Qaidam Basin topographic map

Name: Qaidam Basin topographic map, elevation, terrain.

Location: Qaidam Basin, Qaidam, Da Qaidam Administrative Zone, Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai, 816200, China (37.87001 93.47850 37.89001 93.49850)

Average elevation: 2,742 m

Minimum elevation: 2,724 m

Maximum elevation: 2,762 m

Orographically, the Qaidam Basin is a comparatively low area in the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. With an elevation of around 3,000 m (10,000 ft), Qaidam forms a kind of shelf between Tibet to the south (around 4,300 m or 14,000 ft) and Gansu to the north (around 1,100 m or 3,500 ft). A low water divide separates the Qaidam Basin proper from that of Qinghai Lake to the east. Despite this lower elevation, Qaidam is still high enough that its mean annual temperature is 2–4 °C (36–39 °F) despite lying on the same latitude as Algeria, Greece, and Virginia in the United States.