Cloud Publications

International Journal of Advanced Remote Sensing and GIS

2018, Volume 7, Issue 1, pp. 2728-2745
ISSN 2320 – 0243, Crossref: 10.23953/cloud.ijarsg.369
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Research Article

Lithological Mapping using Landsat 8 OLI and ASTER TIR

Multispectral Data: A Comparative Study

Lakshmi Ram Prasath H., Kusuma K.N.

Department of Earth Sciences, Pondicherry University, Puducherry – 605014, India

Correspondence should be addressed to lakshmiramprasath@gmail.com

Publication Date: 24 July 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23953/cloud.ijarsg.369

Copyright © 2018. Lakshmi Ram Prasath H., Kusuma K.N. This is an open access article distributed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract Lithological mapping is a fundamental step in various mineral prospecting studies because it
forms the basis of the interpretation and validation of retrieved results. This study utilizes the
Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and Landsat 8
Operational Land Imager (OLI) multispectral data to map lithological units in the Ananthapur District of
Andhra Pradesh. Geologically, the area is made up Archaean rocks consisting of Peninsular gneiss,
Dharwarsupracrustal rocks, Proterozoic meta sedimentary basin (consisting of quartzite, slate and
dolomites) and younger granitoids, mafic dike and kimberlite. The band ratios, also known as Mineral
indices, specially catered to discriminate mafic, and felsic mineral such as, Mafic Index (MI), Quartz
index (QIand feldspar Rock Index (FRI) were applied to ASTER Thermal Infrared (TIR) bands and
Band ratiocolour composite were generated. MNF transformation was applied over the Landsat 8 OLI
image and MNF component color composite was generated. Geological mapping was carried out by
visual interpretation and onscreen digitization. Geological map of a Ramgiri schist belt prepared from
the ASTER TIR mineral indices colour composite and Landsat 8 MNF colour composites were
compared with the existing Geological map prepared by Geological Survey of India. The results show
an excellent correlation with the existing geological map of the study area. ASTER TIR band ratio
colour composite could effectively demarcate silica rich rocks such as Quartz veins, quartzites,
granites and granitic gneisses from and Mafic rocks such as dolerite/gabbro dykes, amphibolites and
carbonate rocks (including Calcite and dolomite). The Landsat8 OLI MNF colour composite generated
using MNF bands 523 were found to discriminate lithology effectively. However, TIR based geological
mapping was found superior to the MNF based mapping. The structural details were enhanced in
Landsat images compared to ASTER TIR data, owing to its higher radiometric and spatial resolution.
Geological map prepared by combination of ASTER TIR and Landsat OLI will help in updating the
existing geological map. The work demonstrates the utility of ASTER TIR and Landsat 8 OLI data in
preparing/updating the geological map of an area.
Keywords Anantapur district; ASTER TIR; Band Ratio; Geological mapping; Landsat 8 OLI; MNF

1. Introduction

Remote sensing techniques are widely used for mineral exploration and lithological mapping on the
surface of the earth by using their spectral characteristics. Minerals and rocks spectral absorptions are
captured by the sensor within wider wavelength range including VNIR (0.4-1.0 μm), SWIR (1.0-2.5
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μm), MIR (3-5 μm) and TIR (8-14 μm) (Hunt, 1977; Burns, 1993). Minerals such as iron oxides, clay,
carbonates and hydroxides minerals etc. can be identified by their diagnostic absorption features in the
spectral reflectance curve in VNIR and SWIR spectral region (Abrams, 2000; Rown and Mars, 2003;
Crosta et al., 2003; Hellman and Ramsey, 2004; Gomez et al., 2005; Hubbard et al., 2005; Rowan et
al., 2006; Azizi et al., 2007; Zhang et al., 2007; Gad and Kusky, 2007; Massironi et al., 2008; Khan and
Mahmood, 2008; Mezned et al., 2009; Amer et al., 2010; Van der Meer et al., 2012). Quartz and
feldspars are most abundant minerals occurring on earth’s crust. These minerals do not have
characteristic absorption feature in VNIR or SWIR region as like clay minerals, oxide-hydroxide and
carbonate minerals. These minerals have prominent features in emissivity spectra in thermal infrared
(TIR) region due to the different Si-O bonds vibration modes (Lyon, 1972; Farmer, 1974; Kahle, 1976).
Different bonds in silicate is responsible for spectral minima shifting of silicate bearing rocks from
higher to low or lower to higher in TIR wavelength region (Salisbury and Walter, 1989; Salisbury and
D'Aria, 1992). These thermal characters of silicate minerals are useful for lithological mapping and
classify the different rock types such as felsic or mafic rocks.

Landsat TM, ETM+ multispectral images were widely used for the alteration mineral mapping and
lithological discrimination. Alteration minerals, particularly, argillic and phyllic alteration products can be
clearly identified by these satellite images since these minerals having characteristic absorption in Al-
OH region and Fe/Mg-OH region respectively (Clark, 1999; Hunt and Ashley, 1979; Sabins, 1999).
False colour composites (Canas and Bernatt, 1985), Band ratios (Wang et al., 2007), Principal
component analysis (Singh and Harrison, 1985; Crosta and McMoore, 1989) etc. were effective in
discriminating lithology and mineral mapping. Landsat 8 OLI multispectral image is also effectively
used by mineral mapping of Copper deposits (Pour and Hasim, 2015); hydrothermally altered rocks
(Hon and Nelson, 2015).

ASTER multispectral bands in VNIR, SWIR and TIR data are found to be effective in lithological
mapping along with mapping alteration zones. TIR bands are especially found to be effective in
discriminating the rock forming minerals that generally lack diagnostic spectral features in VNIR and
SWIR regions. Band ratio technique was applied over the TIR bands to highlight the variation in
emissivity characteristic of rock forming mineral, thus effectively mapping the lithological variations
(Bierwith, 1990; Ninomiya, 2003; Rowan, 2003).

Ananthapur district of Andhra Pradesh falls under geologically important Dharwar Craton, one of the
oldest and stable part of the Indian Peninsular. The area compose of various lithologies such as
peninsular gneisses, granites and many economically important green stone schist belt called
Ramagiri schist belt and Kimberlites. Ramagiri schist belt is known for hosting the gold and copper
deposits while kimberlite is primary source of diamond. Updated lithological map is an essential for the
mineral exploration study. In this study, we attempt to prepare the updated geological map of the study
area by taking inputs from the multispectral remote sensing data that has different spectral, spatial and
radiometric resolutions. Lithological maps of the area were interpreted from the Landsat8 OLI
multispectral data operating in VNIR and SWIR region were compared with the ASTER TIR base
lithological maps and validated with ground checks and comparing with the published GSI map of the
area.

2. Geological Setup of the Study Area

Geologically, the study area falls under part of Eastern Dharwar Craton (EDC). Tonalite-trondhjemite-
granodiorite Gneisses, also known as Peninsular Gneissic Complex (PGC) are the major lithology of
the area. PGC majorly consist of migmatite and biotite granitic gneiss with amphibolite enclaves.
Ramagiri-Penakacherla schist belt represent the highly folded, sheared greenstone belt with in the
area, with an initial trend of N-S in the southern region, which later turned to NW-SE. The greenstone
belt is comprised of amphibolite of both massive & schistose variety, chlorite schist, quartz-sericite

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schist, quartzite and banded magnetite quartzite (BIF). Closepet Granite with NW-SE to N-S trend
observed in the area demarcates the boundary between the Eastern Dharwar Craton to Western
Dharwar Craton (WDC). Eastern side of this craton comprise intra continental sedimentary basin
known as Cuddapah basin. Quartz reefs, dolerite/gabbro dykes and kimberlite represent the later
stage igneous intrusions in the area. Alluvium forms the recent sediments. The geological succession
of the study area is given in Table 1.

Table 1: Geological Succession of the study area (source: Geological Survey of India, 2008)

Lithology Age (Ma) Description

Kimberlite 1100-1000
Cuddappah Super Group 1400-1100 Quartzite, Dolomite, shale, tuff, basic till
Dolerite/gabbro dykes
2200-1100
Quartz Reefs
Granite Pink to grey adamellite - granite suite (Closepet
2500-2400
Intrusive contact granite and its equivalents)
Tonalite-granodiorite-adamalilite (TGA) Porphyritic coarse grained tonalite, granodiorite and
2600
suite Intrusive contact granite-adamellite
Amphibolite (massive & schistose), chlorite schist,
Supracrustals (Ramgiri-penkacherla quartz-sericite schist, quartzite and banded magnetite
schist belt rocks) 2700 quartzite (BIF)
Peninsular Gneiss Comples (PGC) Banded Tonalite-Trondhjemite Gneiss (TTG) and
migmatite

3. Data and Methodology

Data used in this study includes Geological survey of India quadrangle map (1:250,000), seven
granules of Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellite
data and two granules of Landsat OLI data, covering Anantapur and surroundings in Andhra Pradesh
(Table 2). ASTER has fourteen bands with different spatial resolution i.e. 3 bands of VNIR with 15m
resolution, 6 SWIR bands with 30m resolution, 5 bands in TIR region with 90m resolution (Table 3). In
this study, we are using only TIR bands for mapping rock forming minerals especially quartz, felsic and
mafic rocks. The list of the sensor details and satellite images used in the study and are given in Table
2 and 3 respectively.

Figure 1: Lithological map of Anantapur District and surroundings (Source: GSI quadrangle map 1994). Inset
shows the Ramagiri schist belt area.

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Table 2: Sensor details of ASTER and LANDSAT 8 OLI/TIRS (ASTER handbook, 2002& Landsat8 Hand book,
108 2016)

Spatial Radiometric
Data Band No. Wavelength Region Bands
Resolution (m) Resolution
Band 1 0.52-0.60 15
Band 2 0.63-0.69 VNIR
Band 3N 0.78-0.86 8 bit
Band 3B 0.78-0.86
Band 4 1.60-1.70 30
Band 5 2.145-2.185 SWIR
8 bit
Band 6 2.185-2.225
ASTER Band 7 2.235-2.285
Band 8 2.295-2.365
Band 9 2.360-2.430
Band 10 8.125-8.475 90
Band 11 8.475-8.825 TIR
12 bit
Band 12 8.925-9.275
Band 13 10.25-10.95
Band 14 10.95-11.65
Band 1 0.435-0.451 Coastal/Aerosol 30 12 bit
Band2 0.452-0.512 Blue 12 bit
Band 3 0.533-0.590 Green 12 bit
Band 4 0.636-0.673 Red 12 bit
Band 5 0.851-0.879 NIR 12 bit
Landsat8 OLI Band 6 1.566-1.651 SWIR-1 12 bit
Band 7 2.107-2.294 SWIR-2 12 bit
Band 8 0.503-0.676 Panchromatic 15 12 bit
Band 9 1.363-1.384 Cirrus 30 12 bit
Band10 10.6-11.19 TIR-1 100 12 bit
Band 11 11.50-12.51 TIR-2 12 bit

Table 3: Details of the satellite imageries used in this study

Data Granule ID Date of acquisition

ASTER L1T data AST_L1T_00301142004053453_20150502202056_40270 22-02-2004
AST_L1T_00301172002053009_20150424022058_28117 22-02-2002
AST_L1T_00301172002053017_20150424022101_87207 22-02-2002
AST_L1T_00302052003052902_20150428224014_59027 21-02-2003
AST_L1T_00302082004052836_20150503043828_62891 21-02-2004
AST_L1T_00302152004053446_20150503064511_99363 22-02-2004
AST_L1T_00303032001053901_20150415013649_64403 22-02-2001
Landsat8 OLI data LC08_L1TP_145050_20130506_20170504_01_T1 06-05-2013
LC08_L1TP_144050_20130413_20170505_01_T1 13-04-2013

Methodology adopted in this study include i. Pre-processing of ASTER TIR bands (L1T data) which
include converting DN values to At-sensor-Radiance to Top of Atmosphere (TOA) brightness
temperature; ii. Application of band rations (Mineral indices) for mineral mapping such as Quartz Index
(QI), Feldspar Index (FI) and Mafic Index (MI) and preparing the mineral indices colour composite; iii.
Pre-processing of Landsat OLI bands corresponding to VNIR and SWIR bands (DN value to at sensor
radiance and then to reflectance values, Application of MNF transportation and preparation of MNF
colour composite best suited to highlight the lithological variations; iv. Lithological mapping in GIS
environment by visual interpretation of colour composite prepared from mineral indices and MNF band
combinations and onscreen digitization; v. The geological maps were compared and validated by
comparing with the quadrangle geological maps of the area published by Geological survey of India

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(GSI) and limited ground validation. The overview of the methodology adopted in this study is shown in
Figure 2.

Figure 2: Flow chart shows materials and methodology adopted in this study

Figure 3: Emissivity spectra of common rock forming minerals and their corresponding resample spectra to
ASTER bandpass. 1, 2: Olivine spectra (USGS spectra, resampled spectra), 3, 4: Quartz spectra, 5, 6: Orthoclase
feldspar spectra; 7, 8: Biotie, 9&10: muscovite spectra

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Figure 4: Mafic index of ASTER TIR image of Anantapur and surrounding region

Figure 5: Feldspar bearing index of ASTER TIR image of Anantapur and surroundings region

4. ASTER data Analysis

4.1. ASTER data Pre-processing

AST_L1T data contains Digital Numbers (DN). The Digital Number (DN) values were converted to at-
sensor radiance value by multiplying the DN values with Unit conversion coefficients (i.e. radiance per
1 DN) as per the method given in ASTER manual (ASTER Handbook, 2002) by noting the gain
condition (high gain or low gain) in which the spectral bands were acquired. Gain and the unit
conversion factors were noted from the data attributes supplied along with the data product. From the
relation between DN and radiances of the TIR bands, it can be inferred that pixel with no data is
represented by DN value zero, pixel with zero radiance is quantized with DN value one, pixel having
maximum radiance is quantized with DN value of 4094 whereas saturated pixels are represented by
DN value of 4095. At-sensor- Radiance values (Lλ) for each pixel is obtained from DN values using the
equation 1 (ASTER hand book, 2002). Details about the unit conversion coefficient for ASTER bands
are given in Table 4.

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(Lλ) = (DN value – 1) x Unit conversion coefficient -------- (1)

Figure 6: Quart Index of ASTER TIR image of Anantapur and surrounding region

Table 4: Gain and the unit conversion coefficient details about ASTER bands (ASTER hand book, 2002)

Unit Conversion Coefficient (W/(m2*sr*µm)/DN)

Band No.
High gain Normal Gain Low Gain 1 Low gain 2
1 0.676 1.688 2.25
2 0.708 1.415 1.89
N/A
3N 0.423 0.862 1.15
3B 0.423 0.862 1.15
4 0.1087 0.2174 0.290 0.290
5 0.0348 0.0696 0.0925 0.409
6 0.0313 0.0625 0.0830 0.390
7 0.0299 0.0597 0.0795 0.332
8 0.0209 0.0417 0.0556 0.245
9 0.0159 0.0318 0.0424 0.265
10 6.822 x 10-3
11 6.780 x 10-3
12 N/A 6.590 x 10-3 N/A N/A
13 5.693 x 10-3
14 5.225 x 10-3

The At-Sensor-Radiance (Lλ) values was converted to Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) brightness

temperature (T) values by applying planks equation which is modified as given in equation (2) (ASTER
hand book, 2002).

---------------- (2)

Where, T is the TOA brightness Temperature, K1 & K2 are calibration constant, Lλ is radiance at
sensor. The calibration constants, K1 and K2 for the TIR bands are given in Table 5.

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Figure 7: ASTER TIR band ratio colour composite image of Anantapur districts (RGB: MI, FRI, and QI); Inset
shows the Ramgiri schist belt area

Table 5: K1 and K2 values and UCC for ASTER TIR bands (ASTER hand book, 2002)

Effective
Bandpass UCC K1 K2
Bands wavelength
(µm) (W/(m2*sr*µm) (W m 1 -2 µm -1) (K)
(µm)
10 8.125-8.475 8.291 0.006882 3040.136402 1735.337945
11 8.475-8.825 8.634 0.006780 2482.375199 1666.398761
12 8.925-9.275 9.075 0.006590 1935.060183 1585.420044
13 10.25-10.95 10.657 0.005693 866.468575 1350.069147
14 10.95-11.65 11.318 0.005225 641.326517 1271.221673

4.2. Band ratios

Band ratio technique is a method of enhancing a particular feature in the multispectral imagery by
dividing the DN value of a pixel in one band by the DN value of same corresponding pixel of another
band (Mather, 1994; Drury, 2001). Band ratio enhances the spectral slope between the adjacent
bands, irrespective of the illumination differences. Band ratio is extensively used in mineral
exploration, whereby it is used as an indicator for the presence or absence of particular minerals such
as iron oxide, clay mineral, alteration minerals etc that have significance to occurrence of mineral
deposit (Rowen et al., 2005; Gabr et al., 2010; Amer, 2010). Generally, bands will be selected for band
ratio such that the object has least reflectance or emissivity in the denominator band and the
numerator will have maximum reflectance. The target mineral will appear as bright pixel in the
corresponding band ratio image. Such band ratios are also called as mineral indices and several
indices have been developed for Landsat (Abrams et al., 1977; Gad and Kusky, 2006; Carranza and
Hale, 2010) and aster images (Yamaguchi and Naito, 2003; Ninomiya, 2003; Ninomiya and Cudahy,
2005) Earth’s crust consist of silicate minerals especially quartz, it has distinct spectral signature in
Thermal Infrared region. From the emissivity spectra of Quartz (Figure 3), it can be observed that it
exhibits relatively higher emissivity at 8.65 µm compared to 8.3 µm and 9.1 µm region, thus ASTER
band 11 will have higher emissivity values than band 10 and band 12. The Quartz Index is used to
map the regions composed of Quartz rich rocks (Ninomiya and Cudahy, 2005). In this index, pixels
corresponding to silica rich rocks such as quartz vein, quartzite, etc are expected to appear as bright
pixel.

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Mafic minerals or rocks have low silica content and from the spectral signature of mafic minerals such
as pyroxene, olivine etc, it can be observed that, these minerals exhibit emissivity minima in band 13
(10.66 µm) compared to band 12 (9.1 µm) and band 14 (11.32 µm). Mafic minerals show reverse trend
of spectral signature from Quartz and feldspar minerals. MI index is calculated by rationing ASTER
band 13 by band 12 and is generally correlated to silica% in silicate rocks, particularly of igneous origin
and are used to discriminate mafic rocks from felsic rocks (Ninomiya and Cudahy, 2005). However,
this index is also sensitive to carbonate rocks and hence can also highlight carbonate bodies
(Ninomiya and Cudahy, 2005).

Figure 8: Landsat8 OLI MNF colour composite image of the study area (RGB: MNF component 532); Inset shows
the Ramgiri schist belt area

Many felsic rocks such as granite, syenite etc are enriched in alkali Feldspar or other felsic minerals
such as muscovite etc. have contrasting signature from the quartz rich rocks. In contrast to quartz,
alkali feldspar exhibit lower emissivity values in band 11 (8.65 µm) than band 10 (8.3 µm) and band 12
(9.1 µm). Feldspar rock Index (Guha et al., 2016) is designated to highlight the feldspar rich rocks i.e.
those lithologies that have higher feldspar/quartz ratio from those having lower ratio. The different
band ratios/ASTER TIR band indices used for highlighting quartzose rocks, felsic rocks and mafic
rocks are given in Table 6.

Table 6: ASTER TIR band ratios/indices used in the study

Band ratio/Indices Formula References

Quartz Index (QI) Ninomiya (2003)

Feldspar bearing Rock (FRI) Index Guha et al (2016)

Mafic Index (MI) Ninomiya (2003)

For better lithological variation we used individual mineral indices images made to one colour
composite image. Colour composite image of RGB combinations are MI as Red, FRI as Green and QI
as Blue given (Figure 7). The colour composite was enhanced to highlight the variations.

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5. Landsat8 OLI Data Analysis

5.1. Landsat Data Pre-processing

Landsat 8 OLI data have eleven bands, but we are using VNIR and SWIR region (bands 2-7) in this
study. Two steps involved to obtain reflectance values are (i) converting the DN values to at-sensor
radiance of each bands, (ii) deriving reflectance value from at-sensor radiance data using Fast Line of
sight Atmospheric Analysis of Spectral Hypercube module (FLAASH) in ENVI software.

Figure 9: ASTER mineral Indices colour composite image Ramagiri region (RGB: MI, FRI, QI) (A) and the
interpreted lithogical map(B)

Figure 10: Landsat 8 OLI MNF Colour composite Image (RGB: 523) (A) and the interpreted lithogical map(B)

5.2. MNF Transformation

Minimum noise fraction (MNF) is a well-known technique for multispectral imagery to reduce and
separate noise in data (Boardman et al., 1994; Green et al., 1988). It is a linear transform consisting of

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two step Principal component analysis (PCA), where the first step uses the noise covariance matrix to
decorrelate and rescale the noise in the data. Data which is having unit variance and no band-to-band
correlations is considered as noise and segregated from the good data (noise-whitening) In the second
step, Standard PCA transformation applied to the noise-whitened data, to retain only the useful
information. Similar to Principal component images, MNF Eigen images (components) are also
ordered according to the maximum variability in the data. MNF transformation was applied over the
Landsat 8 OLI VNIR and SWIR bands and the colour composites were created. It was observed that
colour composite obtained by assigning RGB colours to MNF component 5, 2 and 3 highlights the
lithological variations in the study area more effectively than the other combinations (Figure 8).

Figure 11: Comparison of lithological map of GSI (A) with ASTER based lithology map (B) and Landsat8 OLI
based map (C)

6. Results and Discussion

6.1. Lithological Mapping from ASTER TIR Band Ratio Colour Composite

From the MI image (Figure 4), mafic dykes in the study area exhibit a light tone. Similarly, part of
Ramagiri schist belt, covered by amphibolites/metabasalts are also marked by brighter pixels. The
stream bed/ flood plain area covered with alluvium also shows a brighter tone which could be due to
the influence of soil moisture. Reservoirs filled with water are also highlighted in bright tone. Hence a
careful consideration is needed during visual interpretation for discriminating the rock types using the
MI band ratio. The dry channel beds filled with sand and gravel have dark tone. Granite/granitoids
have intermediate grey tone whereas the peninsular gneiss exhibits grey tone, darker than the granitic
bodies. the quartzite bands exhibits dark colour where as in Cuddapah basin, the eastern part,
carbonate rocks and shale show lighter to intermediate grey tone, lower than the clay rich region and
mafic lithology.

FRI image (Figure 5) is found to highlight the feldspar rich granitic bodies from the peninsular gneisses
and also the mafic and quartz rich lithology. The orthoclase rich Closepet granite (pink granite is bright
tone) compared to the Peninsular gneisses. The alkali rich TTG gneisses also show similarity to the
granitic bodies. According to Guha et al., (2016) Felspar rock index can differentiate the alkali rich
granites from granites and granitic. Mafic, carbonate and quartzose rocks appear in dark colour in this
index. QI image (Figure 6) highlights silica rich lithologies. The quartzite ridges in Cuddapah basin and
quartz-sericite schist and banded magnetite quartzite in Ramagiri schist belt is highlighted in brightest
tone. The dry river channel covered by sand and gravel also heighted by bright pixels. The QI is also
found to highlight granitic bodies compared to the peninsular gneisses. The tone of the granitic body is
found to vary with the amount of silica content and feldspar content. Granite with lower amount of

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feldspar is found to have brighter tone. Black cotton soil in the region and the mafic schist etc appear
in darker tone.

The colour composite prepared from the ASTER TIR band ratio image by assigning Red, green and
blue colours to MI, FRI, QI respectively (Figure 7) is found to more effective in discriminating between
different rocks types present in the study area compared to individual indices. In this combination,
pixels with reddish to orange colour represent Mafic and carbonates. Green colour represent Feldspar
rich rock and blue colour represent silica saturated rocks such as quartzite or quartz veins or dry sand.
Overall dominant lithology covering the area is peninsular gneisses and granites and granitoids.
Lithological variation within the granites is found be varying with the silicate content. The granite
having more quartz compared to feldspar is found to have bluish cyan colour while the granite having
higher or amount of feldspar compared to quartz have greenish to cyan colour. Peninsular gneiss also
consisting of hornblende biotite gneiss shows cyan with reddish tint due to presence of mafic minerals,
although in lower percentage. The back-cotton soil derived from the Deccan basalt or equivalent is
showing reddish brown colour due to presence of Mg-rich clays. The flood plains of Thungabhadra and
Pennar River having moist clayey soils are seen as orange to yellowish orange colour. Mafic rocks
including mafic schist, dolerite and gabbroic dykes and sills show reddish to maroon colour. Dolomite
rocks also show maroon colour. The dolomite-chert-and mudstone of Cuddapah basin show
intercalations of maroon-blue and orange colour. The Cuddapah shale also exhibits orange colour
similar to that of clayey region. Geological map of the study area was prepared from the colour
composite in ArcGIS software by visual interpretation and onscreen digitization.

6.2. Lithological Mapping from Landsat OLI MNF Colour Composite

Similar to the ASTER TIR based band ratio colour composite, the colour composite prepared from the
Landsat 8 OLI MNF components (RGB:523) is found to be efficient in discriminating the lithological
variations and highlighting the structural features in the study area. The peninsular gneissic rocks
show various colours ranging from cyan to greenish to yellowish cyan colour. The colour variation is
attributed to the amount of silica and the presence of mafic minerals in the PGC (Figure 8). The region
with greenish to yellowish cyan colour matches with the hornblende biotite gneiss. The granitic
exposures have deep blue colour whereas plain region covered with granitic rocks has bluish cyan
colour (cyan inching towards blue colour). The Dharwarian Ramagiri schist belt is clearly visible and its
extent can even be traced beneath the black cotton soil. The extent of back cotton soil can also be
clearly marked by the deep pink to purplish pink colour. The quartz rich lithology of Ramgiri schist belt
appears in blue colour and its trend can be traced with in soil cover. Here, the Ramagiri schist belt
changes its trend from NW-SE to WNW-ESE direction. Enclaves of granite with in the soil cab also be
clearly visible in cyan colour. The mafic lithologies show light pink colour. Dolomite-mudstone and
chert of Cuddapah basin show mixture of blue, pink and cyan colour. The basic sills show reddish pink
colour. Quartz ridge show blue colour. Compared to the ASTER TIR images, Landsat images better
highlight the structural details, which might be due to the higher spatial and radiometric resolution of
the latter data.

6.3. Comparison with GSI Geological Map

We used Geological Survey of India quadrangle map of Anantapur year prepared in 1994 compared
with geological map prepared from Landsat 8 MNF colour composite image and ASTER TIR mineral
indices colour composite image. For better comparison with GSI geological map, the area around
Ramgiri Schist belt is selected (area highlighted in Figure 1) and discussed.

Ramagiri area consist of PGC group of rocks and Schist belt comprise metabasalt, amphibolite and
quartz chlorite sericite schist and later emplacement of granite and granitoids, mafic dykes and quartz
veins. ASTER TIR band ratio colour composite image well differentiate above said rock types in this

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region. The mafic rocks of Ramagiri Schist belt are observed in reddish to maroon colour; quartz
sericite schist show dark blue colour. The grey and pink granites show cyan to greenish cyan colour,
whereas Penisnsular gneisses have light cyan colour. Dry stream bed of this area are mapped by blue
colour, which is due to the presence of dry sand, or gravels enriched in quartz. Lineaments are
represented by reddish colour and at places by blue colour, the red to orange tone linear features
represent the mafic dykes including dolerite or gabbro dykes. Blue colour linear features represent
quartz or pegmatite vein. The geological map prepared from the ASTER TIR based band ratio colour
composite matches well with the published GSI geological map. However, it is observed that colour
composite could highlight features that are not represented in the GSI map. For example, the north
eastern limb of doubly plunging anticline of the Ramagiri schist belt, comprising of metabasalt is shown
as discontinuous linear bodies in GSI map. In the colour composite, the same area is marked by a
continuous body with a reddish tone representing a mafic lithology, probably metabasalt, indicating a
continuity of the feature. The inner part of the plunging fold is marked by a linear band with a blue
colour, indicating quartz rich lithology; running continuously towards northern end of the plunging fold
(Figure 9). The feature well matches with the Quartz-sericite schist marked on the GSI map.

Another new geological feature identified from the ASTET TIR mineral indices colour composite is a
blue linear feature similar to that tone observed over the Quartz-sericite schist/quartz reef in the north
eastern margin of the doubly plunged anticline. The feature is having trend of NE-SW, which is
different than the N-S trending Ramagiri schist. It appears to branch off from the doubly plunging fold.
This feature is not mapped in the GSI map.

On the western side of the image, west of the Ramagiri schist, the area in light bluish white tone is
matching with the granite bodies mapped in the GSI map. However, we could locate this tone at many
places, not marked as granite in GSI map. These regions are updated as granite in the geological map
of the area (Figure 9).

Linear trending of pinkish with blue colours represent mafic dykes and blue colour represents quartz
veins/reefs. Wherever the drainage with alluvium it’s giving orange colour (Figure 9).

MNF colour composite image of Ramagiri Schist Belt region showing different lithological and
structural features. The Peninsular Gneissic group of rocks covering large area are indicated by cyan
colour (Figure 10). This MNF colour composite image clearly highlights the structural deformation of
doubly plunged anticline Ramagiri schist belt, which is composed of Meta-basalt, amphibolite and
ultramafites and quartz sericite schist. The mafic and ultramafite rocks are clearly seen in pinkish
colour (Figure 10). Quartz-sericite schist which are emplaced in between the metabasalt are showing
light to dark blue colour (Figure 10). In this MNF colour composite image clearly shown doubly plunged
anticline as continues lithology unlike the discontinuous patches, especially in the north eastern part of
the fold. Granite and Granitoids are not marked in many places in GSI map but MNF image shows
Granite outcrops at many places in this region, which are commonly observed in deep blue colour; at
some places reddish blue colour is also observed owing to different variety of granite like grey granite
and pink granite. Granite or PGC, occurring in close proximity to mafic lithology shows change of
colour from cyan to yellowish-greenish-cyan, might be due to alteration. Linear trending of pinkish with
blue colours represents mafic dykes and blue colour represents quartz veins/reefs. The alluvium
covering the streams are showing reddish to orange colour. Lineaments and faults are visibly seen in
MNF image. Overall, MNF image gives better Structural feature and rock outcrop.

Comparison of Landsat 8 MNF colour composite image and ASTER TIR band ratio colour composite
image shows that both are providing very good lithological discrimination. Granite and Granitoids
outcrops are clearly well exposed in MNF image. ASTER TIR mineral indices image clearly
discriminate Mafic and Quartz rich rocks. It could also highlight the new granitic bodies and their true
extent (not only the outcrop region) compared to Landsat based MNF images. ASTER TIR mineral

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indices are better in enhancing the Lithological variations in the area compared to Landsat 8 MNF. But
compared to ASTER TIR based band ratio colour composite images, the Landsat 8 MNF images could
highlight structural feature and lineaments and faults with much clarity. The doubly plunged anticlinal
structure of Ramagiri schist was highlighted in good clarity compared to ASTER TIR bands.
Lineaments, both dykes and fracture valleys and faults are visibly seen in MNF image. Overall, MNF
image gives better Structural feature and rock outcrops. Integration of the inputs from ASTER TIR and
Landsat 8 OLI based images would help in preparing an updated geological map of the study area.

Table 7: Locations of the Ground truth along with the rock types encountered in the field

S. No. Location ID Longitude Latitude Rock Type

Chlorite Schist (altered amphibolites) in
1 RG1 77.52329 14.31906
contact with quartz vein
2 RG2 77.49081 14.32608 Gray granite outcrop
3 RG3 77.49686 14.34026 Kimberlite out crop
4 RG3b 77.49707 14.34035 Kimberlite out crop
5 RG3c 77.49691 14.34038 Kimberlite-Granite contact
6 RG4 77.43086 14.3426 Gray granite quarry
7 RG5 77.43547 14.36426 Pink Granite with epidote
8 RG6 77.43274 14.37064 Dolerite dyke and Calcrete
9 RG7 77.43153 14.3704 Calcrete, and Pink granite with epidote
10 RG8 77.43185 14.3721 Granite outcrop

For the ground truth we carried the field work around Ramagiri region and collected samples of
different type of granite, amphibolite, dolerite dyke, Kimberlite, calcrete, chlorite with quartz intrusion.
We collected different granite samples in location no. RG-2, RG-4 and RG-8 shown in Figure 11 and
these locations are matches with ASTER TIR mineral indices map.

7. Summary and Conclusion

This study attempts to prepare the updated lithological map of Ananthapur district of Andhra Pradesh
using the multispectral data. We compared the lithological map prepared by the data acquired in two
different sensors that has two different spectral range, spatial and radiometric resolutions. We used
Landsat8 OLI data in VNIR & SWIR region which has 7 spectral bands with a spatial resolution of 30 m
and radiometric resolution of 16 bit. Other data used in the study is the ASTER data, of which we used
on 5 thermal bands acquired with a spatial resolution of 90m and radiometric resolution of 12 bit. The
OLI bands were pre-processed and MNF transformation applied to suppress noise and enhance the
data. MNF components 532 RGB colour composite was found to be effective in discrimination lithology
in the area. Band ratio technique were applied over ASTER TIR data (Quartz Index, Feldspar rock
Index and mafic Index) and the colour composite were generated. Lithological map of the study region
was created in GIS environment from both Landsat8 OLI MNF data and ASTER TIR based band ratio
colour composite by visual interpretation technique. The lithological map prepared from the remotely
sensed data were compared with the quadrangle geology map of the area published by GSI and
validated in ground by limited field check. The GSI map and the lithological map prepared in this study,
shows an overall good agreement. However, the ASTER TIR based lithological map shows that it
could highlight lithological features that are not marked in the GSI map. At many places, the granite
bodies marked as PGC in GSI map, could be clearly demarcated. The back-cotton soil also could be
updated. In the eastern margin of doubly plunged anticline of Ramagiri schist belt showing metabasalt
going continuously towards northern top of the anticline. This lithological feature not present in GSI
quadrangle map but both Landsat and ASTER satellite imageries showing clearly. Granite and
Granitoids are not marked many places in GSI map but MNF image shows Granite outcrops at many
places in this region. Compare to the ASTER TIR, the Landsat MNF images were showing structural
detail more effectively. Thus, this study emphasises the fact that thermal region are better in

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discriminating felsic and mafic lithologies compare to VNIR and SWIR region. However the lower
spatial resolution of the TIR bands (90 m) smaller structural details are not clearly enhanced. The
Landsat image with higher spatial resolution (30m) could effectively highlight the structural trends.
Hence, combining ASTER TIR and Landsat 8 MNF images would help in preparation of better
geological map.

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