Six petroliferous basins are developed on the southeast side of the Altun fault belt, and a group of EW-trending faults are developed in the basins or on the edges of the basins, which intersect the Altun fault belt with acute angles. These faults control the pattern of basins and the distribution of strata. The basins have half-faulted or asymmetrical structures. Thickness and features of the Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleogene and Neogene sediments in basins change regularly along the Altun fault belt. These regularities indicate different activities of the Altun fault belt in space and time. According to structural characteristics of the Jurassic basins on both sides of the Altun fault belt, the faulted noses and their sedimentary evolution in the west of the Qaidam basin, it is inferred that the alternation between dextral and sinistral movements of the Altun fault belt has occurred several times in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic.