Qaidam

alternative Tsaidam

1. An arid basin of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau covered with deserts and salt flats, making up most of northwestern Qinghai Province, China.

   According to Qinghai's Deputy Governor, Ga Bulong, 100 million tons of oil have been verified under the salt flats of the Qaidam Basin.

   1984 November 23, Christopher S. Wren, “CHINA'S FORGOTTEN CORNER DREAMS OF DAYS TO COME”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 May 2015, Section A, page 2

   3 more examples

   "Under the guidance of Chairman Mao's great strategic plan 'be prepared against war, be prepared against natural disasters, and do everything for the people,' party organizations and revolutionary committees at all levels of Haihsi Mongol-Tibetan-Kazakh Autonomous District, Tsinghai Province, have led the broad masses in actively developing local industries through self-reliance and arduous struggle and have scored conspicious^([sic – meaning conspicuous]) achievements.[…] The district is located in the Chaitamu Basin, which is known for its mineral deposits.

   [1971 May 12 [1971 May 5], “Tsinghai Autonomous District Develops Local Industry”, in Daily Report: Communist China, volume I, number 92, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Peking NCNA Domestic Service, translation of original in Chinese, →OCLC, Communist China: Northwest Region, page H 1

   No salt diapirs are exposed in Qaidam. But given the close similarity of Landsat images of the Kavir and Qaidam basins, the subsurface role of halokinesis or halotectonics in the Qaidam basin has probably been underestimated.

   1990, Salt Diapirs of the Great Kavir, Central Iran, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 134

   The state giant started drilling four horizontal wells in Yingxiongling in Qinghai oilfield, part of the Qaidam basin in western province of Qinghai where oil exploration began in the 1950s, Petrochina's parent company CNPC said on Tuesday.

   2022 March 29, Chen Aizhu, “PetroChina taps shale oil in ageing western China field”, in Edmund Blair, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 29 Mar 2022

2. A river in the basin.