Regional geological mapping in Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica using multispectral remote sensing satellite data

The highest percentage of exposed rocks and soils in Antarctica occurs in Northern Victoria Land (NVL). Exposed Rocks in NVL were part of the paleo-Pacific margin of East Gondwana during the Paleozoic time. This investigation provides a satellite-based remote sensing approach for regional geological mapping in the NVL, Antarctica. The Landsat-8 and the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) datasets were used to extract lithological-structural and mineralogical information. Several new spectral-band ratio indices were developed using Landsat-8 and ASTER bands and proposed for Antarctic environments to map spectral signatures of iron oxide/hydroxide minerals, Al-OH-bearing and Fe, Mg-O-H and CO3 mineral zones. For mapping abundance of iron oxide/hydroxide mineral groups in rocks surface, Fe-minerals Index (Fe-MI) was developed using Landsat-8 bands by way of (band 6 / band 5) × (band 4 / band 3) and for ASTER bands through (band 4 / band 3) × (band 2 / band 1). Al-OH-bearing alteration minerals Index (Al-OH-MI) was calculated for Landsat-8 bands by means of (band 6 / band 7) – (band 4) and for ASTER spectral bands using (band 5) × (band 7 / band 6). Bands 7, 8 and 9 of ASTER were used to calculate the Fe, Mg-OH-bearing alteration minerals Index (Fe, Mg-OH-MI) as a result of (band 7) × (band 9 / band 8) for detecting Fe, Mg-O-H and CO3 mineral groups. Resultant image maps derived from spectral-band ratio indices that developed in this study are fairly accurate and correspond well with geological maps of the NVL.