Airborne radar geological imagery of southwestern and central Uta

Hilpert, L. S.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

General Disclaimer 
One or more of the Following Statements may affect this Document 
 
 This document has been reproduced from the best copy furnished by the 
organizational source. It is being released in the interest of making available as 
much information as possible. 
 
 This document may contain data, which exceeds the sheet parameters. It was 
furnished in this condition by the organizational source and is the best copy 
available. 
 
 This document may contain tone-on-tone or color graphs, charts and/or pictures, 
which have been reproduced in black and white. 
 
 This document is paginated as submitted by the original source. 
 
 Portions of this document are not fully legible due to the historical nature of some 
of the material. However, it is the best reproduction available from the original 
submission. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Produced by the NASA Center for Aerospace Information (CASI) 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19700031810 2020-03-11T22:43:04+00:00Z

qw-
1 sa- t # }
	
-{v	 c	 A.1	 _.
,^E vT 4: 
Th
UNITED STATES
,r	 b°	 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
	 Technical Letter
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
	
NASA-38
u <ti 1>0	
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20232
	
August 1966
Dr. Peter C. Badgley
Chief, Natural Resource:; Program
Office of Space Science and Application
Code SAR, NASA Headquarters
Washington, D.C. 20546
Dear Peter:
Transmitted herewith are 2 copies of:
TECHNICAL LETTER NASA-38
GEOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF RADAR IMAGERY,
SOUTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL UTAH*
by
Lowell S. Hilpert**
Sincerely yours,
William A. Fischer
Research Coordinator
rr
Earth Orbiter Program
1=
*Work performed under NASA Contract No. R-09-020-015
**U. S. Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah
3
ta
e
e
r
r.
0
UNITED STATES
DEPART;;ENT OF THE I14TERIOR
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
TECHNICAL LETTER NASA-38
GEOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF RADAR IMAGERY,
SOUTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL UTAH*
by
Lowell S. Hilpert**
August 1966
These data are preliminary and should
not be quoted without permission
Prepared by the Geological Survey
for the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA)
*Work performed under NASA Contract No. R-09-020-015
**U.S. Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, Utah
Photo copies of illustrations are available for viewing at the
following places:
Author(s); Discipline Coordinators; NASA Data Bank (Houston)$
Remote Sensing Evaluation and Coordination Staff (RESECS) and
the U.S. Geological Survey Libraries (Denver, Menlo, Washington).
v
.1
j77 -
JR• _	 }E _	 ie
F	 t
5
"	 UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
GEOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF RADAR IMAGERY,
SOUTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL UTAH
by
Lowell S. Hilpert
R	 ^j3
ABSTRACT
Radar imagery was obtained with a high frequency side-looking radar in
H
southwestern and central Utah along three flight lines having an aggregate
 length of about 650 mi. A selective evaluation indicates the radar imagery
might be useful to broadly classify some rock units on the basis of their
surficial textures or other characteristics. Tonal contrasts, however, in
the areas that have been evaluated, probably represent differences in the
degree of soil development, moisture content of the soils, and the vegetative
cover. If so, these features may indirectly be useful for classifying the
bedrock.
Geologic structures are readily visible in the imagery where they are
expressed physiographically and show with about the same clarity as in
conventional photography. Subsurface structures without physiographic
expression were not observed in the imagery.
r
	
	 Radar imagery might be useful in terrain and trafficability analyses,
especially when used in conjunction with other types of imagery, such as
ordinary photography. Railroads clearly show in the radar imagery, but only
f	 some roads can be seen. Blacktop roads show as dark lines if they are more
I
	
	 than about 30 ft wide. Graded and unimproved dirt roads and blacktop roads
less than 30 ft wide can also be detected as light lines where they are
flanked by road cuts or earth fills. The imagery of concrete surfaced roads
could not be evaluated, as there are none in the areas flown.
6
Flight 92.
Run 1. Provo ( northwest) to San Rafael Swell ( southeast).1'n
Radar imagery of the following strips in Utah were received for geologic
evaluation on March 18 9 19661
ri
	 Flight 91.
Run 3. Fillmore (north) to Panguitch ( south).
6. South end Mineral Range ( east) to South end Wah Wah
Range (west).
7. Central Wah Wah Range (west) to central Mineral Range
( east).
8. North end Mineral Range (east) to north end Wah Wah{	 Range (west).
-^i	
9. North end Wah Wah Range (southwest) to central Sanpitch
Mountains ( northeast).
F1
fl
Flight 93.
Run 1. Escalante Valley ( south) to Simpson Mountains ( north).
rl
(J
A
AY^i
The imagery was requested by the U.S. Geological Survey and flown on
October 19-20, 1965. It was obtained by a high frequency (K-band) side-look-
ing radar set and consists of two parallel images, one of which was made with
signals transmitted and received horizontally, producing s "like" image. The
other ( lower) image was made with the transmitted signal polarized in the
horizontal, as above, but with the receiving antenna in the vertical mode,
producing a "cross -polarized" image.
Width of the flight strips is about 10 mi; lengths range from about
50 to 150 mi, aggregate about 650 mi. They cover a complex variety of rocks
that range from flat-bedded sedimentary rocks in the Colorado Plateaus
province to highly folded and faulted sedimentary, volcanic, and metamorphic
rocks in the Rocky Mountains and Basin and Range provinces. The rocks range
In age from Precambrian to Quaternary ( fig. 1).
Throughout most of the flight areas the vegetative cover ranges from
sparse grassland, sage, and scattered junipers in the valleys and on
mountain flanks below 7,500 ft elevation to a somewhat heavier cover of
scrub oak, aspen, and scattered forests of pine and spruce at higher eleva-
tions ( generally 7,500 to 10,000 ft). In some of the irrigated valleys,
forage crops and other vegetation locally provide a heavy cover.
-2-
a
a
r-
F
^.0
r4i
This report is a brief geologic evaluation of selected parts of the
radar imagery, as based on a comparison with the 1:250,000-scale Utah
geologic map (Stokes, et al, 1961-64), some selected photo.coverage, and
two days of field reconnaissance in the Delta-Milford area.
Radar imagery--physical aspects
Scale. Measurements made between selected points along the flight
strips show a range in scale from 1:148,500 to about 1:220,000 and an
average of about 1:160,000.
Resolution of cultural features. Many cultural features show with
marked clarity, some, however, are intermittantly visible; their visibility
varying with the angle of incidence of the radar beam with the surface.
Most prominent are linear features such as railroads, highways, canals,
ditches, and airstrips. Railroads are most distinctive and show clearly
wLsether tht; are parallel or transverse to the flight lines. The strong
energy return i^om railroads probably relates to the shape of the steel
rails or the angular shape of the road ballast rather than the angle of
incidence of the radar signal on the rails, road cuts or embankments. Roads
generally are poorly defined but only blacktop and dirt roads are represented
in the flight strips and the road surfaces are nearly all 30 ft or less in
width. Blacktop shows as a dark band if it is about 50 ft or more wide, but
cannot be resolved if much narrower. Where it is narrower than about 50 ft,
however, a road may be defined in the imagery from the adjoining r=)ad cuts
and embankments. These relations are demonstrated by the imagery of U. S.
Highway 6 and 50 and the Delta airport, both of which are surfaced with
blacktop (fig. 2).
The airport consists of two 150-ft-wide airstrips and a 50-ft-wide
taxi strip, which show as dark bands, but the taxi strip is much the
faintest. The highway immediately west of the airport is a faintly dis-
cernible light streak on the cross-polarized image. The highway surface,
about 30 ft wide, is coated with blacktop and bounded by a shallow borrow
_s	
pit. Apparently the highway image is a reflection of the borrow pit
embankment and the blacktop surface is too narrow to be resolved, whereas
x	 the airstrip images result from their wider blacktop surfaces. They are
not paralleled by any appreciable Morrow pits.
i°	 Dirt roads are not discernible except where graded; and graded roads
are discernible only where they parallel road cuts or embankments, which
show as light streaks and may result from the higher angle of incidence of
the radar waves. A similar pattern is shown by canal banks.
In the area northeast of Delta (fig. 2) the rectangular pattern
probably results from the relative moisture content of the tilled fields
( and perhaps partly from contrast in the crops, and from the light streaks
of the canal embankments. The fields are bounded by a network of dirt and
blacktop roads, but their surfaces do not show. Waterways such as reser-
voirs, rivers, and canals, show as dark areas or streaks, but only where
`' they exceed about 25 ft in width.
The differences in resolution of the respective road surfaces rail-
roads, embankments, and waterways indicate that the radar imagery might be
a useful tool for terrain and trafficability analyses, especially when used
with other types of imagery such as ordinary photography.
Radar imagery--geologic aspects
Structural details of rock units show in the radar imagery about the
same as in conventional photography and are an expression of their physio-
graphic detail. Some image tones correlate with rock types. This correla-
tion probably results from their surface textures, or from a uniform soil
development, moisture content of the soils, or vegetative cover on their
surfaces.
In Flight 91, Run 9, for example, a Quaternary basalt flow (Qb)
shows a lighter value than the adjoining Tertiary basalt (T2bf) and
Quaternary lake bed sediments (Qlc) (see figure 3). Although rock density
and composition could be factors, they are not considered to be marked
factors because the older basalt (T 2bf) cannot be differentiated from the
lake sediments (Qlc). The different values are more likely the result of
the degree of soil development, their relative moisture content, and perhaps
their respective degree and type of vegetative cover. These matters need
further evaluation. In the same area, a fault scarp is a prominent feature,
which shows in greater detail and extent than the related fault structure
on the geologic map. There is no indication, however, that any part of the
fault structure shows that is not expressed topographically.
In the area east of Provo a patch of Tertiary rocks that is bounded
by faults labelled A and B (see figure 4) shows a darker value than the
bounding rocks, particularly darker than the Permian and Pennsylvanian
rocks along the left side of fault A. The first assumption is that the
older and more indurated rocks image with a lighter tone than the younger
rocks because of their composition or surface texture. Although this may
be true, soil cover, or lack of it, is probably a greater factor. Soil
develops most readily on the softer Tertiary rocks, especially on the
tuffaceous pyroclastics (Tlap) and the soil, holds moisture, that in turn
supports a heavy plant cover. Collectively, the moist soils and vegetation
could be expected to absorb much of the radar energy. Although the radar
imagery might show values that represent differences in rock density or
other characteristics, it is more probable the values represent differences
in the respective soil covers, the soil water content, and the vegetative
cover. These matters need further study.
-4-
t-^ 3
i
n
0
_ r * ti	 L
_,	 -
-az ^
Y
CONCLUSIONS
Radar imagery may be useful to broadly classify some rock units on the
basis of their image tone. Some differences in image tone correlate with
differences in rock density, composition, and surface texture. Most tonal
contrasts in the evaluated areas, however, probably represent differences
in the degree of soil development, soil moisture content, and the vegetative
cover. If so, these characteristics may be useful for indirectly classifying
some bedrock.
Geologic structures that are reflected physiographically are readily
visible in the radar imagery in which they show with about the same clarity
as in conventional photography.
Radar imagery might be most useful for terrain and trafficability
analyses, especially when used with other types of imagery, such as conven-
=	 tional photography. Railroads show clearly, apparently because of the steel
rails or road ballast. Blacktop and dirt roads show only under certain
conditions. The blacktop is visible as a dark surface where it exceeds about
30 ft in width. When it is less than about 30 ft wide, the road surface does
not show and traces of the roadway cannot be discerned except from the light
f-	 tones produced by the attendant embankments of road cuts and fills. Graded
and urimproved dirt roads apparently show only where there are parallel
'	 embankments and fills. Similarly, waterways show as dark areas where they
exceed about 25 ft in width; where they are less than about 25 ft wide their
presence may be indicated by the light tones of embankments,. similar to
roadways.
I
t
-5-
}
r,'
j
	
.^o
^
	
^
•
 i-E
6
 
^
i
 
Q
 
a
 ,`
L
i
,
.
.
.
	
air
0r
4
T
-
14v
f
uHi
baPE1=
r
	
^
y
	
y
•
	
Y
	
L
Y
y
	
^
	
5
O
	
•
^
	
^
	
!
	
8
	
cC
	
yy6
	
^
 
^
 
•
 I^
V
.
	
V
	
V
	
I•
	
^
	
G ^^ ^
	
•
	
1•.• Y
	
Y
L
n
	
L
h
^f9
u
	
V
J
	
K
0
5
	
W
	
u
Wx^ ^ w
 ^^ a
	
e
	
I •'
	
y 
►^
J
 -
 x
n
^
 N
 •J
-
	
y .^ 71
a
 I
 
m
 7
 i
	
o
	
^
 b
 w
	
y
	
W
 
► s
o
i
	
•
.^
 Y
^
 
`
•
 
^
N
-
	
O
	
e
4
 r
<
 4
	
^
	
<
 
z
 
G
	
!
	
•
r
i
 
W
 
^
<
	
QQ
	
p
' 1A 
a
^
o
<
	
^i2S
	
N
	
0 0
	
i
	
u
+
	
<
	
f
	
J
	
b
 ^
	
O
 
°
	
s
 
-
 
°
 
u
 0
	
,
	
•
 o
 o
	
.
 u
	
w
 >
-
	
11
	
.
	
O L
	
w
 ^
	
.
.
 No
	
n
`oWw
	
of
	
1+ ID
W
 x
 W
 > J
	
<
 K
-
 I N
 
V
 
O
 
Y
<
 G
<
 
J
 
N
	
7 W
 ^
	
V
I ^ _ <
 7 V
I
	
.
•
•i L
Ou
	
^
1
	
MYN•b 
M
M
 
rV
MO
 
C
	
I
 
I
	
n
 O
(
•
 
Y
C
I
	
^
`
	
.
•1
 r
1
M
r M
	
^
'"
	
L
e
o
 w
r
	
w
1 =
'
r
	
I
	
•
 wwld
• T •.
	
'n7' 8
	
—
	
1
	
^
 0
1
	
y
	
•
	
I
	
7
a
	
1
^
•
 
•
=
 
f
	
`fir
	
_
 
_
 
^
 
o
I
	
•
•
	
rrl
L
U. S. I
Th
Figure 2.--Radar imagery showing cultural features in Delta, Utah area.
4%
1 T Vr: TPAAr:G
.
11.P.R.R
I4 qi a	 8 .4 .	 W_	 :. -i. ^^ y,	 l	 `.
ok—	 •^" j
.•- 
y	 r^'•r•R•R•
CROSS-POLARIZED IMAGE
Aft
r,unnison Rend Res. , , t
1l 19 r	 y `	 ► 	 j	 t	
''^ 
fi r .,	 } +,; +t	 iy..	
y	
p ..	 ` 'it
"I	 f'^ ' .	 y	 rr ^]IY } n^ 	 _t"^ ^/	 tea► .
I
I
obi
Kurt' I.- ' attar	 i er y ant; !eol[ v1, 'ian o ` ,irca s nt ir' o , ' lu 11a * Ptah,
showin. tonal contrast between 'ivaternar- 1 ^asalt flow (nh)
and Tertiar- I , asalt flow ( .,lif), i tuaternar- late cla- (()lc),
?it ate rnar ,! siIt y alluvium Mas), and Ount a rnary pravellv
alluviitr ( Ilae). "cult structures are also Shown. 	 (Ceolopp
i ,: abstracted '"r - I- eol n -le man of couth,.e g tern I'tah, 1' n7,
'.d-hi 1 11nt',•, c
	
filer).
I
i
ri
M	 ^c
i `	 ego
EXPLANATION
Quaternary
Qgs--Gravel
Qav--Alluvium
Tertiary?
Tlap--Andesitic oyroclastics
Tertiary
Tgu--Green River Formation
Tu--Uinta Formation
Tf—Flagstaff Limestone
Cretaceous
Kpr—Price River °ormati^n
Kdcm--Dakota and '-edar
*fountain Vor-ati-n=
Jurassic
Jm—Morrison 'orrati,,r,
Jcu--Curtis Formation
Je--Entrada Sandstone
Jte--Twin Creep Li estone
Jn--Nugget Formation
Triassic
TRa--Ankareh Formation
TRt—Thaynes Formation
Permian
Ppc--park City Formation
Pdc--Diamond Creek Sandstone
Pk--Kirkman Limestone
Permian and Pennsylvanian
PRo---Onuirrh Formation
(From Ceologic map of Utah,
NEIA. (1961)
iiiiii
r Figure 4.--Radar imagery and geologic map near Provo, Utah, showing tonal contrastbetween Tertiary sedimentary and pyroclastic rocks and pre-Tertiary sedimentary rocks.


Geological evaluation of radar imagery, southwestern and central Utah

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

NASA Technical Reports Server