AbstractIn this paper, apatite and zircon fission track and (U‐Th)/He dating, vitrinite reflectance analysis and basin modeling are carried out, for more clearly understanding the tectonic and thermal history during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic stage of the Paizhouwan area, eastern Jianghan basin. The analysis results show that the enormous tectonic uplift and erosion, and the formation cooling event during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic stage began at the early Cretaceous (140–130 Ma); the intense tectonic uplift‐cooling process mainly occurred during the early Cretaceous to the late Cretaceous. While there may be some sedimentary strata of the late Cretaceous‐Paleogene stage, the overall deposition thickness is relatively small. There should be large‐scale sediments deposited during the Middle Jurassic or/and Upper Jurassic and even the early Cretaceous strata. The present‐day remnants are thin mainly due to the later successive erosion; the total estimated denudation thickness is about 4300 m. The Mesozoic strata in the studied area reached the maximum paleo‐temperature in the early Cretaceous, rather than at the end of Paleogene sedimentation, the maximum temperature of the bottom Upper Triassic is about 170∼190 °C. The thermal history results also show that the ancient heat flow is relatively stable during the Paleozoic stage. The average value of the heat flow is about 53.64 mW·m−2; the heat flow began to decrease at the early Jurassic, and the lowest is about 48.38 mW·m−2 happened during the beginning of the early Cretaceous approximately.