Junggar Basin lies between Tianshan Mountains and Altai Mountains in the north of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It has an area of about 380,000 square km and is the second largest basin in China. It is a half-closed basin high in the east and low in the west. In the center of this basin is Chinese second largest desert - Gurbantunggut Desert.

In the basin there are rich underground oil deposit. Early in the 1950s, the famous Karamay Oilfield was explored. There are also coal mines and other metal mines here. Altai Mountains area in the north abounds in gold ores.