Comparative Mineral Mapping in the Colorado Mineral Belt using AVIRIS and ASTER Remote Sensing Data

摘要

This report presents results of interpretation of spectral remote sensing data covering the eastern Colorado Mineral Belt in central Colorado, U.S.A., acquired by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensors. This study was part of a multidisciplinary mapping and data integration project that focused on long-term resource planning by land-managing entities in Colorado. The project supported studies related to understanding the availability of mineral and energy resources, the geochemical and environmental effects of mining and undisturbed, hydrothermally altered rocks, the geoenvironmental effects of wildfires, geologic controls of groundwater availability and quality, and geologic hazards (Klein, 2007). The results relating to mineral occurrence and distribution were an important source of data for studies documenting the effects of mining and un-mined, altered rocks on aquatic ecosystems at the watershed level (Schmidt and others, 2012).