River dips steeply to the southwest, and that the Ordovician system thrusts to the northe-ast on the Late Pleistocene alluviam with a throw of 17m. A fault scarp was formed in the fault movement on terraces of the Heihe River. The terrace withan estimated age of 5 ka B.P. is vertically dislocated by 2m, age of 10 ka B.P. by 4m, and age of 13 ka B.P. by 9m. These dislocations and the sediments near the fault indicate there had been 3 movement enents at least. The vertical dislocationis 2～5 m each, the average recurrence interval is 3～5 ka, and the average slip rate is 1.67～0.4 mm/a.