DISCRIMINATION OF ALTERED BASALTIC ROCKS IN THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES BY ANALYSIS OF LANDSAT THEMATIC MAPPER DATA.

Abstract

Landsat Thematic Mapper image data were analyzed to determine their ability to discriminate red cone basalts from gray flow basalts and sedimentary country rocks for three volcanic fields in the southwestern United States. Analyses of all of the possible three-band combinations of the six nonthermal bands indicate that the combination of bands 1, 4, and 5 best discriminates among these materials. The color-composite image of these three bands unambiguously discriminates 89 percent of the mapped red volcanic cones in the three volcanic fields. Mineralogic and chemical analyses of collected samples indicate that discrimination is facilitated by the presence of hematite as a major mineral phase in the red cone basalts (hematite is only a minor mineral phase in the gray flow basalts and red sedimentary rocks).