Slope streaks in the Yingxiong Range, the western Qaidam Basin and implications for Mars

• Published in: Geomorphology
• Main Authors: Cheng, Rui-Lin, He, Hongping, Michalski, Joseph R., Li, Yi-Liang, Li, Long
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: ELSEVIER 2022
• Subjects: Physical Geography; Geology; Slope streaks; Qaidam Basin; Arid-zone geomorphology; Mars; surface; Geography; Physical; Geosciences; Multidisciplinary; TIBETAN PLATEAU; NW CHINA; TERRESTRIAL ANALOG; EVOLUTION; HISTORY; VALLEY; PLAYA; WATER; DUST; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://ir.gig.ac.cn/handle/344008/67631; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.108062

Morphological features on slope areas of Mars (such as gullies, slope streaks, and recurring slope lineae) are intriguing because they are the reflection of the mineralogy, climate, and atmosphere. However, the debate as to whether martian slope features represent dry and wet formation mechanisms remains ongoing. Finding more dry and wet terrestrial analogs is one of the means to increase our understanding of these features. On the slope areas in the Yingxiong Range, the western Qaidam Basin, we observed slope streaks and surrounding features, including gullies, debris flows, and white patches. These slope streaks are light-toned, ranging from tens of meters to more than one hundred meters long, located on the slopes less than 20 degrees. The slope streaks at one study site were observed to disappear in the next year. The morphology of slope streaks and their relations with gullies and debris flows suggest that liquid flow played a role in the formation of slope streaks. According to the analyses of the mineralogical compositions and the particle size distributions of slope streaks, the light tone of the streak features was caused by the fine particle size of the materials carried by liquid flows. The disappearance of slope streaks occurred due to the covering of the coarse-particle materials brought by aeolian processes. The alternation of aqueous and aeolian processes led to the changes of slope streaks. The forming mechanism of slope streaks in the Qaidam Basin is not related to salts or brines, which is different from other terrestrial analogs of martian slope streaks (in Antarctica and Bolivia) reported so far. This new terrestrial analog suggests that both wet and dry processes get involved in the formation of slope streaks.(c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.