In order to analyze basin evolution of the eastern section of North Qaidam from Carboniferous to Cretaceous and explore the reasons for the lack of Carboniferous — Jurassic， the paper， based on identifying distribution of residual Carboniferous and Jurassic， balanced cross section and fault throw， analysised the characteristics of the activities of major faults and proposed tectonic evolution pattern from Carboniferous to Cretaceous． Using the finite element method to simulate tectonic stress field of Indosinian (T)， early Yanshanian (J1—J2)， late Yanshanian (J3—K) in the eastern section of North Qaidam， tectonic evolution of the model has been validated． The results indicated as follows， the eastern section of North Qaidam experienced expansion within Carboniferous and Permian， extrusion uplift within Triassic， fault basin within the period of early Jurassic to middle Jurassic， depression basin within Late Jurassic and extrusion inversion within Cretaceous．In Triassic: The eastern section of North Qaidam formed two rows of nearly east—west trending anticline which resulted in the erosion of stratum in various regions from Carboniferous to Permian． From Jurassic to Early Cretaceous: The Ounan area， which was an inherited uplift， had not fully deposited． In Late Cretaceous: The stress field gradually transformed from tensile into compressive in late Yanshanian， leading to tectonic inversion and the revival of thrust faults． As a result， the mountains such as Lvliang， Xitie， Amunike， Olongbluk uplifted under the control of re activity of thrust faults．