Tarbagatai Mountains in the context of East Kazakhstan

The Junggar Basin (simplified Chinese: 准噶尔盆地; traditional Chinese: 準噶爾盆地), also known as the Dzungarian Basin or Zungarian Basin, is one of the largest sedimentary basins in Northwest China. It is located in Dzungaria in northern Xinjiang, and enclosed by the Tarbagatai Mountains of Kazakhstan in the northwest, the Altai Mountains of Mongolia in the northeast, and the Heavenly Mountains (Tian Shan) in the south. The geology of Junggar Basin mainly consists of sedimentary rocks underlain by igneous and metamorphic basement rocks. The basement of the basin was largely formed during the development of the Pangea supercontinent during complex tectonic events from Precambrian to late Paleozoic time. The basin developed as a series of foreland basins – in other words, basins developing immediately in front of growing mountain ranges – from Permian time to the Quaternary period. The basin's preserved sedimentary records show that the climate during the Mesozoic era was marked by a transition from humid to arid conditions as monsoonal climatic effects waned. The Junggar basin is rich in geological resources (e.g. petroleum, coal and ore deposits) due to effects of volcanism and sedimentary deposition. According to Guinness World Records it is a land location remotest from open sea with great-circle distance of 2,648 km (1,645 miles) from the nearest open sea at 46°16′8″N 86°40′2″E / 46.26889°N 86.66722°E / 46.26889; 86.66722 (Land farthest from sea).

The Karluks (also Qarluqs, Qarluks, Karluqs, Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰺𐰞𐰸, Qarluq, Para-Mongol: Harluut, simplified Chinese: 葛逻禄; traditional Chinese: 葛邏祿 Géluólù ; customary phonetic: Gelu, Khololo, Khorlo, Persian: خَلُّخ, Khallokh, Arabic: قارلوق Qarluq) were a prominent nomadic Turkic tribal confederacy residing in the regions of Kara-Irtysh (Black Irtysh) and the Tarbagatai Mountains west of the Altay Mountains in Central Asia.

The majority of Uzbeks and Uyghurs indeed descend from Karluk tribes, and their languages are part of the Karluk subgroup, making them linguistically and historically distinct from other Turkic peoples like Kazakhs (Kipchak) or Turkmens (Oghuz).

The Emil (Kazakh: Еміл, Emıl; Russian: Эмель Emel) or Emin (Chinese: 额敏河; pinyin: Émǐn hé), also spelled Emel, Imil, etc., is a river in China and Kazakhstan. It flows through Tacheng (Tarbagatay) Prefecture of China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and the East Kazakhstan Province of Kazakhstan, and is one of the principal affluents of Lake Alakol.

The Emil River is the principal watercourse of the Emin Valley, the plain bounded by the Tarbagatai Mountains in the north, the Barlyk Mountains (Chinese: 巴尔鲁克山; pinyin: Bā'ěrlǔkè Shān) in the southeast and Lake Alakol in the west. The Emil's headwaters are two streams, the Sary Emil ("Yellow Emil") and Kara Emil ("Black Emil"), which rise near the Sino-Kazakh border in the Tarbagatai Mountains, near the Tarbagatai's junction with the Saur. The two Emils flow in a west-south-western direction, eventually joining together, across Dörbiljin County (which is called in Chinese as Emin County, after the river). The river continues its flow to the west, the border of Tacheng City and Yumin County mostly following its course. The Emil crosses the Sino-Kazakh border at 46°29′35″N 82°43′30″E / 46.49306°N 82.72500°E / 46.49306; 82.72500, and after a short stretch in Kazakhstan discharges into Lake Alakol, where it forms a small delta. The total length of the meandering river is estimated at 250 kilometres (160 mi), of which 180 kilometres (110 mi) is China and 70 kilometres (43 mi) in Kazakhstan.