The Qarhan Playa covers an area of , stretching over east to west and usually between north to south. The southwest lies in Golmud and the northeast in Dulan County, both in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai, China. The roughly area of Qarhan inclusive of Taijinar to its west is sometimes known as the Sanhu (Three Lakes), after the two Taijinar lakes, Suli Lake, and Dabusun. Qarhan is part of the larger Qaidam Basin, lying between the Kunlun Mountains to the south, the Altun to the west, and the Qilian to the north. Qarhan's lakes lie between above sea level, with Dabusun and North Hulsan being the lowest and Xiezuo being the highest. The effect of elevation is such that despite lying on the same latitude as Greece, Algeria, and Virginia in the United States, Qarhan has an mean annual temperature of . The mean air speed is , and the mean relative humidity is 27.7%.