Abstract:  Qaidam basin is the main salt storage ore belt in China. At present, there have discovered 12 kinds of minerals with proven reserves and resources, among which the reserves of potassium chloride, magnesium chloride and lithium chloride rank first in China. At the same time, many deposits/ore bodies in new regions, new horizons, new types and new depths have been discovered, showing that Qaidam basin has great prospecting potential. Based on the division of national metallogenic units, using the latest research results, on the basis of Qaidam basin in the Cenozoic geological tectonic environment, highlighting the principle of salt minerals, this paper comprehensively analyzes the lithofacies, paleoclimate, hydrological conditions, salt metallogenic laws and metallogenic characteristics of salt bearing minerals, and systematically divides the salt metallogenic units of Qaidam basin. In this paper, it is proposed that the Grade Ⅰ metallogenic domain belongs to the Qin-Qi-Kun metallogenic domain, the Grade Ⅱ metallogenic province belongs to the Kunlun metallogenic province, and the Grade Ⅲ metallogenic belt is the Li-B-K-Na-Mg-salt-oil-gas-glauber’s salt-natural alkali metallogenic belt in the Qaidam basin; It is further divided into five Grade Ⅳ metallogenic subzones: The boron-lithium-potassium mineralization subzone in the northern margin of Qaidam basin, the central potassium-halite-magnesium-lithium-celestite-mirabilite metallogenic subzone, the boron-potassium-halite-mirabilite mineralization subzone in the north of Kunlun, the Chaerhan potassium-halite-magnesium-lithium-boron-trona metallogenic subzone, and the Delingha halite-trona metallogenic subzone; and 21 Grade V ore concentration areas.

Key words: metallogenic unit, division, salt minerals; metallogenic regularity, metallogenic characteristics, Qaidam basin