CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
Search Results
Author : Boles, S.
Date : 1996.
Title : Identifying granular resources using thematic mapper imagery, Slave Geological Province, Northwest Territories
Publication : Unpublished B.Sc. thesis. University of Waterloo, Dept. of Geography, Waterloo, Ont.
Issue :
Page(s) : 55 p.
Abstract
The exploration for granular resources in northern Canada is of considerable importance where building materials are required for engineering applications associated with resource developments. A study was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery in the identification of granular resources in a large relatively unknown area, the Lac de Gras - Aylmer Lake region of the Slave Geological Province in the Northwest Territories. Image processing focused on the use of the simple linear stretch, standard principal components analysis (PCA), and selective PCA. Standard PCA uses all available data bands as input to the transformation, while selective PCA uses subsets of the available data bands as input to the transformation. Detailed airphoto interpretation and field work were also performed. Evaluation of results showed that TM band 3 and TM 7 were the most effective single-band images to use for theextraction of granular resources (primarily esker landforms). The linear stretch was effective in delineating granular resources (which have a high reflectance value) which are surrounded by a less-reflective landscape, such as hummocky till or organic soils. Further evaluation revealed that the first component of the TM2/TM3 selective PCA and the first component of the TM2/TM7 selective PCA were effective in the identification of granular resources. These components delineated the trunk eskers and tributaries (which were identifed from linear stretch analysis) along with some eskers which were not identified from the linear stretch analysis.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology