The Shapotou area is located in Zhongwei city in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,which is also situated in the arc area on the northeastern side of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau with very active neo-tectonic movements in mainland China.The Yellow River crosses the Xiangshan-Tianjingshan fault and flows through the Shapotou.The Xiangshan-Tianjingshan fault is mainly a left-lateral strike-slip.The Yellow River formed a beautiful geomorphological meander,the Big Bend,which is similar to the "Ω" type.It developed three river terraces on the convex bank since it turns around in the Shapotou area.Over the past few decades,geologists have conducted many studies in this strong neo-tectonic movement and special tectonic setting,concerned with active faults,the tectonic deformation process in the Quaternary,the scales and rates of active fault displacement,and the causes of the Shapotou Big Bend.However,there is not a comprehensive analysis of the origins of the Big Bend.The research on the river terrace is one of the most important topics in geomorphology.River terraces are the most reliable records of river histories.The meandering river is ubiquitous in nature;meandering is a natural property of rivers. This paper focuses on the characteristics and ages of river terraces and analyzes the causes of the Big Bend to explore the causes of landforms in this area from the vertical and horizontal directions.Based on field investigations and comparisons to former studies,three terraces were revealed.The formation age of the highest terraces is~170ka B.P.The T2 and T1terraces were subsequently formed at~70ka B.P.and 8ka B.P.,respectively.The three river terraces in the Shapotou Big Bend formed mainly due to tectonic uplift,while the impact of climate change is not obvious on the formation of the terraces.Climate change is not the only element that controls river incisions:the terraces in this area depend on tectonic uplift.In the context of strongly regional neo-tectonic activities,when the Zhongwei Basin was elevated in approximately the Late Pleistocene,resulting in the fixing and down-cutting of the Yellow River,the highest terrace(T3)began to form.The T2and T1terraces were subsequently formed.This indicates that there have been at least three intensive tectonic movements.These three events are at least comparable to the" Gonghe Movement" and" Ruoergai Movement."According to the largest of the left-lateral displacements of the Xiangshan-Tianjingshan fault,which is less than 880m,the fault is not the only reason that the Big Bend formed.There are at least 2 200mdisplacements due to the river endogenous characteristics.Under the common function of the Xiangshan-Tianjingshan fault,which is a left-lateral strike-slip fault,and the rotation of the Earth＇s tilt toward power which is the natural evolution of water system,the Yellow River of the Big Bend in the Shapotou area is formed.The concave bank has been eroded and the convex bank has been deposited,so the planar shape of the Shapotou Big Bend is formed.River endogenous characteristics play more important roles than the strike-slip fracture displacements in the Big Bend.