Commercial applications of geological remote sensing

Six types of computer-processed remote sensing products are discussed which are intended to highlight differences in chemical or mineral composition of exposed rocks, minerals and soils. Examples of three of these (ironoxide ratio image, calibrated color composite of three ratios, and automatic recognition maps) are given in this presentation for a LANDSAT frame of the Wind River Basin, Wyoming. Mineral exploration can be improved by including iron oxide mapping as a reconnaissance tool for mapping hydrothermally altered areas in igneous terrain and exposed portions of geochemical cells in poroussandstones. Both metal and hydrocarbon exploration can be aided by stratigraphic mapping with automatic recognition maps, which can sometimes disclose "hidden" structures and can map some compositional differences among members and facies with in a single formation.