As one of the main distribution areas of plateau deserts in China， the Qaidam Basin Desert is located in the western part of Qinghai Province， with various types of riverine dune development， which is important for studying the morphological development of aeolian geomorphology and the formation and evolution of deserts. Ground penetrating radar （GPR） was used to detect two typical compound crescent dunes on the right bank of lower reaches of Tora River， three detecting lines parallel to the wind direction were arranged and radar facies image information was obtained. Combined with UAV images， remote sensing images and field actual investigation， the aeolian sand sedimentary structure and sedimentary environment in the study area are comprehensively analyzed. The results indicate that： （1） The antenna of 100 MHz， 0.5 m detection step and 1 m antenna spacing are selected for the detection， and the ground-penetrating radar images show a good correspondence with the UAV images， so it is feasible to detect the internal structure of the compound crescent dune with these parameters. （2） The depositional structures inside the compound crescent dune in the lower reaches of Tora River are of various types， and the forward accretion layer and vertical accretion layer are widely developed. （3） Both the river and the dunes are moving to the southeast， and the scale of the development process is continuously decreasing and the two flanks are elongating， gradually becoming asymmetric. （4） The development of the compound crescentic dunes in the lower Tora River is divided into three periods： rapid development stage， fixed wind erosion stage， and erosion residual accretion stage.