Premium
Lineaments in enhanced Landsat images from a portion of west Wales
Author(s) -
Maude R.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
geological journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.721
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1099-1034
pISSN - 0072-1050
DOI - 10.1002/gj.3350220511
Subject(s) - lineament , geology , remote sensing , visibility , azimuth , cartography , seismology , geography , tectonics , meteorology , physics , astronomy
Remotely sensed lineaments are often used as indicators of fractures in near‐surface rocks. Previous lineament interpretations of Wales have used aerial photographs and relatively unenhanced satellite images. New images of part of Wales have been produced from Landsat MSS data using several digital image processing techniques intended to enhance the visibility of linear features. A lineament interpretation of these images is presented and described. Five populations of lineaments are classified, primarily on the basis of their azimuths. The most numerically significant of these has a mean azimuth of 075° and is here termed the ‘Ystwyth Lineament Set’. Typically the lack of rock exposure on the line of lineaments makes direct geological investigation difficult. However, field evidence and literature have been used to shed light on the origin of the Ystwyth Lineament Set. It is concluded that this set of lineaments is the visual representation of a set of fractures which have had a long and tectonically varied history.