The TurpanHami Basin, rich in coal and petroleum, was formed by superimposition of basins of different periods and different geneses in the geological history. Lithofacies palaeogeography analyses show that the Early and Middle Jurassic coal measures developed in the extensional panlake environments, and had experienced the swamping－lake flooding－swamping－lake flooding processes. The two swamping (coal accumulation) periods developed in the Badaowan Stage and the early Xishanyao Stage and the two lake flooding periods occurred in the Sangonghe Stage and the late Xishanyao Stage. The basement of the TurpanHami Basin is characterized by a rhombohedral fault block framework resulting from activities of the NE—SW and NW—SE striking faults. The palaeogeographic feature and depositional framework of the basin were controlled by synsedimentary activity of these basement blocks. The isopaches of the Jurassic extend in NEE—SWW direction and NWW—SEE direction. Thick and thin zones of the strata are horizontally alternated along both the NE—SW direction and the NW—SE direction. Depocenters such as the Taibei Sag, Toksun Sag, Hami Depression and Aiwergou Depression generally occurred in places where two subsiding zones intersected. The geodynamics of extension of the TurpanHami Basin in the Early and Middle Jurassic resulted from the late orogenic stress relaxation in the East Tianshan region, which promoted the activity of the upper mantle between the orogenic belts, followed by a heatexpansion and uplift of the Moho surface. The Moho dome in the TurpanHami Basin put the upper crust into a tensional stress state and made basement faults reactivate as normal faults so as to control the deposition and basin extension.