ERTS-1 MSS data covering parts of Pennsylvania's southern and eastern middle anthracite coal fields were studied to determine how well accumulations of coal refuse could be identified and mapped by computer analysis and processing. Spectral signatures of coal refuse targets were similar to water, but had higher reflectances in all channels. Relative reflectances were in the order 4  5  or = 6  7. Although no underflight photography was at hand to judge mapping success, correlation was made, with 1:24,000 scale U.S.G.S. maps dated 1947 and 1948. Coal refuse targets correlated well with existing maps

Borden, F. Y.

Lachowski, H. M.

Thompson, D. N.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

/" 
Paper L 24 
IDENTIFICATION AND MAPPING OF COAL REFUSE BANKS AND OTHER 
TARGETS IN THE ANTHRACITE REGION 
F. Y. Borden, D. N. Thompson and H. M. Lachowski, Office for Remote Sensing 
of Earth Resources, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 
ERTX-I MSS da ta  covering p a r t s  of  
Pennsylvania's Southern and Eastern Middle 
Anthracite Coal F ie lds  were studied t o  
determine how well accumulations of coal 
refuse could be iden t i f i ed  and mapped by 
computer analysis  and processing. Spectral  
signatures of coal refuse t a rge t s  were 
s i m i l a r  t o  water, but had higher ref lectances 
i n  a l l  channels. Relative ref lectances were 
i n  the  order 4>>5>6>>7. Although no under- 
f l i g h t  photograpG w a s  a t  hand t o  judge mapping 
success, cor re la t ion  w a s  made with 1 :24,000 
scale  USGS maps dated 1947 and 1948. Coal 
refuse t a r g e t s  correlated well with exis t ing 
maps . 
A widespread and ongoing problem affect ing the u t i l i -  
z a t i o n  of ear th  resources i s  the devastation of  land that 
of ten accompanies the  extract ion and processing of mineral 
resources. Few areas of the  wor ld  are as d r a s t i c a l l y  
affected by th i s  problem as the Anthracite coal region of  
eastern Pennsylvania. I n  addition t o  extensive s t r ip-  
mined areas ,  a t  l e a s t  16,000 acres i n  the region are  
covered by waste from coal-processing plants .  Although 
m o s t  prominent f o r  t h e i r  barren ugl iness ,  these immense 
black p i l e s  of s i l t ,  shale ,  and rock also pol lu te  streams 
w i t h  acid and sediment and preclude more beneficial  uses 
of  the  land as well. 
Knowledge of  the  loca t ion  and extent of such problem 
areas  w i l l  be required f o r  e f fec t ive  planning o f  c0rrectiv.t 
measures. 
of information from a var ie ty  of  sources (Peters ,  Spicer,  
and Lovell ,  1968) and, while ce r t a in ly  useful ,  have been 
incomplete. Furthermore, reworking of refuse and s i l t ,  
extinguishing burning refuse,  strip-mining, and other such 
a c t i v i t i e s  have resu l ted  i n  elimination of  some banks, 
moving of others ,  and creat ion of new ones, i n  addition 
Most assessments t o  date have been compilations 
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https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19730019587 2020-03-17T08:48:17+00:00Z
t o  the  normal increase i n  s i z e  of banks with continued 
coal production. 
Thus, the  capabi l i ty  of satellite-mounted sensors 
f o r  r epe t i t i ve  observation of extensive areas  seems t o  
make ERTS-1 the i d e a l  t o o l  f o r  rout ine mapping of t he  
areas  i n  need o f  reclamation. To t e s t  th is  supposition, 
an area encompassing the  eas te rn  ends o f  both the Southern 
and Middle Anthracite F ie lds  w a s  studied. 
October 1 1 ,  1972, with t h e  i d e n t i f i c a t i o n  of  1080-15185. 
The computer processing w a s  done within the  system described 
by Borden (1972) for processing and analysis  of  MSS remote 
sensor data. Dig i ta l  o r  character maps from p r i n t e r  output 
were used as working copy and f o r  this  repor t  f i n a l  maps, 
made from character maps, were output on a p l o t t e r .  
area,  including the coal towns of Tamaqua, Coaldale, 
Lansford, Summit H i l l ,  and Nesquehoning, w a s  studied 
in tens ive ly  t o  develop a s e t  of spec t ra l  signatures f o r  
various t a r g e t s  of i n t e r e s t .  
ground locat ions w a s  aided by a d i g i t a l  i n t e n s i t y  map show- 
ing areas of  l o w  and high t o t a l  ref lectance.  All of the 
signatures used i n  subsequent mapping of  the e n t i r e  area 
were obtained from this subarea. 
Bulk MSS d ig i t a l  data were used. The scene da te  w a s  
An approximately nine-mile-square sect ion of the study 
Orientation with respect t o  
A second d i g i t a l  map w a s  produced using a program t h a t  
i d e n t i f i e s  areas  of r e l a t i v e l y  uniform l o c a l  spec t ra l  
response. Both maps were then studied t o  s e l ec t  training 
areas f o r  the i n i t i a l  spec t ra l  signature calculations.  As 
c l a s s i f i c a t i o n  maps were produced, unclassif ied o r  confus- 
ing areas were delineated and c lus t e r  analyses were 
performed, es tabl ishing additional signatures i n  a kind of  
i t e r a t i v e  process. The resu l t ing  profusion of signatures 
was reduced t o  manageable proportions by using distances of 
separation, such as those shown i n  Table 1 (b), t o  i den t i fy  
groups s i m i l a r  enough t o  be represented by one mean signa- 
t u re .  A t o t a l  of  42 d i f f e r e n t  signatures w a s  used i n  the 
t o t a l  mapping; the  important ones r e l a t i v e  t o  this report  
a r e  l i s t e d  i n  Table 1 (a) 
spec t ra l  signatures representing a pa r t i cu la r  t a rge t  
category i s  considered as a four-element vector. The point 
i n  four-dimensional space defined by this vector i s  consid- 
ered the c l a s s  centroid,  which, together with a specified 
c l a s s i f i ca t ion  l i m i t ,  def ines  the c lass .  Each da ta  point 
I n  the  c l a s s i f i c a t i o n  procedure used, each of the 
1068 
can a l s o  be considered a point  i n  four-space and i s  assigned 
t o  t h a t  c l a s s  f o r  which i t s  euclidean distance from the  c l a s s  
centroid i s  minimum, provided it f a l l s  within the specif ied 
l i m i t .  I f  i t  does not,  then i t  i s  checked t o  see whether it 
f a l l s  within the  l i m i t  f o r  the  next c loses t  category and so  
on. I f  a point i s  not within the l i m i t  f o r  any category, it 
i s  c l a s s i f i e d  as other. Although 42 d i f f e ren t  categories 
were used, re la ted  categories  were mapped using the same 
symbol; a l l  four coal refuse categories,  f o r  instance,  were 
mapped as X ' s .  I n  specifying the c l a s s i f i ca t ion  l i m i t  f o r  
each category, i t s  distanqes of separation from unrelated 
categories  ( i . e . ,  those with d i f f e ren t  map symbols) were 
studied and the l i m i t  s e t  a t  two-thirds of the smallest such 
dis tance,  except f o r  coal refuse and water, which were s e t  
equal t o  t h a t  minimum distance.  A l l  categories were included 
i n  the f i n a l  c l a s s i f i c a t i o n ,  but only those l i s t e d  i n  Table 
1 (a) were assigned nonblank map symbols. 
the  area was available.  The only supporting mater ia ls  used 
were USGS topographic maps dated 1947 and 1948, and a report  
by Pe te r s ,  Spicer,  and Love11 (1968) showing the locat ion of 
most of  the l a rge r  refuse banks and silt deposits i n  the  
Anthracite Region. Time l imi ta t ions  have thus f a r  prevented 
f i e l d  checking of ground t ru th .  
With respect t o  the primary object ive,  mapping coal 
waste mater ia ls ,  the  maps shown i n  Figures 1 and 2 speak 
very well f o r  themselves. Figure 1 shows the area i n  the  
Southern Anthracite Field from which the spec t ra l  signa- 
t u re s  were obtained. Figure 2 shows an adjacent area i n  
the Eastern Middle F ie ld  t h a t  w a s  mapped using the same 
s e t  of signatures.  I n  both cases,  every refuse p i l e  o r  
s i l t  bas in  that  shows on e i t h e r  the  topographic maps o r  
the Pe ters ,  e t  a l .  (1968) map also can be iden t i f i ed  on 
the  ERTS m a p x m e  o f  the  accumulations shown on the 
ERTS map, however, a re  not on e i t h e r  of the others.  With 
few exceptions, these a re  c lose t o  mining operations where 
refuse p i l e s  migh5 log ica l ly  be eqec ted .  The t o t a l  area 
c l a s s i f i e d  as refuse o r  s i l t  was 6,532 acres  o r  6.2 
percent of the overal l  a rea  shown. 
the  coal wastes have qui te  l o w  overal l  ref lectance.  The 
s ignatures ,  shown i n  Table 1 ( a ) ,  a re  somewhat s i m i l a r  t o  
those f o r  water--relatively high i n  channel 4, dropping 
off sharply f rom 4 t o  5 ,  dropping only s l i g h t l y  o r  not a t  
all from 5 t o  6, and w i t h  another sharp drop between 6 and 
7. The refuse ref lectances are  s ign i f i can t ly  higher than 
N o  NASA underflight o r  other photographic coverage of  
A s  ant ic ipated from i t s  dark gray t o  d u l l  black co lor ,  
1069 
th ree  of the water 8ign:rt;urt.s i n  every channel an& conse- 
quently the dis tances  of separation, shown i n  Table l ( b ) ,  
a r e  adequate f o r  successful c l a s s i f i ca t ion .  Only muddy 
water has t o t a l  ref lectance as high as  refuse and the 
pa t t e rn  of i t s  signature i s  su f f i c i en t ly  d i f f e ren t  t o  
eliminate confusion. 
Among the categories  that were blanked out of t h e  maps 
were six signatures thought t o  represent strip-mine spoi l s .  
Although there  was v i r t u a l l y  no problem with refuse being 
misclassif ied as strip-mine spo i l s ,  c e r t a i n  strip-mine 
spo i l s  appear t o  be misclassif ied as refuse.  One such area 
i s  a long, nmrow band near the southwest corner of Figure 1 
that  i s  napped as re fuse ,  but  shows on txe  topographic map 
as unreclaimed strip-mines. This, of course, i s  no t  
surpr is ing since sone strip-mine s p o i l s ,  being derived from 
the  .same geologic strata as the r e f u s e , a r e c l o s e l y  s i m i l a r  
t o  it i n  color.  Such misc lass i f ica t ion  i s ,  i n  one sense a t  
l e a s t ,  not r e a l l y  a problem since the  same environmental 
problems.and reclamation d i f f i c u l t i e s  a re  involved w i t h  
both materials.  Mapping of strip-mines w i l l  be more d i f f i -  
c u l t  than the  coal refuse because of confusion with other 
t a rge t s  such as roads,  towns, and bare f i e l d s .  The d i f f i -  
c u l t i e s  do not ,  however, appear insurmountable. 
Other t a r g e t s  presented m i n i m a l  problems. A l l  water,  
bodies that show on the topographic maps were p lo t ted  
accurately. Several addi t ional  water bodies that show on 
the  ERTS but  not on the topographic maps appear t o  be 
unreclaimed s t r ipp ing  p i t s  that have f i l l e d  with water. 
The s m a l l  a rea  near the eas t  edge of  Figure 1 that i s  
mapped as l'muddy water" i s  not d e f i n i t e l y  known t o  be that ,  
and, as previously noted, i t s  spec t ra l  signature i s  not 
g rea t ly  d i f f e r e n t  from those of coal refuse. Although not  
on the  topographic nap, it i s  on the opposite s ide  of the 
r idge from the  coal deposits and the  other mining ac t iv i ty .  
I ts  shape and i t s  pos i t ion  astraddle Mauch Chunk Creek 
suggest that  it i s  a pond, but the f i n a l  determination w i l l  
be made on the ground. 
an upland swamp that shows on the topographic map and i n  
the northeast  corner of Figure 1.  The same vegetation type 
a l so  maps along the northwest s ide ( the  shaded s ide  a t  
9:W.a.m.) of the ridges.  'Phis may be a d i r e c t  consequence 
of the  shading o r  it m a y  ind ica te  that the  p lan t  community 
i s  d i f f e ren t ,  the  shaded lower slope supporting a hemlock- 
rhododendrontype that i s  s i m i l a r  t o  that of the swamp. 
The signature f o r  swamp vegetation w a s  obtained from 
1070 
Again, the  f i n a l  i n t e rp re t a t ion  must awnit the ground- 
t r u t h  determination. 
OtheJ' fe:iturcs t h a t  were milppcd more o r  l e s s  ::ucccss- 
f u l l y  included the four-lane highway between Hazle ton and 
Tamaqua and a pipel ine right-of-way t h a t  i s  apparently 
covered with low brush and weeds because i t  maps i n  s m a l l  
patches elsewhere. 
one of the  refuse banks, which appears on the topographic 
maps as a lmost  per fec t ly  c i r c u l a r ,  d id  not come out t h a t  
w a y  on the  d i g i t a l  map. A c lus t e r  analysis  gave the 
signature shown i n  Table 1 (a) A glance a t  Table 1 ( b )  
shows t h a t  i t  i s  t o t a l l y  d i f f e ren t  from any other category 
shown and, i n  f a c t ,  i t s  minimum distance of  separation f rom 
any other category w a s  15.1 from one of the strip-mine 
signatures.  The category has a lso mapped i n  s m a l l  patches 
elsewhere, but we do not ,  a t  t h i s  time, know what i t  is .  
It i s  conjectured t o  be burned-out o r  burning refuse,  known 
t o  be present i n  these coal f i e l d s .  
I n  summary, use of the ERTS-1 data t o  map the  loca t ion  
and area l  extent of coal waste mater ia ls  has been found.to 
be feas ib le .  It a l s o  appears t h a t  much additional useful  
information can be e l i c i t e d  from the da ta ,  pa r t i cu la r ly  
with regard t o  cu l tu ra l  changes over time. 
What w e  have ca l led  on the maps an anomaly arose when 
LITERATURE CITED 
Borden, F. Yates. 1972. A Digi ta l  Processing and Analysis 
System f o r  Multispectral  Scanner and Similar Data. 
Remote Sensing of Earth Resources, V o l .  I. Edited by 
F. Shdhrokhi. The University of Tennessee, Space 
I n s t i t u t e ,  Tullahoma, Tennessee. pp. 481-507. 
Pe te r s ,  J.  W . ,  T. S. Spicer ,  and H. L. Lovell. 1968. A 
Survey of the Location, Magnitude, Charac te r i s t ics ,  
and Potent ia l  Uses of  Pennsylvania Refuse. Coal 
Research Admin., The Pennsylvania S ta t e  University, 
Special Research Report No. SR-67. 
1071 
Table 1 .  Specif icat ions of map categories:  (a)  spectral  
signatures and catggory l i m i t s ;  (b) distances 
of  separation between centroids  of  the 
categories.  
20.88 
20.23 
21.77 
19.73 
18.49 
26-79 
16.40 
16.36 
20.12 
14.43 
13.39 
15.59 
12.99 
10.79 
7.57 
8.16 
8.63 
15.67 
1 Refuse 1 
2 Refuse 2 
3 Refuse 3 
4 Refuse 4 
5 Wet S i l t  
6 Clear Water 
7 Turbid Water 
8 River Water 
9 Muddy Water 
10 Swamp Vegetation 
1 1  Anomaly 
12.34 
13.32 
14-73 
11.04 
9.79 
5.87 
4*79 
8.96 
10.10 
4.42 1 3.6 
5.26 6.5 
5.84 4.7 
3.66 3.3 
3.26 2.1 
0.69 6.7 
5.5 
2.8 
1.42 
3.43 
1.98 3.3 
36.00 18*39 I 
Category 
'-x-J-T- 
1072 
L E G E N D  
Refuse and silt 
C tear wqt  e r  
Muddy water  
Ummm Swamp vegetat-ioo 
A h o r n a \ y  
Scqle: 1" = 8000' 
Date 05 orb i t :  11 act 72 
Figure 1. Computer-generated map showing c o a l  waste 
accumulations in east end of Southern 
Anthracite Field. 
1073 
'I I 1 1  1 I I 1 1 1  II I I1 11111 I 1  I II I I I I I I  I 111 I l l  111 lIII11111 I 111 111111111111111111'1: - Y 
#+ * 3 ID 8 ~ 0 3 
w 
t g  
d? 
3 
d 1 
8 
u 
I Refuse and silt a CIear water 
3 Muddy water - 
Figure 2. Computer-generated map showing coal waste 
accumulations in east end of Eastern Middle 
Anthracite Field. 
1074 


Identification and mapping of coal refuse banks and other targets in the anthracite region

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