Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:30:40.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Geological remote sensing of rocky coasts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

G. Wadge  and
N. Quarmby
G. Wadge
Affiliation:
N.E.R.C. Unit for Thematic Information Systems, Department of Geography, University of Reading, University of Reading, Reading RG6 2AB, U.K.
N. Quarmby
Affiliation:
N.E.R.C. Unit for Thematic Information Systems, Department of Geography, University of Reading, University of Reading, Reading RG6 2AB, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

From remotely sensed images of rock surfaces at coasts it is possible to map some characteristics of different rock types. To do this a selection must be made of those parts of the image that correspond to the rock surfaces prior to interrogation of their geological information content. A comparative study of satellite-acquired multispectral Thematic Mapper data and aircraft-acquired multispectral scanner data at four test sites on the Pembrokeshire coast was made. The spatial resolution of the Thematic Mapper data (30 m) proved to be too coarse to provide any continuity of mapping over several kilometres of rock exposures, whereas the 10 m resolution of the aircraft data was adequate to do this. Using the aircraft scanner data, neighbouring Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous (mainly carbonate) rocks could be discriminated in both three-band and principal components images. Furthermore, it proved possible to distinguish between limestone and dolomite lithologies in the Carboniferous succession and between some of the mudstones and sandstones in the Old Red Sandstone. Airborne multispectral scanning of rocky coasts is a new potential tool for geological mapping in exploration projects in which it would be best integrated with the acquisition of airborne geophysical and field geological data.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 125 , Issue 5 , September 1988 , pp. 495 - 505
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Buettner, K. J. K. & Kern, C. D. 1965. The determination of infrared emissivities of terrestrial surfaces. Journal of Geophysical Research 70, 1329–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conel, T. E., Lang, H. R., Paylor, E. D. & Alley, R. E. 1985. Preliminary spectral and geologic analysis of Landsat-4 Thematic Mapper data, Wind River Basin area, Wyominga. Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing GE23, no. 4, 562–73.Google Scholar
Dixon, E. E. L. 1921. The geology of the South Wales coalfield. Part XIII. The country around Pembroke and Tenby. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of England and Wales 244 and 245, 220 pp.Google Scholar
Drury, S. A. 1986. Remote sensing of the geological structure in European agricultural terrains. Geological Magazine 123, 113–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaffey, S. J. 1986. Spectral reflectance of carbonate minerals in the visible and near infrared (0.35–2.55 microns): calcite, aragonite and dolomite. American Mineralogist 71, 151–62.Google Scholar
Gillespie, A. R., Kahle, A. B. & Walker, R. E. 1986. Color enhancement of highly correlated images. I. Decorrelation and HSI contrast stretches. Remote Sensing of Environment 20, 209–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenbaum, D. 1987. Lithological discrimination in central Snowdonia using airborne multispectral scanner imagery. International Journal of Remote Sensing 8, 799–816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hummer-Miller, S. & Watson, K. 1977. Evaluation of algorithms for geologic thermal inertia mapping. Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of the Environment 1147–60.Google Scholar
Hunt, G. R. & Salisbury, J. W. 1976. Visible and near infrared spectra of minerals and rocks. XI. Sedimentary rocks. Modern Geology 5, 211–17.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. R. 1964. The Ecology of Rocky Shores. London: English University Press, 323 pp.Google Scholar
Loughlin, W. P. & Tawfiq, M. A. 1985. Discrimination of rock types and alteration zones from airborne MSS data: the Shamran-Shayban and Mahd adh Dhahab areas of Saudi Arabia. Proceedings of the 4th Thematic Conference on Remote Sensing for Exploration Geology, San Francisco 19 pp.Google Scholar
Marsh, S. E., Switzer, P., Kowalik, W. S. & Lyon, R. P. J. 1980. Resolving the percentage of component terrains within single resolution elements. Photo-grammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 46, 1079–86.Google Scholar
Rothery, D. A. 1987. Improved discrimination of rock units using Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery of the Oman ophiolites. Journal of the Geological Society of London 144, 587–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Satterwhite, M. B., Henley, J. P. & Carney, J. M. 1985. Effects of lichens on the reflectance spectra of granitic rock surfaces. Remote Sensing of Environment 18, 105–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheffield, C. 1985. Selecting band combinations from multispectral data. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 51, 681–87.Google Scholar
Sultan, M., Arvidson, R. E. & Sturchio, N. C. 1986. Mapping of serpentinites in the eastern desert of Egypt by using Landsat Thematic Mapper data. Geology 14, 995–9.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, B. P. J., Allen, J. R. L. & Marshall, J. D. 1982. Old Red Sandstone facies of the Pembroke peninsula, south of the Ritec Fault. In Geological Excursions in Dyfed, South-west Wales (ed. Basset, M. G.), pp. 151–74. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales.Google Scholar
Wilson, A. K. 1986. Calibration of ATM data. Proceedings of the Natural Environment Research Council 1985 airborne campaign workshop. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Monkswood, E25–E40.Google Scholar
Ziegler, A. M., McKerrow, W. S., Burne, R. V. & Baker, P. E. 1969. Correlation and environmental setting of the Skomer Volcanic Group, Pembrokeshire. Proceedings of the Geologists‘ Association 80, 409–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar