Lineament extraction from multi-resolution satellite imagery: a pilot study on Wadi Bani Malik, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The study of structural lineaments is important for mineral exploration, geotectonic and geotechnical studies, and for the mitigation of geologic hazards. The present work deals with the extraction of lineaments from satellite imageries of different spatial resolutions as well as the analysis of these extracted lineaments. Wadi Bani Malik area located to the east of Jeddah city on the Red Sea coastal plain is chosen for such a study. Six types of digital satellite imagery data were used in the present study. These comprise satellite imagery of low spatial resolution (LSR) including Landsat MSS of 80-m resolution, Landsat TM of 30-m resolution, and Landsat TM of 25-m resolution; satellite imagery of moderate spatial resolution (MSR) including Landsat ETM+ panchromatic of 15-m resolution and SPOT panchromatic of 10-m resolution; and satellite imagery of high spatial resolution (HSR) including the Indian Remote Sensing satellite IRS data of 5-m resolution. As expected, the analysis of the extracted lineaments from different data sets shows that the imagery data of HSR of the Indian IRS data give the highest frequency of the extracted structural lineaments (N=3,235), while the imagery data of LSR of the Landsat MSS data give the lowest frequency of the extracted lineaments (N = 89). The imagery data of MSR give moderate frequency (N=1,643) in average. Due to the present study, it is recommended to use the imagery data of HSR and MSR for the extraction of structural lineaments for detailed and regional studies, respectively. The imagery data of LSR are not recommended for such studies due to the fact that most of the real structural lineaments framework cannot be extracted; accordingly, it is not useful in the analyses of lineaments for geological purposes.

Análisis de fracturas geológicas extraídas por teledetección en imágenes Landsat TM, ejemplo de la zona de Imilchil-Tounfite (Alto Atlas central, Marruecos)

“…This satellite image shows 7 spectral bands ( Fig. 2) with 30 m spatial resolution, except the thermal band (band number 6) which has a ground resolution of 120 m.The image can provide to the interpreter, a multitude of structural information's (Semere & Woldai 2006;Kavac, 2005;Qari, 2011). The mapping lineaments needs, besides satellite image, to take account of the topographical map in order to eliminate lineaments related to the human activities (road, railway…).…”

Comparison of Multi-Resolution Optical Landsat-8, Sentinel-2 and Radar Sentinel-1 Data for Automatic Lineament Extraction: A Case Study of Alichur Area, SE Pamir

“…Investigators [20] compared Landsat ETM+ and ASTER in the quality of the extracted lineaments and concluded that the higher the spatial resolution, the higher the quality of the lineament maps. Thus, data fusion with a radar or the use of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) images and, similarly, image fusion with Landsat band-8 (panchromatic) or the use of Landsat band-8 improved the number of lineaments extracted in further studies [21,23]. Shaded relief models are also widely used and considered as a powerful tool for lineament enhancement in topographic data [24].…”

Analysis and Application of Lineaments Extraction Using Gf-1 Satellite Images in Loess Covered

“…The study of structure brings convenience for oil exploration, groundwater storage, understanding the mechanisms of environmental disasters, for instance, earthquake, flood and landslides (Marghany and Hashim, 2010). Lineaments may reflect discontinuities of surfaces of in the rocks or may reflect geological structures, topographic features or human-made features (Qari, 2011). A number of experts extracted and interpreted from satellite images and digital elevation models (DEMs), and provided an effective scientific basis for studying the trend of regional plate movement and tectonic framework (Masoud andKoike, 2011, Ahmadirouhani et al, 2017).…”