Based on analysis, several thrustings that have occurred along the western margin of the Ordos Basin are shown. In broad sense, this thrust zone is a large duplex system consisting of the deformation of lower Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata. The tectonic characteristics of the north and south sub-zones of the zone (in narrow sense) and the causes for them are also discussed; the mechanism and processes for the shaping of two sub-zones are different. The northern one includes the Zhuozishan segment, the central and northern parts of the Helan Mountains, Yinchuan rift and Hengshanpu; the southern one includes the southern part of the Helan Mountains, the Majiatan and Shajinzi segments. One large lateral ramp between the northern and southern sub-zones is found. It is this lateral ramp that caused the differentiation between two sub-zones, and the arc-form showen in the map also implies that there is one lateral ramp between them. Furthermore, in the Mesozoic, the periods and the processes for them to take shape are different, too; the thrusting period of the north sub-zone that took shape in the Late Jurassic is shorter than that of the southern one that began forming in Late Triassic.