Abstract: The Xizang Plateau is an area in which there are many salt lakes andrich in resources.The salt lakes contain nearly forty kinds of chemicalelements and twenty-seven kinds of minerals,especially their high contentand large reserves of boron,lithium and potassium,etc.,which are wellknown to the world.On the basis of analyzing the distribution,the hydrochemical charac-teristics,the salt-forming law of the salt lakes in Xizang plateau,togetherwith the geolgical structure,palaeogeographic environments and the stronghydrothermal activities of the plateau,this article has discussed the condi-tions of the formation of the salt lakes and the mechanism of their genesis.We consider that the block basin was the topographical basis for the fossillakes formed the arid climate was the palaeogeographic environments affe-cting the salinization of lake water and controlling the distribution of saltlakes,and the strong natural hydrothermal circulation has supplied abundantboron,lithium and potassiou,and other materials to the salt lakes.