Asian dust emission is not only in response to global climate changes, but also affects the variability of the global climate system, with involved processes and mechanisms being crucial for interpreting atmospheric dust records at various timescales. However, due to intense wind erosion in source areas, geological records that can reflect dust emission processes are always poorly preserved. Here, we report a large deflation depression in the Gonghe Basin, northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and attempt to use the wind-eroded landforms to deduce the dynamics of dust emission during the last glacial. Through topographic analyses based on digital elevation models, we identified five levels of tiered terrains within the depression in the western Gonghe Basin. Geomorphic evidence demonstrates that the development of the depression initiated from the Second Tala surface, and that wind deflation is the sole agent for evacuating materials, namely, the strata of the Gonghe Formation, out of the depression. Meanwhile, the fluvial and lake-shore erosion of the surrounding Gonghe Formation may have generated a great deal of loose sediments, thereby providing an erodible substrate for subsequent deflation when the lakes dried up. We propose that the alternately episodic water and wind erosion, driven by climatic shifts between warm-wet and cold-dry states, jointly shaped the depression and the tiered terrains within it. Based on the Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dates of aeolian sands underlying fluvial gravels in stratigraphic sections at different elevations across the western Gonghe Basin, we roughly constrained the formation timing of the Second Tala surface, and thus the period of the depression development at 90-15 ka, with a deflation rate of similar to 1.5 mm a(-1) and a dust emission flux of similar to 850.9 g m(-2) a(-1). However, this flux most likely represents a minimal estimate. Nonetheless, it provides a critical reference for assessing the magnitude of dust emission from Asian source areas during the last glacial, particularly offering insights into dust variability as recorded by pelagic sediments from the Northern Pacific. Our results would be helpful to deeply understand the mechanism of dust emission and landscape evolution in Asian source areas.