The South Yellow Sea basin is the main body of the lower Yangtze block and also the offshore extension part of the Yangtze craton. As a large scaled superposed sedimentary basin composed of Meso—Paleozoic marine cratonic deposition and Meso—Cenozoic continental deposition, the geological structure of the basin is complex and the tectonic deformation is also strong. This study analyses the basic geological characteristics of the study area, including tectonic framework, the formation and evolution process of basin, and structural layers development. Then the Meso—Cenozoic multi period tectonic movements and their controlling action and influence on basin structure evolution, such as geologic structure and tectonic deformation, fault features, structural styles, and magmatism characteristics, are focused on.