The marine carbonate layers of the upper Sinian are one of the potential targets for deep and ultra- deep oil and gas exploration in the Tarim basin. However, evolution of the Neoproterozoic prototype basin and the distribution of source rocks remains controversial or unconfirmed. Together with the joint inversion of gravity, aeromagnetic and electric data, seismic interpretation of horizons and faults were conducted to depict the framework of uplift and depression in the Tarim basin from the Nanhua to the Sinian periods. The Neoproterozoic strata were expected to be well developed in the deep of Southwest Tarim and Awati depressions based on the evidence from geophysical anomaly and joint inversion of non- seismic data. Furthermore, the seismic interpretation indicated that the Neoproterozoic depressions were distributed around the inherited Precambrian basement paleo- uplifts, with the northern subsidence zone and the southwestern Tarim subsidence zone dominated by the NWW stretched rifts. The rifts were vertically characterized by lower faulted- down depression and upper intracratonic sag, and laterally by large- scale horsts and grabens. The formation and distribution of Neoproterozoic rift basins in Tarim were genetically closely related to lithofacies composition and fault system in the basement. From rift basin in the Nanhua to intracratonic sag in the Sinian, the sedimentary deposits in Tarim changed from clastic rocks to carbonatites. The Keping Movement occurring at the end of the Sinian resulted in an ephemeral crustal uplift and cessation of sedimentation, with the denudation in South Tarim being stronger than in North Tarim. Those scattered rifting subsidence centers formed in Nanhua gradually contracted into relatively widespread hydrocarbon generation depressions in the early Sinian, and the deepwater facies for source rocks deposition became migration pathways to the continental margin of Tarim in the late Sinian. Precambrian source rocks were assumed to have developed in the paleo- rifts in deep of southwest Tarim, and the effective coordination between the Paleo- rifts and Paleo- uplifts were the key issues for the oil and gas exploration of dolomite rocks under Cambrian salt. The large- scale carbonate reservoirs formed in the reefs and shoals in platform margin, and epiphytic karst in the upper Sinian were important target types.