During the Mesoproterozoic, the northern SinoKorean Plate experienced a period of intensive tectonic extension and breakup,thus formed the YanLiao Aulacogen. Abundant palaeoearthquake records has been preserved in the Chuanlinggou and Gaoyuzhuang Formations of the Changcheng System （1800—1400 Ma） and the Wumishan Formation （ 1200 Ma） of the  Jixian System of the Mesoproterozoic. These earthquake records are characterized by various liquefied deformations of soft sediments such as the liquefied sandveins, microspar and coarsespar veins in the carbonate rocks, limestone dike, liquefied breccia, hydroplastic deformation, various curly deformations, loop bedding, graded fault in the interval, and the brittle deformation of the early diagenetic stage. These deformations of earthquake origins are always associated with the synsedimentary faults. Based on the earthquake records and volcanic activities, the SinoKorean Plate experienced at least two episodes of  intraplate breakups. One occurred between 1800—1400 Ma, and the other at about 1200 Ma with the latter one resulting in the formation of the YanLiao Aulacogen. The palaeogeographic framework of the YanLiao Aulacogen  was connected with the two breakups of the SinoKorean Plate. The boundary of the palaeosea basin, the lithofacies zone were both controlled by the contemporary faultearthquake. The palaeoenviroment of the YanLiao Aulacogen was a tectonic zone characterized by deeper material vibrancy, active fault movements, major igneous activities and frequent earthquakes.

In the 1960s, Pettijohn and Potter classified the geologic processes which formed primary structures into erosion, transportation, deposition, and deformation. The primary sedimentary structures are defined as those structures formed by the above processes during sedimentation or after sedimentation while before consolidation. They include various types of bedding, marks on the bedding surface, and deformational phenomena. In their classification on the primary sedimentary structures, stromatolites are defined as positive growth structures projecting from the former depositional surfaces, and are formed by the combined action of microbes and synsedimentary cementation. From the middle 1990s  to the present day, sedimentologists realized that microbes can also form a kind of primary sedimentary structures which do not project from the sedimentary surface, and they are formed by the combined action of microbial mat（or film）and all kinds of physical actions such as erosion, transportation, deposition and deformationThis kind of sedimentary structures are defined as the primary sedimentary structures formed by microbes, which belong to the fifth kind of primary sedimentary structures. Stromatolites were mainly developed in the Precambrian and the Phanerozoic shallow water environments which were not strongly changed by metazoan. Similar to that, the sedimentary structures formed by microbes were also mainly developed in the Precambrian and the tidal flat and lagoon environments in the Phanerozoic which were not strongly changed by metazoan. Therefore, the studies of this kind of sedimentary structures（the fifth kind of primary sedimentary structures） have great significance in the reconstruction of the Precambrian environments. The observation and preliminary study of the primary sedimentary structures formed by microbes in the Mesoproterozoic in Yanshan area provide a useful basis for the further study in the future. These structures include the palimpsest ripple, the wrinkle structure, the microbial sand chip and the spindle crack developed in the Chuanlinggou and Dahongyu formations. They represent the primary sedimentary structures formed by microbes in clastic rocks. The largescale palimpsest ripple and wrinkle structure developed in the nonstromatolitic limestones of the Member 3 of the Gaoyuzhuang Formation represent the primary sedimentary structures formed by microbes in carbonate rocks of the Mesoproterozoic.

The southern Ordos Basin refers to the areas south of HuanxianYananPuxian and north of Xian. The Shanxi Formation and the Member 8 of Xiashihezi Formation are important gasbearing intervals. Based on the analyses on the direction of palaeowater current, the content of superstable heavy minerals and feldspars, it is concluded that six palaeowater systems were developed during the deposition of the Shanxi and Xiashihezi formations,which respectively corresponded to the six feldspar content subdivisions and six sedimentary facies. Six feldspar content subdivisions are ShibangouHuanxian, Pingliang, ChunhuaYaoxian, HanchengChengcheng, DaningWell Pu1, HuachiYongningThe types and distribution of sedimentary facies are analysed. During the deposition of Member 2 of Shanxi Formation， smallscaled deltas were developed，which were mainly distributed in Pingliang region of the south western area, ChunhuaYaoxian and HanchengChengcheng region of the south area. During the deposition of Member 1 of Shanxi Formation，the distribution of the delta was larger than that during the deposition of Member 2. The delta front was developed in YananDaning in the north area, while the lake size reduced. During the deposition of Member 8 of Xiashihezi Formation, the braided fluvial delta was developed and was widely distributed. Lacustrine facies was located in ZhenyuanHuanxianHuachiZhengning and DaningWell Ji1.It has been proved that the effective division of different water systems is favourable for the prediction of sedimentary facies belts distribution.

Typical storm deposits are developed in the limestones of the Daye Formation of Lower Triassic in Huangshi area, eastern Hubei Province. The tempestites include gravelsized intraclastic limestone, grain limestone and marl. The sedimentary structures of storm deposits include hummocky crossbedding, graded bedding, tearing structures and horizontal bedding. Besides, the types and assemblage features of storm deposit sedimentary structures are different at different stratigraphic intervals. Based on the lithologic characteristics, types of sedimentary structures, sizes and assemblage features of storm deposits, combined with analysis of sedimentary background, the sedimentary succession of the Daye Formation storm deposits can be subdivided into 3 types： deepwater distal sequence, transitional sequence, and shallowwater proximal sequence. The Member 1 of Daye Formation is characterized by a deepwater distal sequence, which was mainly deposited in the deep water outer shelf. The Member 2 is dominated by a transitional sequence, which was deposited in the inner shelf. The Members 3 and 4 are characterized by a shallowwater proximal sequence, which was mainly deposited in the shallow water shelf to littoral environment. The Daye Formation comprises an upward shoaling succession, and its sedimentary environment changes from the outer shelf to the littoral facies. The recognition of the storm deposits in Daye Formation is important for reconstructing the Early Triassic palaeogeography in Huangshi area of eastern Hubei Province.

Unconformities are widespread at the base,  top and within the Jurassic in Junggar Basin. Among these unconformities，the unconformity is quite distinct between the Xishanyao Formation in the lower part of Middle Jurassic and the Toutunhe Formation in the upper part of Middle Jurassic.With an  eroded thickness of 100～340 meters， it is a regional unconformity，and has a lacuna （or hiatus） of 4～10 Ma. On the unconformity，sandstones were deposited and immediately below it were the weathered clay interval and the semiweathered rocks just below the unconformity. Generally，the unconformity shows a succession of sandstonemudstonesandstone with a thickness of 70～90 meters. Based on the weathered clay intervals，the sandstones of the Toutunhe Formation formed a series of the stratigraphic onlap traps sealed by the weathered clay intervals at the bottom，while the sandstones of the Xishanyao Formation formed the truncated traps sealed by the weathered clay intervals at the updip. The petroleum exploration has proved that the areas above or below this unconformity are favourable areas for oil and gas accumulation. The late stage tilting of the unconformity has played an important role in the oil and gas accumulation, and adjustment and reallocation.

The Upper Paleozoic in the Ordos Basin is mainly made up of a terrigenous clastic sedimentary system. The fluvialdelta facies sandstone reservoirs are widespread and they constitute the main places for the Upper Paleozoic gas accumulation in this area.Owing to the terrigenous matrix filling, diagenetic compaction and cementation, however, most of the primary intergranular pores of the sandstones had been filled up. Therefore, most of the sandstones become too tight to make up effective reservoirs. Through the genetic analyses of the pores of the Upper Paleozoic sandstone reservoirs in the Ordos Basin, it can be suggested that the porous sandstones which are concentrated  in parts of the layers, are dominated by the secondary dissolution pores. Further studies show that the secondary dissolution pores were mainly caused by the genetic solution of the pyroclastic components, which had derived from the synsedimentary volcanism and were distributed in the sandstone formations. Therefore, the synsedimentary volcanism controlls the development and distribution of the main Upper Paleozoic sandstone reservoirs of this area. Owing to the easilydissolved component  supplied by the intermediate to basic volcanism, it controlls the distribution of porous sandstone reservoirs with higher permeability, while the acid volcanism mainly forms the low permeable sandstone reservoirs, which are dominated by the kaolinite intercrystal pores.

The Middle Cambrian Kaili Biota which were buried mainly in situ, lived in the tropical sea  far away from the oldland with a normal salinity, good light transmission, oxygenrich and low energy. The sedimentary environment of the Kaili Formation was a shallow sea between the fairweather wave base and storm wave base, being less than 100 m in depth, with a quietwater and muddy soft sea floor. It was a gulf margin facies which was made up of  a series of islands away from the continent. The Kaili Biota, according to their living and moving spaces, can be divided into four biocommunities： surface water, bottom water, epibenthic and endobenthic communities. The characters of these communities can change with the changes of sealevel. Depending on the food chain, all organisms of the Kaili Biota congregated into an ecosys￣tem. The tropical stormcurrents or oceancurrents provide a large number of nutriments and minerals for the Kaili Biota, and the abrupt deposition event induced by the currents is an important factor to make this biota be preserved well.

The present study collected 40 sediment boreholes and their chronological data from the 6 major sedimentary basins of the Changjiang River and the seismic profiles from the Changjiang River mouth offshore and continental shelf, to calculate the sedimentation rates of each basin during various periods of the Holocene and to estimate the sediment budget during the last 7 000 years. The results demonstrate that the paleoincised valley of the Changjiang River mouth was the major depositional sink with a sedimentation rate of 15 m/ka during the Early Holocene of 10 000—8 000 a BP.The middle and lower Changjiang basins also became important depositional sinks with a sedimentation rate of 10 m/ka since the Middle Holocene due to the global sea level rise. The sedimentation rate increased obviously in the offshore and shelf area in the last 2000 years, indicating the decreasing of the capacity of sediment accumulation of the middle and lower Changjiang basins and the estuary. Calculation, according to the sedimentation rate, indicates that about 13074×108 ton sediments were deposited in the basins of middle and lower Changjiang and 9470×108 ton in the subaqueous delta and shelf areas during the last 7000 years. Our results also demonstrate that there were two periods of low sedimentation rates since the Holocene： 1)sedimentation was weak in all the basins during 8000—7000 a BP；  2)significant low sedimentation rate occurred in the estuarine area during 4000—2000 a BP. We suggest that these two periods  are related with the events of sea level and global climate changes.

Based on the climate records of Wuhan and Changsha areas from Wang Wenshao Diary of Qing dynasty， the paper reconstructs the summer precipitation time series of the eastern areas in Hubei and Hunan provinces from 1867 to 1872. At the same time， the starting and finishing time of the Meiyu seasons are defined and accordingly the types of Meiyu in these years are classified. Compared with the historical documents， such as local chronicles， it is concluded that the years  1867 and 1872 were typical years of Meiyu， and the precipitation was relatively moderate；  though the year 1868 was considered as a vacant year of Meiyu， the precipitation was moderate even abundant perhaps for the untypical Meiyu；  the rich year of Meiyu was 1869， in which the precipitation was abnormally abundant. And in the year 1870， Meiyu came earlier compared with the average level， the precipitation was also moderate；  when the length of the Meiyu seasons was shorter， such as 1871， it was a year of drought. It can be easily found that the diary of weather can be used as a proper tool to reconstruct some long weather progress such as Meiyu in a certain period in the history. The yearly change and the differences among regions of Meiyu can be accurately analyzed if we take a close and systematic look at the diary of weather. At the same time， we can overcome the limitation of the length of the time series by referring to the continuous weather records of other Meiyu regions and comparing the records of the summer rain of different regions and periods.

Based on the perception records on cold/warm in Weng Tonghe Diary and the contemporary monthly average instrumental temperatures in Beijing and Shanghai. The correlation between the perception records on cold/warm and temperature variation is investigated with correlation analysis and regression analysis. The result shows that they are significantly correlated. It means that the  monthly days of colder （CD）, extremely cold （EC）, hotter （HT）, and extremely hot （EH） could be used as a proxy index to indicate the past temperature change. However, the validity of the proxy index is various on the time scale of climate change and the season. Firstly, the monthly days of EH, HT, CD, EC could represent the monthquarter variation of temperature change, with CD and EC being the best. Secondly, on the time scale of interannual, the perception days on cold/warm can not represent the temperature variation for the summer months （Jun., Jul. and Aug.）, the monthly days of EC are the best proxy indexes for Jan., Mar., May, Sep. and Dec.. Besides, the monthly days of EC can also be used to identify the extremely cold/warm year. Thus, it can be concluded that the perception records on cold/warm in historical private diaries can be used to study climate changes of historical period.