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Automated mapping of mineral groups and green vegetation from Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery with an example from the San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Scientific Investigations Map 3252
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https://doi.org/10.3133/sim3252

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Abstract

Multispectral satellite data acquired by the ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (TM) sensors are being used to populate an online Geographic Information System (GIS) of the spatial occurrence of mineral groups and green vegetation across the western conterminous United States and Alaska. These geospatial data are supporting U.S. Geological Survey national-scale mineral deposit database development and other mineral resource and geoenvironmental research as a means of characterizing mineral exposures related to mined and unmined hydrothermally altered rocks and mine waste. This report introduces a new methodology for the automated analysis of Landsat TM data that has been applied to more than 180 scenes covering the western United States. A map of mineral groups and green vegetation produced using this new methodology that covers the western San Juan Mountains, Colorado, and the Four Corners Region is presented. The map is provided as a layered GeoPDF and in GIS-ready digital format. TM data analysis results from other well-studied and mineralogically characterized areas with strong hydrothermal alteration and (or) supergene weathering of near-surface sulfide minerals are also shown and compared with results derived from ASTER data analysis.

Suggested Citation

Rockwell, B.W., 2013, Automated mapping of mineral groups and green vegetation from Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery with an example from the San Juan Mountains, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3252, iv, 25 p.; Map: 1 Sheet: 36 x 40 inches; Downloads Directory, https://doi.org/10.3133/sim3252.

ISSN: 2329-132X (online)

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Automated mapping of mineral groups and green vegetation from Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery with an example from the San Juan Mountains, Colorado
Series title Scientific Investigations Map
Series number 3252
DOI 10.3133/sim3252
Year Published 2013
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Central Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center
Description iv, 25 p.; Map: 1 Sheet: 36 x 40 inches; Downloads Directory
Country United States
State Colorado
Other Geospatial San Juan Mountains
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Additional publication details