This study defines volcanic cycles and stages in Liaohe basin by identifying the interface of volcanic formation and interpreting of seismic,well-log and 300 drilling-core data with volcanostratigraphy and seismic volcanostratigraphy.We studied the spatial-temporal evolution for the volcanic cycles and stages with their map-view distributions.We also explore implications of volcanic cycles and stages for petroleum exploration based on known relationship between volcanic formations and petroleum resources.We suggest that there are four volcanic cycles and 15 stages in the volcanic formations of the Liaohe basin,with the first and last cycles being cycle 1 and cycle 4.Both cycle 1 and cycle 4 are basaltic,suggesting that the volcanic eruption in the study area started and ended with mafic volcanism.In the middle,the cycles 2 and 3 evolves from basaltic to trachytic,and to basaltic,constituting the majority of the volcanic formations in the region.