The Qin-Fang trough has been attested in the south segment [40, 41], but there is a lack of orogenic properties because of the absence of a homochronous ophiolite suite and volcanic rocks in the middle and north segments [31].
In the published papers, the QHJB is an ocean basin due to the Neopaleozoic ophiolitic melange [28] and early Mesozoic acid volcanic rocks [35], but it is also treated to be an inland fault zone and rift [56] for the absence of ophiolitic and homochronous magmatic rocks since Sinian [31].