The differences of geochemical indicators and patterns between sedimentary basin type geothermal system and rifted mountain type geothermal system have been lacked geological—geochemical comparison and analysis, which leads to a lack of basis in method selection and anomaly interpretation for different exploration targets. The geochemical methods test was carried out in order to establish the surface geochemical anomaly patterns of the two types of geothermal systems. Methods: We take typical sedimentary basin geothermal system ——Xiongxian geothermal system, rifted mountain type geothermal system —— Bantang geothermal system as examples, apply eight geochemical methods to conduct tests over the two geothermal systems, including soil gas, headspace gas , thermally- released mercury, adsorbed hydrocarbon, carbonate, soil gas mercury, soil gas radon, soil elements. The effective geochemical indicators were optimized based on the most favorable heat zone of the thermal reservoirs in response. The differences of surface geochemical anomaly patterns between the two types of geothermal systems was analyzed based on the geological factors. Results:It shows that surface geochemical anomaly patern of the rifted mountain type geothermal system is positive anomaly controlled by the water transmitting fault and fracture zonel; gas geochemical anomaly pattern of sedimentary basin type geothermal system is positive anomaly controlled by hot water reservoir structure, and geochemical anomaly pattern of the trace elements are negative anomaly controlled by REDOX environment. The effective geochemical indicators and abnormal morphology are different between the two type of geothermal systems.Conclusions: There are great differences between sedimentary basin type geothermal system and rifted mountain type geothermal system in terms of the effective geochemical identification indicators and geochemical anomaly patterns of the most favorable heat zones, which are closely related to geological factors such as heat source, hot water, thermal reservoir, migration channel, caprock of geothermal system. The results in this study is significant for prospecting for the most favorable heat zones of different types of geothermal systems.