The Lanping Basin, located in the eastern Tethyan tectonic domain, is an important metallogenic belt and one of the potential areas for marine potash exploration in China. The Yunlong Formation developed thick gypsum—salt evaporites, which is a significant salt- bearing horizon in the basin. In order to further better understand the potassium salt formation conditions in the specific period and the resource potential of the Lanping Basin, this paper systematically summaried the recent research achievements in the stratigraphic chronology, paleoclimatic environment and the provenance of the clastic and evaporitic rocks of the Yunlong Formation. The following main conclusions are reached: ① Several isotope dating methods preliminarily constraints the Yunlong Formation to be Cretaceous in age. However, the direct precise chronological work remains being lacked. ② Paleolatitude results show that the Lanping Basin had been persistently located in the subtropical high- pressure belt. And the paleoclimate was generally hot and characterized by the cyclical changes of the hot arid and warm humid environment during the deposition of the Yunlong Formation. ③ The principle source materials of the Yunlong Formation evaporite mainly came from the sea water. While the clastic source rocks are largely felsic rocks derived from the recycling orogeny in the upper crust. And the detrital zircon age spectrum of the Yunlong Formation can be preferably compared with those of the Yangtze, Songpan—Garze and South Qiangtang terranes and the magmatic rocks from the basin itself and surrounding sutures. And ④ the Yunlong Formation in the Lanping Basin shows comparable sedimentary sequences, stratigraphic chronology, paleoclimate and provenance evolution with the Mengyejing Formation in the Simao Basin, which holds up to now the only solid potash deposit in the China continent, implying good prospects for potassium formation. To carry out the coupling process research of three potash- forming factors (i. e., climate, tectonics and material source) on the basis of constructing the high- resolution deposition ages of the Yunlong Formation in the future is the key to deeply understanding the potash- forming conditions and potential in the Lanping Basin.