DETERMINATION OF GEOLOGIC FEATURES OF THE NEVADA TEST SITE BY ANALYSIS OF LANDSAT AND SPOT DATA

THE USE OF MULTI-SPECTRAL SPACE IMAGERY HAS BECOME A VERY POWERFUL MEAN TO PROVIDE GEOLOGICAL PARAMETERS PERTAINING TO ROCK MINEROLOGY, FAULT LIEAMENTS, AND STRUCTURAL CONTACTS ETC, FOR A GIVEN REGION. THESE INFORMATION ARE VERY USEFUL IN COMPLEMENTING DATA OBTAINED THROUGH CONVENTIONAL FIELD MAPPING. ENHANCEMENT OF THE MULTI-SPECTRALSPACE IMAGERY WILL ALSO ALLOW DIRECT VISUAL INTERPRETATION OF CHARACTERISTIC SURFACE FEATURES ASSOCIATED WITH NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS. THIS STUDY WILL UTILIZE MODERN IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES TO ANALYZE LANDSAT-4 THERMATIC MAPPER (TM) AND SYSTEM PROBATOIRE D'OBSERVATION DE LA TERRA (SPOT) DATA IN ORDER TO DETECT, DELINEATE, MAP AND IDENTIFY REGIONAL SURFICIAL FEATURES AND PATTERNS. A NEWLY DEVELOPED DIRECT BAND RATIOING METHOD WILL BE APPLIED TO THE TM AND SPOT DATA SYNERGISTICALLY. THIS METHOD WILL ENHANCE CHROMATIC VARIATION IN MULTI-SPECTRAL COLOR IMAGERY WHILE PRESERVING MOST TOPOGRAPHIC EXPRESSION AND ALBEDO INFORMATION. THE NEVADA TEST SITE WILL BE USED AS A CASE STUDY IN AN ATTEMPT TO CORRELATED THE MAPPED FAULTS AND ROCK MINERALOGY FROM GROUND OBSERVATIONS WITH THOSE OBTAINED IN THIS STUDY. BY PROCESSING THE MULTI-SPECTRAL SPACE PHOTOGRAPHY BEFORE AND AFTER AN EXPLOSION, WE WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE TYPES OF LOCAL GEOLOGICAL DISTURBANCE THROUGH CHARACTERISTIC CHANGES IN THE ROCK MINERALOGY, ACTIVATION OF LOCAL FAULTS AND/OR OFFSETS OF STRUCTURAL CONTACTS.