Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T16:25:59.119Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Remote sensing of geological structure in temperate agricultural terrains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

S. A. Drury
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

Abstract

Agricultural patterns dominate most remotely sensed images of lowland north Europe and camouflage shadow patterns related to topography and hence to underlying geological structure. Images of those parts of the near-infrared spectrum close to absorption features controlled by H–O–H bond stretching in plant cells and soil moisture largely remove this hindrance to interpretation, if they are acquired at an early stage in the growing season. The most easily available and most useful images of this type are those of band 5 from the Landsat Thematic Mapper. Spatial filtering techniques applied to digital images can enhance them for structural interpretation if filter matrices and viewing scales are chosen to match the dimensions of the most common elements of the landscape and the peak of visual acuity. Filters to enhance directional attributes of an agricultural scene give appealing results but contain spurious linear features that masquerade as faults.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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

Bailey, G. B. & Anderson, P. D. 1982. Applications of Landsat imagery to problems of petroleum exploration in Quaidam Basin, China. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin 66, 1348–54.Google Scholar
Chavez, P. S. 1983. In Geological applications (sub. ed. Williams, R. S.). In Manual of Remote Sensing, 2nd ed. (ed. Colwell, R. N.) pp. 1667–953. Falls Church, Vancouver: American Society of Photogrammetry.Google Scholar
Chavez, P. S. & Bauer, B. 1982. An automatic optimum kernel-size selection technique for edge enhancement. Remote Sensing of Environment 12, 2338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornsweet, T. N. 1970. Visual Perception. New York: Academic Press, 430 pp.Google Scholar
Curran, P. J. 1985. Principles of Remote Sensing. London: Longman, 282 pp.Google Scholar
Daily, M. 1983. Hue-saturation-intensity split-spectrum processing of Seasat radar imagery. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 49, 349–55.Google Scholar
Drury, S. A. 1985. Applications of digital image enhancement in regional tectonic mapping of South India. Proceedings of the 18th International Symposium of Remote Sensing Environment, Paris 3, 18951903.Google Scholar
Drury, S. A. & Holt, R. W. 1980. The tectonic framework of the South Indian cration: a reconnaissance involving Landsat imagery. Tectonophysics 65, T1T15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, A. R. 1980. Digital techniques of image enhancement. In Remote Sensing in Geology (eds Siegal, B. S. and Gillespie, A. R.), pp. 139226. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Goetz, A. F. H., Rock, B. N. & Rowan, L. C. 1983. Remote sensing for exploration: an overview. Economic Geology 78, 573–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goetz, A. F. H. & Rowan, L. C. 1981. Geological remote sensing. Science 211, 781–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, G. R. 1980. Electromagnetic radiation: the communication link, in remote sensing. In Remote Sensing in Geology (eds Siegal, B. S. and Gillespie, A. R.), pp. 545. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Marrs, R. W. & Raines, G. L. 1984. Tectonic framework of Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana, interpreted from Landsat imagery. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin 68, 1718–31.Google Scholar
Moore, J. McM. 1979. Tectonics of the Najd transcurrent fault system, Saudi Arabia. Journal of the Geological Society of London 136, 441–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Offield, T. W. 1975. Line-grating diffraction in image analysis: enhanced detection of linear structures in ERTS images, Colorado Front Range. Modern Geology 5, 101–7.Google Scholar
Pratt, W. K. 1978. Digital Image Processing, New York: Wiley, 750 pp.Google Scholar
Rothery, D. A. & Drury, S. A. 1984. The neotectonics of the Tibetan Plateau. Tectonics 3, 1926.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sabins, F. F. 1983. Geological interpretation of Space Shuttle radar images of Indonesia. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin 67, 2076–99.Google Scholar
Siegal, B. S. 1977. Significance of operator variation and the angle of illumination in lineament analysis on synoptic images. Modern Geology 6, 7585.Google Scholar
Wise, D. U. 1982. Linesmanship and the practice of linear geo-art. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 93, 886–8.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar