The Lop Nur Salt Lake, located in the eastern part of the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China, has become a playa in the Quaternary. Rhombic in shape, the Lop Nur depression is mainly controlled by the NE-striking and nearly N-S-striking sets of faults. Since 1995, a superlarge brine potash deposit with potash resources of 2.50×108 t has been found in the Luobei subbasin in the northeastern part of the Lop Nur. We intensively studied the features and formation mechanism of faults inside the Lop Nur through satellite images, geomorphologic survey and continuous conductivity imaging and found seven subparallel graben faults formed under the action of nearly N 10o E principal compressional stress during deposition of the Lop Nur Salt Lake. These faults are up to >60 km long and 1–4 km wide and may extend downward for 1000 m or more. It is just under the action of these tensional faults that potash subbasins formed. The largest subbasin is the Luobei subbasin and the smaller ones are the Luoxi hollow, Erbei hollow and Tienan hollow. Investigation also indicates that the graben faults in the Lop Nur not only control the origin of the potash subbasins, but they themselves are also good brine reservoir structures, in which abundant potash-rich brines are stored. Therefore, The faults had played an important role in the potash formation of the Lop Nur. The Lop Nur Salt Lake, located in the eastern part of the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China, has become a playa in the Quaternary. Rhombic in shape, the Lop Nur depression is mainly controlled by the NE-striking and nearly NS-striking sets of faults. Since 1995, a superlarge brine potash deposit with potash resources of 2.50 × 108 t has been found in the Luobei subbasin in the northeastern part of the Lop Nur. We intensively studied the features and formation mechanism of faults inside the Lop Nur through satellite images, geomorphologic survey and continuous conductivity imaging and found seven subparallel graben faults formed under the action of nearly N 10o E principal compressional stress during deposition of the Lop Nur Salt Lake. These faults are up to> 60 km long and 1-4 km wide and may extend downward for 1000 m or more. It is just under the action of these tensional faults that potash subbasins formed. The largest subbasin is the Luobei subbasin and the smaller ones are the Luoxi hollow, Erbei hollow and Tienan hollow. Investigation also indicates that the graben faults in the Lop Nur not only control the origin of the potash subbasins, but they themselves are also good brine reservoir structures, in which abundant potash-rich brines are stored. , The faults had played an important role in the potash formation of the Lop Nur.