Because of its thick Cenozoic saline lake sediments, the Qaidam Basin has become a hotspot of studies of the uplift of the Tibet Plateau, the paleolake evolution, the climate change and the salt resource exploration. The magnetostratigraphy is an essential dating method for such long scale lacustrine sediments. This paper reviews the early magnetostratigraphic results in the deposit centers of the Qaidam Basin, and the new three magnetostratigraphic results of kilometer-scale drill holes in detail, including the cores ZK02 and ZK05 in the Dalangtan playa, the core SG-1 in the Chahansilatu playa. Based on the new magnetostratigraphic results, the Quaternary boundary is redefined in the deposit center of the western Qaidam Basin, which provides accurate age constraints of the Quaternary climate change in the Qaidam Basin, the stepwise uplift of the Tibet Plateau, and the new brine in the sandy gravel.

Qaidam Basin  /  saline lake deposit  /  kilometer-scale drill holes  /  magnetostratigraphy