ENVIRONMENTAL EARTH SCIENCES, vol.83, pp.219-233, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
Lake Salda is considered the most similar region on Earth to search for evidence of life on Mars, and its shoreline is home
to microbialites containing some of the oldest known fossilized records of life on our planet. Understanding the historical
process of Mars is also crucial for predicting the future of our planet, given its transition from a watery world to an arid one.
In mineralogical studies to be carried out in sensitive areas such as private protected areas, it is a priority not to damage the
area, and mineralogical research using remote sensing methods is frequently used in such studies. In this study, the mineralogical characteristics of the geological formations in and around Kocaadalar Burnu peninsula, located in the southwest of
Lake Salda, were examined using remote sensing techniques. Mineral studies of Lake Salda were conducted using data from
the Hyperion data of the Earth Observation-1 (EO-1) satellite, which can detect in 220 bands between 357 and 2576 nm
wavelengths which is capable of hyperspectral sensing. The EO-1 satellite, the frst spacecraft of NASA’s New Millennium
Programme, which operated successfully from its launch in 2000 until the end of its mission in 2017, carried the multispectral Advanced Land Imager and LEISA Atmospheric Corrector sensors, in addition to the Hyperion hyperspectral sensor.
The Hyperspectral Material Identifcation tool in the Tactical Hyperspectral Operations Resource module of the ENVI
software, the United States Geological Survey spectral library, and the Adaptive Coherence Estimator algorithm were used
in the study. According to the results of this study conducted on the shores of Lake Salda, in addition to the hydromagnesite
mineral, the existence of which was previously detected by various researchers, trona, vermiculite, rivadavite and borate
minerals such as ulexite, tincalconite and colemanite were also detected. The results of this study have shown that remote
sensing methods can make signifcant contributions to research in special protected areas such as Lake Salda. It is thought
that the presence of trona and boron minerals in the region will contribute positively to the understanding of the historical
process of Salda Lake.