Salt structures are predominant in the Kuqa foreland fold-and-thrust belt. Interpretation of seismic profiles and structural physical modeling demonstrate that the pre-Paleogene basement tectonics has important influence on the development of salt structures in the Kuqa foreland fold-and-thrust belt in the northern Tarim basin. The pre-Paleogene basement in the western sector of the Qiulitag structural belt in the frontal ranges of the Kuqa foreland fold-and-thrust belt appears as a paleo-uplift on which basement faults and salt structures have developed well. The basement faults are reverse faults dipping to NNW and SSE, and strike along the surface mountains. The structural segmentation of the basement faults is relatively obvious. The salt structures induced by the viscous flow of halite layers in the Paleogene Kumugeliemu Formation involve salt pillows, salt nappes, salt welds and fish-tails. The basement faults controlled the salt flowage and spatial variations of salt thickness in the Paleogene Kumugeliemu Formation, and then influenced the structural evolution of halite layers and overburden.