Hyperspectral image processing to evaluate the mineral resources in and around Kajali Dongri, Jhabua district Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

Mineral exploration and geological mapping through conventional geological techniques are tedious, expensive and time-consuming. Mapping and targeting an economic deposit through traditional techniques involves extensive fieldwork, structural mapping, study of landforms, petrography, mineralogy and geochemical analyses. These techniques need a strong laboratory database to discern slight variation in composition of ore grades. With the advent of multispectral sensors (e.g. ASTER, Landsat) having bands in the Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) and Thermal Infra-Red (TIR) regions, lithological discrimination and mineral potential mapping were possible from space/airborne platforms. However, detailed understanding on precise mineral composition and relative abundance of constituents within Field of View (FOV) was not possible with these data due to coarse bandwidth and poor spectral contiguity. However, when spectroscopy, radiometry and imaging techniques were bundled as imaging spectroscopy, limitations of multispectral remote sensing were overcome.