【Objective】The chronology and development history of Alpine Meadow Soils in the Three-Rivers Headwater Region remain poorly constraint, limiting understanding of their pedogenic mechanisms on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Thus, this study aimed to determine the formation ages, parent material sources, and dominant climatic controls of the Alpine Meadow soils, in order to elucidate their developmental patterns. 【Method】In this study, 21 alpine meadow soil profiles from the Three-River Headwaters Region were selected. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was applied to both the turf layer and the parent material layer, combined with grain-size analysis to investigate soil formation processes. 【Result】The results show that the formation ages of the turf layer are generally within 1 ka. The parent material was mainly formed since the last deglaciation, with a few samples dating back to interstadials of the last glacial period. Grain-size distributions of the parent materials commonly exhibited a trimodal pattern, with a dominant peak at 40–60 μm (silt fraction). The grain-size frequency curves were similar to those of typical loess, indicating that aeolian dust is an important source of parent material for alpine meadow soil development. During the period from the last deglaciation to the Holocene, climate played a dominant role in controlling both aeolian dust input and pedogenic intensity. The concentration of parent material ages in the late Holocene suggests enhanced dust availability under relatively cold and dry climatic conditions, which provided essential materials for soil formation. 【Conclusion】These findings indicate that alpine meadow soils in the Three-River Headwaters Region follow a development pattern characterized as a “mixed parent material-aeolian accretion model.”