Dalangtan Playa (Qaidam Basin, NW China): Its microbial life and physicochemical characteristics and their astrobiological implications.

ABSTRACT: Dalangtan Playa is the second largest salt playa in the Qaidam Basin, north-western China. The hyper saline deposition, extremely arid climate and high UV radiation make Dalangtan a Mars analogue both for geomorphology and life preservation. To better understand microbial life at Dalangtan, both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods were examined and simultaneously, environment conditions and the evaporitic mineral assemblages were investigated. Ten and thirteen subsurface samples were collected along a 595-cm deep profile (P1) and a 685-cm deep profile (P2) respectively, and seven samples were gathered from surface sediments. These samples are composed of salt minerals, minor silicate mineral fragments and clays. The total bacterial cell numbers are (1.54±0.49) ×10(5) g-1 for

SUBMITTER: Huang T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6070256 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature