Potassium-rich brine deposit in Lop Nor basin, Xinjiang, China

Lop Nor potash deposit is the largest sulfate-type liquid potassium salt deposit in China, consisting of three areas: Xinqing platform, Luobei depression, and Tenglong platform. In this study, the geological background, basin structure, and fracture system of the deposit, along with the brine storage size of the three ore bodies are introduced in detail, using underground brine elevation models of the mining areas. We collected 91 samples of brine from long-term observation boreholes in the Lop Nor ore district, and analyzed their ion contents. The KCl content of the brine varies from 1% to 1.45% and that of B2O3 varies from 1900 to 4500 mg/L, which are higher than the cut-off for Chinese industrial mining grades. The spatial distributions of KCl and B2O3 contents in different ore beds were plotted, and the distributions of different grades of K+ and B3+ were revealed.