The surface of Mars has been sculpted by a diversity of long-lasting aqueous systems and likely had a more habitable environment in the past. During recent decades,the ancient habitable environments and evolutionary history of Mars have been interesting topics of planetary science research and deep space exploration. The Qaidam Basin,located on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau,has been considered to be an ideal analog to ancient Mars due to its limited aqueous activity,coldness,aridity,and high UV radiation. This study combined remote sensing image analysis,short-wave infrared spectroscopy,laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy,X-ray diffraction,and X-ray fluorescence to analyze the spectral characteristics and mineral and elemental compositions of surface soils sampled from representative Mars-like landforms (including alluvial fan,dune,debris flow,gully,yardang,playa,and polygon) across the Qaidam Basin. Results of this study reveal that the mineral composition of Mars-like Qaidam landforms is primarily composed of quartz,albite,gypsum,and calcite,as well as illite,chlorite,microcline,and halite. Samples from the yardang and alluvial fan demonstrated their high preservation capacities of carbonates,clay minerals,and organic matter. These findings offer valuable insights for the interpretation of in-situ spectroscopic data and environmental chemical analyses of paleohydrologic settings on Mars from the perspective of comparative planetology.
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