Abstract: Co-existed inherited and neogenic structures might have some complicated spatial-time developing features. Based on analyses of typical cases from the Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic basins in East China and epicontinental sea basins of the Yangtze, Tarim and Ordos Cratons, five situations were distinguished respectively, and some time-spatial developing laws were discussed. The development of neogenic structure was mainly controlled by the neighboring orogen evolution, as well as constrained by boundary conditions created by the basement or pre-existed structures. So the approaches for the study on co-existed inherited and neogenic structures should be to 'get to the root' and 'trace to the source'. The significances of neogenic structures for oil-gas exploration might be that it has controlled the development of (source-) accumulation beds, migration systems and structural traps. Based on what mentioned-above, the targets for oil-gas exploration in the eastern continental basins and in the marine strata in near future were analyzed respectively.