Regional Lithological Mapping Using ASTER-TIR Data: Case Study for the Tibetan Plateau and the Surrounding Area

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer is one of five instruments operating on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Terra platform. Launched in 1999, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) has been acquiring optical data for 20 years. ASTER is a joint project between Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; and U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Numerous reports of geologic mapping and mineral exploration applications of ASTER data attest to the unique capabilities of the instrument. Until 2000, Landsat was the instrument of choice to provide surface composition information. Its scanners had two broadband short wave infrared (SWIR) bands and a single thermal infrared band. A single SWIR band amalgamated all diagnostic absorption features in the 2–2.5 micron wavelength region into a single band, providing no information on mineral composition. Clays, carbonates, and sulfates could only be detected as a single group. The single thermal infrared (TIR) band provided no information on silicate composition (felsic vs. mafic igneous rocks; quartz content of sedimentary rocks). Since 2000, all of these mineralogical distinctions, and more, could be accomplished due to ASTER’s unique, high spatial resolution multispectral bands: six in the SWIR and five in the TIR. The data have sufficient information to provide good results using the simplest techniques, like band ratios, or more sophisticated analyses, like machine learning. A robust archive of images facilitated use of the data for global exploration and mapping.

Section: Mapping Using Only Aster Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Twenty Years of ASTER Contributions to Lithologic Mapping and Mineral Exploration

Abrams

Yamaguchi

2019

“…Iron oxide/hydroxide, hydroxyl-bearing, and carbonate mineral groups can be detected using VNIR and SWIR bands of ASTER due to diagnostic spectral absorption features of transition elements (Fe 2+ , Fe 3+ and REE) in the VNIR region and Al-OH, Mg-OH, Fe-OH, Si-OH, CO3, NH4, and SO4 groups in the SWIR region [35][36][37]. Discrimination of silicate lithological groups is feasible using TIR bands of ASTER due to different characteristics of the emissivity spectra derived from Si-O-Si stretching vibrations in the TIR region [18,[38][39][40][41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landsat-8, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, and WorldView-3 Multispectral Satellite Imagery for Prospecting Copper-Gold Mineralization in the Northeastern Inglefield Mobile Belt (IMB), Northwest Greenland

Pour

Park

et al. 2019

Several regions in the High Arctic still lingered poorly explored for a variety of mineralization types because of harsh climate environments and remoteness. Inglefield Land is an ice-free region in northwest Greenland that contains copper-gold mineralization associated with hydrothermal alteration mineral assemblages. In this study, Landsat-8, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), and WorldView-3 multispectral remote sensing data were used for hydrothermal alteration mapping and mineral prospecting in the Inglefield Land at regional, local, and district scales. Directed principal components analysis (DPCA) technique was applied to map iron oxide/hydroxide, Al/Fe-OH, Mg-Fe-OH minerals, silicification (Si-OH), and SiO2 mineral groups using specialized band ratios of the multispectral datasets. For extracting reference spectra directly from the Landsat-8, ASTER, and WorldView-3 (WV-3) images to generate fraction images of end-member minerals, the automated spectral hourglass (ASH) approach was implemented. Linear spectral unmixing (LSU) algorithm was thereafter used to produce a mineral map of fractional images. Furthermore, adaptive coherence estimator (ACE) algorithm was applied to visible and near-infrared and shortwave infrared (VINR + SWIR) bands of ASTER using laboratory reflectance spectra extracted from the USGS spectral library for verifying the presence of mineral spectral signatures. Results indicate that the boundaries between the Franklinian sedimentary successions and the Etah metamorphic and meta-igneous complex, the orthogneiss in the northeastern part of the Cu-Au mineralization belt adjacent to Dallas Bugt, and the southern part of the Cu-Au mineralization belt nearby Marshall Bugt show high content of iron oxides/hydroxides and Si-OH/SiO2 mineral groups, which warrant high potential for Cu-Au prospecting. A high spatial distribution of hematite/jarosite, chalcedony/opal, and chlorite/epidote/biotite were identified with the documented Cu-Au occurrences in central and southwestern sectors of the Cu-Au mineralization belt. The calculation of confusion matrix and Kappa Coefficient proved appropriate overall accuracy and good rate of agreement for alteration mineral mapping. This investigation accomplished the application of multispectral/multi-sensor satellite imagery as a valuable and economical tool for reconnaissance stages of systematic mineral exploration projects in remote and inaccessible metallogenic provinces around the world, particularly in the High Arctic regions.

“…For example, Son et al [15] utilized ASTER data to map distribution patterns of hydrothermal alteration and igneous rocks in the southwestern Gobi in Mongolia. Yoshiki et al [16] applied ASTER TIR (thermal infrared) images to map regional lithological rocks in the Tibetan Plateau. However, with Landsat 7 being damaged in 2003 and Landsat 5 retiring in 2013, only Landsat 8, launched in 2013, remains within the Landsat mission for routine operation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lithological Classification Using Sentinel-2A Data in the Shibanjing Ophiolite Complex in Inner Mongolia, China

Cheng

Tang

et al. 2018

As a source of data continuity between Landsat and SPOT, Sentinel-2 is an Earth observation mission developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), which acquires 13 bands in the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) to shortwave infrared (SWIR) range. In this study, a Sentinel-2A imager was utilized to assess its ability to perform lithological classification in the Shibanjing ophiolite complex in Inner Mongolia, China. Five conventional machine learning methods, including artificial neural network (ANN), k-nearest neighbor (k-NN), maximum likelihood classification (MLC), random forest classifier (RFC), and support vector machine (SVM), were compared in order to find an optimal classifier for lithological mapping. The experiment revealed that the MLC method offered the highest overall accuracy. After that, Sentinel-2A image was compared with common multispectral data ASTER and Landsat-8 OLI (operational land imager) for lithological mapping using the MLC method. The comparison results showed that the Sentinel-2A imagery yielded a classification accuracy of 74.5%, which was 2.5% and 5.08% higher than those of the ASTER and OLI imagery, respectively, indicating that Sentinel-2A imagery is adequate for lithological discrimination, due to its high spectral resolution in the VNIR to SWIR range. Moreover, different data combinations of Sentinel-2A + ASTER + DEM (digital elevation model) and OLI + ASTER + DEM data were tested on lithological mapping using the MLC method. The best mapping result was obtained from Sentinel-2A + ASTER + DEM dataset, demonstrating that OLI can be replaced by Sentinel-2A, which, when combined with ASTER, can achieve sufficient bandpasses for lithological classification.