Scholarly record
LITHOFACIES MAPPING OF THE SHINE JINST AREA, BAYAN-KHONGOR PROVINCE OF MONGOLIA USING REMOTE SENSING DATA
Abstract
The study area is located at the Gobi Desert of southern Mongolia, near the town of Byankhongor. During the work stage, aerial photo image interpretation was undertaken to identify and delineate lithological boundaries, geological contacts, and fault and fold features, lineaments. Aerial photo, Aster, and Landsat TM have been used for the geological interpretation of the Shine Jinst area, Mongolia. Nineteen stratigraphic units were distinguished and correlated to delineate the stratigraphic subdivisions. A study of those lithologies and structures was carried out using remote sensing data. Specifically, high-resolution ASTER and LANDSAT TM images were tested for the photogeological mapping in the Shine Jinst area. The advantage of the ASTER images is a good spectral resolution with reasonable ground resolution, and they can be used to extract geological and structural information. The study area was lineament mapping from the ASTER image. A lineament mapping compiled from a composite of stretched ASTER VNIR bands. The lineament was identified by visual inspection. Lineament distribution and its general orientation are shown in Figure 3-4. Major lineament trends can be summarized as WNW-ESE, NW-SE, and NNW-SSE. WNW-ESE structure is the most dominant orientation and commonly occurs as long lineaments of more than 30km. Visual interpretation of geology is one approach for defining geologic units, related boundaries, and structural elements. The results are dependent on the interpreter's experience. Digital classification is a powerful digital image processing technique. With the combined advantages of visual interpretation and digital classification, this approach is an important strategy in remote sensing. The photo-geological interpretation of this study area has been compared with the existing schematic geological map, and especially in the southern part of the study area, many improvements on the previous map have been made. According to the interpretation of the Aster image, Landsat TM, and Aerial Photos as the Gashuunovoo formation shows three different photo tones, the three different types are interpreted. The Devonian and Carboniferous units were difficult to differentiate from each other.
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References5
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