The NS-trending Minshan mountain in Northwestern Sichuan is an active Quatemay uplift.Its western and eastern boundaries are controlled by the active Minshan and Huya faults, respectively. The northern segment of Minshan fault has been active since 2 Ma ago. It is a reverse fault with left－lateral strike-slip component. The strike-slip displacement is about 2.4 km with a 1mm/a slip rate since 2 Ma, determined by matching offset placer gold mine with its mother lode. The Minshan and Huya faults are the major seismogenic structures in the region.

The NE-trending central segment of the Longmenshan thrust belt is composed of 3 major thrust or reverse faults. Geomorphic evidence and earthquake activity indicate that Quaternary activity is stronger on the southwest and weaker on the northeast along the central segment of the Longmenshan thrust belt. The segmentation of faulting is probably produced by the activity on the NS-trending Minshan uplift on the north of the Longmenshan thrust belt. Because deformation is dispersed on 3 faults, only moderate(M≤6)earthquakes have occurred along the central segment of the Longmenshan thrust belt.

The western Sichuan foreland basin initiated in T₃³ by continuous compression of the Long-menshan thrust-nappe belt,and its depositional centers were gradually transposed from NW to SE. The evolutionary history of the middle Longmenshan thrust-nappe belt and associated tectonics can be divided into three major stages:taphrogenic stage (D～T₃²),tectonic inversion stage (T₃³),and continuous thrusting stage (J～Kz).

The Longmenshan region inches the Longmenshan thrust belt,the western Sichuan foreland basin, the Longquanshan tectonic belt, and the Minshan uplift. The NE-trending Longmenshan thrust belt is composed of 4 major thusts and related napes, which form an extensive-compressive belt. The thrusting, mainly in a forward propagation style, started in the middle tolater part of Late Triassic and propagated from northwest to southeast. The Quaternary activity of the central and southern parts of the Longmenshan belt is stronger than the northern part.The western Sichuan foreland basin began to develop in the Late Triassic. The basin gradually retreated toward southwest since the late stage of Late Triassic, and the Quaternary deposition is limited on the Chengdu plain. The Longquanshan tectonic belt forms the eastern boundary of the foreland basin. It is a fault-propagation fold controlled by a master fault on its western margin.The NS-trending Minshan uplift northwest of the Longmenshan thrust belt is active since 2 Ma ago. The uplift is controlled by the Minjing and Huya faults, both with late Quaternary activities, on its western and eastern margins, respectively. The left-lateral slip rate of the Minjiang fault is about 1 mm/a. The Longmenshan thrust belt coincides with a steep gravity and magnetic gradient zone.The velocity structure and crustal thickness are very different on its northwestern and southeastern sides. There is a low velocity and high conductivity layer at a depth of 20 km on the west ofthe Longmenshan belt. The layer may be a detachment. Therefore, the Longmenshan belt maybe formed by a series of listric thrusts, and the wedges cut by the thrusts are thicker on the westand thinner on the east. The southern and central Longmenshan thrust belt and the Minshan uplift apparently control the seismicity in the region. This NE- to NS-trending seismic belt may be the active east-central margin of the Tibatan Plateau. Focal rnechanism solutions suggest that the principal compressive stress axis in the region trends NWW.The formation of the Longmenshan belt may be caused by the NW-SE directed compressionon the Songpan-Garze fold belt on the west. From Eocene to present, collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates caused southeastward movement of the western Sichuan block. This movementproduced a continuous compression on the Longmenshan belt. The movement of the westernSichuan block produced reverse faulting with left-lateral component on the boundary faults of the NS-trending Minshan uplift. The Quaternary activity in the northern part of Longmenshan beltis relatively weak due to the existence of the Minshan uplift.