THERMAL STRUCTURE OF LITHOSPHERE IN THE QAIDAM BASIN, NORTHEAST QINGHAI-TIBET PLATEAU

The Qaidam Basin is a petroleum province in Northeastern Qinghai—Tibetan plateau, China. The Basin is bounded by the Aljin Mountains to the Northwest, the Qilian Mountains to the Northeast, the Qimantager Mountains to the Southeast and East Kunlun Mountains to the Southwest. The average elevation of the basin and these mountains are 2700m and 3000～ 5000 m respect to the sea level, respectively. The basin was developed on the pre\|Mesozoic basement. Thickness of Tertiary system is more than 10000m in the basin,but Quaternary is mainly in the eastern basin with thickness more than 3000m. The lithology in Mesozoic and Cenozoic of the basin are mainly sandstone, shale, calcic rocks and the interlayers of sandstone and shale.