The Bachu fault-uplift, located in the western section of the Central uplift in the Tarim Basin, underwent a positive inversion evolution of Paleozoic extension-fault depressing and Meso-Cenozoic compression-uplifting. During the Early Paleozoic, the Bachu area was a part of the southern flank of the cratonic depression. During the Late Paleozoic, the western section of the uplift was a NW-trending low uplift and the eastern section still was a part of the Awat depression. The initial fault-uplift geometry formed in the Mesozoic. The current structural geometry of sloping eastward and southward was generated in the Cenozoic, and the Tertiary was the main structural inversion stage. The Bachu fault-uplift was finalized by the neotectonic movement. Its evolution was greatly affected by subsidence of the northern and southern depressions; it, however , mainly resulted from shear compression due to plate collision and strike-slip faulting.