Publication Date:
2019-11-04
Description:
The Los Menucos District, Rio Negro, Argentina, provides an excellent case history of a complex epithermal
gold system mapped and explored using a combination of field mapping and multispectral/hyperspectral remote
sensing. The district offers a host of argillic and advanced argillic alteration minerals at the surface, many of
which are difficult to identify visually. A strategy utilizing regional targeting with Landsat TM to optimize field
mapping followed by district-level survey with hyperspectral imaging (HSI) data demonstrates the value added
by high-spectral resolution aircraft data. Standardized analysis methods consisting of spatial and spectral data
reduction to a few key endmember spectra provides a consistent way to map spectrally active minerals. Minerals
identified in the Los Menucos district using the JPL Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer
(AVIRIS) include hematite, goethite, kaolinite, dickite, alunite, pyrophyllite, muscovite/sericite, montmorillonite,
calcite, and zeolites. Hyperspectral maps show good correspondence with the results of field reconnaissance
verification and spectral measurements acquired using an ASD field spectrometer. Further analysis of Hyperion
(satellite-based) hyperspectral data indicates that similar mapping results can be achieved from satellite
altitudes. These examples illustrate the high potential of hyperspectral remote sensing for geologic mapping and
mineral exploration.
Description:
JCR Journal
Description:
open
Keywords:
hyperspectral imaging (HSI)
;
mineral mapping
;
AVIRIS
;
EO-1 Hyperion
;
04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.05. Downhole, radioactivity, remote sensing, and other methods
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
Format:
607031 bytes
Format:
application/pdf
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