Proceedings of the Second Airborne Imaging Spectrometer Data Analysis Workshop

Topics addressed include: calibration, the atmosphere, data problems and techniques, geological research, and botanical and geobotanical research

Exploration for fossil and nuclear fuels from orbital altitudes

Results from the ERTS program pertinent to exploration for oil, gas, and uranium are discussed. A review of achievements in relevant geological studies from ERTS, and a survey of accomplishments oriented towards exploration for energy sources are presented along with an evaluation of the prospects and limitations of the space platform approach to fuel exploration, and an examination of continuing programs designed to prove out the use of ERTS and other space system in exploring for fuel resources

Earth observations from space: Outlook for the geological sciences

Remote sensing from space platforms is discussed as another tool available to geologists. The results of Nimbus observations, the ERTS program, and Skylab EREP are reviewed, and a multidisciplinary approach is recommended for meeting the challenges of remote sensing

Possible Applications of Commercial Satellite Imagery lor International Safeguards: Some case studies using optical and radar data

Remote sensing from space has a long standing tradition in earth observation and environmental monitoring. However, the use of commercial satellite imagery for monitoring arms control is a new field. This study deals with the application of commercial satellite imagery for international safeguards by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The report summarises research activities which started in 1994 and have been carried out in cooperation between King's College London, the University of London, the Research Centre Jülich, Program Group Technology Assessment and the Oepartment of Geography of the University of Bonn. Part of the work has been performed under the British and German support programmes for the IAEA and have been funded by the British Oepartment of Trade and Industry UK (OTI) and the German Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF)

Geological mapping in the proterozoic Mt. Isa Inlier, Queensland, Australia, using radiometric and multispectral remotely sensed data

Landsat Thematic Mapper, NSOOl Aircraft Thematic Mapper, Geoscan Mk. II. Multispectral Scanner and Airborne Gamma Radiometric data have been used to address a variety of geological problems in the Mary Kathleen area, 60 km east of Mt. Isa, NW Queensland. This area forms part of the Cloncurry Complex, a structurally complicated mass of diverse igneous and metamorphic rocks in the Precambrian Mt. Isa Inlier for which many stratigraphic problems remain to be solved. The Landsat Thematic Mapper data have been the most extensively used in this study. They are the least problematic data type and provide new geological information at scales up to 1:50 000. The NSOOl Aircraft Thematic Mapper data have similar spectral but superior spatial resolution in comparison with the satellite data. They suffer from increased geometric and noise-related problems, but the increase in spatial resolution has allowed the solution of problems, at scales up to 1:10 000, which could not be comprehensively addressed with the satellite data. The higher spectral resolution Geoscan Mk. II Multispectral Scanner aircraft data used in the latter part of the study can be used to remotely identify surface mineralogy. The logarithmic residual technique has proved the most successful approach to enhancing the radiance data sets. When applied to the lower spectral resolution data the technique achieves good discrimination of most lithologies, produces an albedo image useful for structural mapping and yields more information than can be extracted using conventional techniques. When applied to the higher spectral resolution data the technique allows remote mineral identification. Many of the geological problems in the area have been wholly or partially solved using suitably processed radiance data. The Airborne Gamma Radiometric data have the lowest spatial resolution. Only discrimination has been possible with this data set. These data contain no terrain information and are therefore difficult to use in the field. Integration of the gamma radiometric data with satellite data has been successful in overcoming this problem. The gamma radiometric data have allowed the separation of some lithologies which cannot be separated using the radiance data sets but have contrasting radiometric counts

Earth Resources: a continuing bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 337 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between July 31, 1980 and September 30, 1980. Emphasis is placed on the use of remote sensing and geophysical instrumentation in spacecraft and aircraft to survey and inventory natural resources and urban areas. Subject matter is grouped according to agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, instrumentation and sensors, and economic analysis

Earth Resources: A continuing bibliography with indexes, issue 20

This bibliography lists 273 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between October 1 and December 31, 1978. Emphasis is placed on the use of remote sensing and geophysical instrumentation in spacecraft and aircraft to survey and inventory natural resources and urban areas. Subject matter is grouped according to agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, instrumentation and sensors, and economic analysis

Remotely Sensed, Geophysical and Geochemical Data as Aids to Mineral Exploration in Bahia State, Brazil

This thesis aims to establish methodological procedures to implement Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques applied to mineral exploration, in particular gold associated with an Archaean greenstone belt located in a semi-arid climate: - the Contendas-Mirante greenstone belt which is located in the southeastern part of Bahia State in northeastern Brazil. To achieve this goal a systematic approach was formulated. It begins with the correlation between Brazil and Africa. The geographical position of adjacent age-provinces, the coincidence of structural trends, their continuity in a pre-drift reconstruction and the similarities in the geochronological patterns, all indicate their correlation. A particular Brazilian portion of the South America Platform, termed the Sao Francisco craton, (SFC) became stabilised in the late Proterozoic (1800 Ma). In this crustal block the Archaean rocks include medium-grade (Gaviao Block) and high-grade (Jequie Block) terrains which form the infrastructure for a number of volcano-sedimentary or sedimentary sequences. One of these volcano-sedimentary sequences, the Contendas-Mirante belt (CMB), is located along the junction between the Gaviao and Jequie Blocks. It is divided into Lower Unit (mainly volcanogenic) and Upper Unit (essentially clastic). In the CMB the plutonic granitoid associations exhibit geochemical characteristics compatible with a continent-continent collision. The available data set for this area includes topographic and geological maps, stream sediment survey, Landsat TM and radar data, and airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys. The most suitable way for dealing with this enormous amount of data leading to mineral exploration exploration, is via GIS. Gold deposits can be distinguished according to depositional and genetic models. In this work I concentrate on the depositional model which can be divided according to the structural setting and lithological associations. From the available data set, the use of the Landsat TM data in lithological mapping was restricted by the vegetation and soil cover. However, TM data provided useful information on regional structures. Radar data were valuable for structural information and as ancillary data combined with radiometric data for lithological discrimination. The stream sediment reconnaissance was interpreted via a raster model. Several sets of very well correlated elements were defined: Fe-Cu-Co-As, Fe-As-Cr-V-Ba-Cu, Fe-Ni-Cu, Fe-Mg-Ti-Cu, Fe-Cu-As-Pb and Fe-Ba-As-Pb. From these element associations anomalous areas were defined. The magnetic data were useful for both the selection of zones with high magnetic fields and the detection of magnetic lineaments. The radiometric data in both small and large scale were valuable for lithological discrimination. The selected and diversified GIS functions generated a final product, called data fusion, which is far more sophisticated than data integration. The four selected areas for gold, which represent 12% of the total study area, and due to the convergent geological factors, have good potential for gold

Digital image processing of Landsat data for mapping hydrothermally altered rocks in New Mexico

Imperial Users onl

A geological investigation of multispectral remote sensing data for the Mahd Adh Dhahab and Jabal said districts, western Saudi Arabia

This thesis examines the effect of spatial resolution on lithological and alteration mapping using remotely sensed multispectral data. The remotely sensed data were obtained by the Thematic Mapper (TM) and Airborne Thematic Mapper (ATM) over two areas in the Arabian Shield. These were the Mahd Adh Dhahab and Jabal Said areas. The ATM data had a nominal spatial resolution of 7.5m, 5m, and 2.5m. In order to compare these data sets it was necessary to correct for, sensor- and scene-related distortions. This was achieved by calibrating each data set and converting them to reflectance units using ground spectra with a similar spectral resolution obtained with the Barringer Hand Held Ratioing Radiometer (HHRR) . The ATM data were also corrected for X-track shading by normalising the brightness of each column to that of the centre column. The result of X-ray and laboratory spectral analysis of samples collected from the study areas, support the presence of characteristic minerals associated with the alteration zones. The corrected data were analysed by a variety of techniques in order to enhance the geological information present in the data. These included false colour compositing, decorrelating stretching and band ratioing. The latter two techniques proved most effective for discrimination and several additional geological units and areas were identified which had not been mapped previously. Results further indicate that the increased spatial resolution of the ATM data did not permit greater discrimination than the TM data. This suggests TM data should prove to be a cost-effective way of mapping and detection of alteration zones in the Arabian Shield