Golog Prefecture is located in the southeastern part of
Qinghai, in the upper basin of the
Yellow River.
Gyaring Lake and
Ngoring Lake on the western edge of the prefecture are considered to be the source of the
Yellow River. However, these lakes do receive water from rivers that flow from locations even further west, in
Qumarleb County of the
Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The lay of the land of the prefecture is largely determined by the
Amne Machin mountain range (max elevation 6,282 m), which runs in the general northwest- to-southeast direction across the entire prefecture, and beyond. The existence of the ridge results in one of the great bends of the
Yellow River, which first flows for several hundreds of kilometers toward the east and southeast along through the entire Golog Prefecture, along the southern side of the Amne Machin Range, until it reaches the borders of Gansu and Sichuan; it and then turns almost 180 degrees and flows toward the northwest for through several prefectures of the northeastern Qinghai, forming a section of the northeastern border of the Golog prefecture. Several sections of the
Sanjiangyuan ("Sources of Three Rivers") National Nature Reserve are within the prefecture. ==Climate==