Abstract: Sanjiang Orogenic Belt is located geographically in the area of Jinshajiang, Lancangjiang and Nujiang(abbreviated from the“three rivers area”)，and tectonically at the junction between the Himalaya-Tethyan tectonic domain an d the Pacific tectonic domain. It is one of the key areas to understand the Tethyan evolution，Indian-Eurasia collision and the uplift of Tibet Plateau and its eastern extension. Various volcanic rocks Proterozoic to Cenozoic age occur in Sanjiang Orogenic Belt The majority of volcanic rocks，however，formed during the Tethyan and post-Tethyan stages, i.e.，from early Carboniferous 1o the Cenozoic Volcanic petrotectonic assemblages as geological records and a lithoprobe play an important role in understanding tectonic evolution and corresponding deep processes of the Sanjiang area. Five types of volcanic petrotectonic assemblages in Sanjiang Orogenic Belt have been recognized as follows: Oceanic assemblages including M0RB/Pare-MORB(or MORB-LIKE) assemblage and OIB assemblage，island arc and continental marginal arc assemblage，collision-related assemblage，post-collisional assemblage and intracontinental assemblage Fig 1 shows a flame of their spatial and temporal distribution. Sanjiang MORB and para-MORB assemblages occur in four major suture zones，being closely associated with peridotite(or serpentinite)，gabbro，diabase，radiolarian chert or deep water limestone，and sometimes accumulates in ophiolites. Geochemically，Sanjiang MORB are mainly E-type MORB，although they have the lowest K20 content and(La/Yb)N ratio among all types of volcanic rocks in Sanjiang Orogenic Belt. Para-MORB is mainly tholeiites and geochemically more enriched in K20 ，LREE and incompatible elements than E-MORB but less enriched than 0IB. Sanjiang OIB occurs so far only in Changling-Menglian belt and is associated with overlying limestone and sometimes underlying MORB/para-MORB They ale mainly alkaline olivine basalts and the most enriched type in Na20 +K2O ，LREE and incompatible elements among all types of oceanic volcanic rocks in Sanjiang Orogenic Belt. Island arc and continental marginal arc volcanic petrotectonic assemblage in Sanjiang orogenic belt is of high variety， although they ale mainly composed of basalts. basaltic andesites, andesites， dacites and rhyolites，belonging to calc-alkaline or island-arc tholeiitic series. Arc volcanic reeks in Sanjiang Orogenic Belt formed in various environments, such as oceanic island arc，continental island arc, continental marginal arc，fore-arc. main arc，back-arc and so on. Among them, it was particularly important to recognize tensional arcs in Sanjiang Orogenic Belt. A typical example of tensional arcs is Yidun arc formed in Late Triassic， which is characterized by an intra-arc rifting with a bimodal volcanic suit. A large Kuroko-type Pb-Zn-Ag ore field was developed within the intra-arc-rifting basin(see Fig. 7 in text) The southern end of Yidun Arc， however，became a compressive one associated with many porphyry-type copper deposits. It is also amazing to see a special type of volcanic rocks，which contain strong subduction zone components (SZC) but formed in post-collisional intra-continental environments. We therefore called it “ post-collisiona arc volcanic rocks”or “delayed arc volcanic rocks” Condie et al(1989)，Aldrich et al(1986)reported similar cases in Kaapvaal of South Africa and in Rio Grande rift，respectively A possible explanation for the delay of arc type volcanism and for the formation of post-collisional arc volcanic rocks was presented (see Fig. 8 in text) It is apparently that geotherm in the source region during the subduction was too low to reach the solidus of source rock. The subducted or collapsed slabs， however, might react with surrounding mantle and become a new source rock for magma generation afterwards In post-co llisional stage sOme kind of geological events such as upwelling，convection，intra-continental convergence/subduction might cause generation of magmas，which contained undoubtedly subduction zone components(SZC). Other post-collisional volcanic assemblages in Sanjiang Orogenic Belt are those formed either in overlapping rifting basins within collision gone or in intra. continental rifting basins. The former is potentially valuable for prospecting of VMS-type base metal deposits. Volcanic assemblages developed in relatively stable blocks within Sanjiang Orogenic Belt are helpful to understand the subeontinental mantle as a lithoprobe They ale composed of either tholeiites or alkali basalts with/without acidic volcanic rocks， formed in the period time from the Carbonifero us to the Triassic. In addition，several aspects regarding to the application of petrotectonic assemblage approach to orogenic belts ale also discussed， for instance，reconstruction of tectonic configurati0n from petrotectonic slices ，comments on geochemical discrimination diagrams， and tectonic implication of coupled ophiolite zone and volcanic arc， of delayed arc volcanic rocks ，and so on.