How to enhance the shaly exposures adjacent to the carbonate rocks using the ETM~+ data: an experience from SW Iran

摘要

Because of some spectral similarities between clay minerals and carbonates most of the processing methods on currently used satellite data are failed to discriminate these two mineral groups. Various principal component analysis (PCA) techniques were applied for an area located in the northern Abadeh, SW Iran on reflective multispectral bands of ETM~+. PC images owing the highest loadings with opposite signs for bands 3, 5, and 7 in 3-bands method were used for generating a color composite image. The color composite image of "R" for PC2, "B" for PC3, and "G" for PC2+PC3 in the case of three-bands enhanced the clay minerals in white color without ambiguity with carbonates. The same results were obtained while applying this method hi Mashayekh-Nowdan area, Pars province, SW Iran.