Based on the available borehole temperature data and measurements of thermal conductivities on 10 core samples in the Southern South Yellow Sea Basin, 8 heat flow values are obtained. The results show that the mean values of temperature gradient and heat flow are 28.6℃/km and 69 mW/m2, respectively. The thermal history reconstruction from the inversion of vitrinite reflectance data, using the temperature-gradient method, indicates that the highest paleo-heat flow occurred at the end of the Mesozoic, and then the basin began to cool to present day. Tectonic subsidence analysis shows that the basin experienced at least four episodes of quick subsidence since the late Paleozoic and that the tectonic evolution was quite strong and complex.