Crustal Imaging and Characterization Team
The project will collect VIS-SWIR and TIR field spectra on mainly agricultural soils representing diverse lithologies in and around the Washington, D.C. area. The measurements will include additional spectral components such as immature vegetation and dry plant litter typical of the early and late stages of the growing season. Mineralogy of the exposed soils would be determined by X-ray diffraction analysis, and lithologic associations would be checked by collecting shallow (~1 m) core samples at each spectral measurement site.
The ability to discern different soil types in the presence of vegetation would be explored by linear mixture modeling using both the VIS-SWIR and the TIR field spectral data. This will establish the practical limits for using spectral information for discerning soil-lithologic associations. These model results would be further tested using ASTER, and possibly, MASTER data of areas in Northern Virginia for which good geologic mapping information is available.
The objectives of this research are to improve understanding of VIS-SWIR and TIR soil spectral properties and mixture effects, and to determine limitations for soil-bedrock spectral mapping in areas with agricultural soil exposures. The project will also develop and demonstrate procedures for using remote sensing data to map lithologic units in agricultural areas.
Subtask is no longer active.
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Mineral Resources |
Eastern / Central / Western / Alaska / Minerals Information |
| Crustal Imaging & Characterization / Spatial Data |
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://crustal.usgs.gov
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