The morphological characteristics of sand dunes are an important part of the study of aeolian geomorphology. This paper takes the dunes in the piedmont of southwestern Qaidam Basin （also known as the southwestern Qaidam sand area） as the research object. Through field work and high-resolution images provided by Google Earth， the spatial distribution pattern of aeolian geomorphology was analyzed and described. The results show that： （1） Based on the principle of morphological-dynamic， the study area is divided into 12 types； In terms of development scale， simple sand dunes account for a large proportion， while complex and compound sand dunes account for a small proportion； In terms of morphological characteristics， it is dominated by transverse dunes. （2） Based on the spatial change characteristics of sand dune types， the study area is divided into 5 sub-regions. Wind conditions and rivers are the main factors that cause the differences. （3） The analysis of the morphological parameters shows that the development scale of sand dunes is small， which is related to the short development time and the lack of sand source. There is a good linear correlation between width （w） andheight （h）， that is w=9.47h+14.89. Theheight （h） of the main sand dunes has a power function relationship with the spacing （λ）， and the power exponent n is less than 1. This article has enriched the research content of the Qaidam Basin， laid the foundation for the dune development and evolution model， and has important reference value for the sand control and safe operation of the Ge-Ku Railway.
Keywords：Qaidam Basin;regionalization;sand dune;morphology