Abstract: Multistage episodic rifting refers to episodic and pulsed processes of tectonics occurred during a rift basin evolution.And its process usually matched the deformation of tectonic framework,the episodes of tectonic subsidence,magmatism and sedimentary filling in a rift basin,which were actually the responses to the tectonism,magmatism and sedimentation taken place during the multistage episodic rifting,thereby,they can provide some tectonic information.The tectonic framework deformation,tectonic subsidence and sedimentary filling were almost synchronous with the development of rifting;magmatism often occurred between two rifting episodes.Thus a study of the records on the western Pearl River Mouth basin is helpful for revealing the evolution history of rift basins.