Accepted Manuscript

Geological mapping and spectral based classification of basement rocks using remote
sensing data analysis: the Korbiai-Gerf nappe complex, South Eastern Desert, Egypt

Safaa M. Hassan, Mohamed F. Sadek

PII: S1464-343X(17)30291-1
DOI: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2017.07.006
Reference: AES 2958

To appear in: Journal of African Earth Sciences

Please cite this article as: Safaa M. Hassan, Mohamed F. Sadek, Geological mapping and spectral
based classification of basement rocks using remote sensing data analysis: the Korbiai-Gerf nappe
complex, South Eastern Desert, Egypt, Journal of African Earth Sciences (2017), doi: 10.1016/
j.jafrearsci.2017.07.006

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

1 Geological mapping and spectral based classification of basement rocks using remote

2 sensing data analysis: the Korbiai-Gerf nappe complex, South Eastern Desert, Egypt

4 Safaa M. Hassan and Mohamed F. Sadek

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5 safaa.hassan@narss.sci.eg

6 National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, 23 Joseph Tito Street, El-Nozha

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7 El-Gedida, P.O. Box: 1564 Alf -Maskan, Cairo, Egypt.

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8 ABSTRACT

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9 The Pan-African Neoproterozoic Korbiai-Gerf nappe complex in the extreme South Eastern
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10 Desert of Egypt comprises dismembered ophiolite assemblages tectonically thrusted over pelite-

11 psammopelite, quartzo-feldspathic gneiss and island-arc schistose metavolcanics. The whole

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12 sequence is intruded by syn-late to post tectonic mafic and felsic intrusions.

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13 The enhanced Landsat-8 band ratio (bands 6/2, 6/7 and 6/5×4/5) and Advanced Spaceborne
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14 Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Principal Component (PC2, PC6, and

15 PC5) successfully discriminated most of the exposed lithological units and produced a detailed
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16 geological map. Granitoids, psammopelite-pelite, gneiss and serpentinite-talc carbonate rocks

17 have been discriminated using ASTER kaolinite, clay, sericite-muscovite and calcite-carbonate
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18 indices respectively.
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19 Three spectral based classification algorithms have been compared using Landsat-8 and the

20 Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) datasets to

21 obtain the best lithological classification for the exposed basement rock units. Results from the

22 present study revealed that, Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier algorithm provided the
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23 best lithological classification accuracy (97.72%) using the combination of 9 ASTER bands and

24 20 ASTER derivative images.

25 The results of the present study concluded that, the integrated data of ASTER and Landsat-8

26 enhanced images are effective in the discrimination and classification of the basement rock units

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27 exposed at Korbiai-Gerf nappe complex and can be applied in similar areas in the Arabian-

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28 Nubian Shield.

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29 Keywords: Korbiai-Gerf, Eastern Desert of Egypt, ASTER, Landsat-8, Support vector machine

30 (SVM) classifier.

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31 1. INTRODUCTION

32 The Korbiai-Gerf area is located in the extreme southern part of the Eastern Desert of Egypt.
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33 It is situated between latitudes 22º 23´and 22º 53´ N and longitudes 34º 55´and 35º 25´E (Fig.1).

34 This Nappe is the largest ophiolitic metamorphosed ultramafic mass in the Eastern Desert of
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35 Egypt (Shaddad, 1982; Nasr et al., 1998) extending over an area of about 570 km2.
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36 The Korbiai-Gerf ophiolitic mass was previously described as an intrusive complex (e.g.

37 EGSMA. 1981; Shaddad, 1982). However, most workers have regarded it as an ophiolitic terrain
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38 (e.g. Kroner et al., 1987; Bennett and Mosley, 1987; Stern et al., 1989; Kroner et al., 1992;
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39 O'Conner et al., 1993; Greiling et al., 1994; Sadek et al., 1996 and 1997; Abdel Magid et al.,
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40 1996; Nasr et al., 1998; Tolba, 2000; EGSMA, 2002; Nasr and Beniamin, 2002; Abdel-Karim et

41 al., 2001; Abdel Gawad, 2002; Sadek, 2005, Gahlan and Arai, 2009; Abdel Aal et al., 2016).

42 This Nappe constitutes the highest mountainous peaks extending with N-S general trend for

43 some 50-km forming a roughly circular mass at its northern part. These peaks are namely from

44 north to south; Gabal Mineiga, Gabal Korbiai, Gabal Gerf, and Gabal Maqur, followed
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45 southwards by the peaks of Madarai, Abu Hireig and Abu Hodeid which form a longitudinal

46 connected mass extending for about 30 km . They decrease in their width from about 25 km in

47 the northern part to about 2 km at the southern end part. On the other hand, the mountains of

48 Korbiai and Gerf at the northern part of this complex form a roughly circular huge mass about 25

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49 km in diameter. The peak of Gabal Gerf is the highest (1419 m a.s.l.) whereas the name Gerf

50 nappe complex is mostly given to the whole ophiolitic mass.

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51 One of the main applications of satellite images is creating maps of ground features through

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52 assigning image pixels to distinguishable real world classes using image classification automated

53 processes. The different classification techniques are significant in determining the quality of the

54
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classification results using remote sensing data (James and Daniel, 2002; Lu and Weng, 2007;
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55 Perumal and Bhaskaran, 2011; Salati et al., 2011; Li et al., 2011; Yu et al., 2012; Mondal et al.,
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56 2012 and Hassan et al., 2014). Yu et al., (2012) implemented a spatial image processing method

57 for lithological classification using SVM algorithm which is applied to an automated lithological
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58 classification using ASTER-DEM imagery to get the best lithological classification -. Many
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59 studies have been carried out for lithological discrimination and geological mapping using

60 Landsat-8 and ASTER remote sensing data (e.g. Vaughan et al., 2005; Ninomiya et al., 2005;
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61 Qiu et al., 2006; Liu et al., 2007; Gabr et al., 2010; Amer et al., 2010; Aboelkhair et al., 2010;

62 Pour and Hashim, 2011; Madani and Emam, 2011; Rajendran et al., 2013; Hassan and Ramadan,
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63 2014; Hassan et al., 2014; Sadek et al., 2015; Gabr et al., 2015).
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64 The first aim of this study is to present a geological study on the Korbiai-Gerf area based on

65 the analysis of remote sensing data, previous geological mapping, petrographical studies and

66 field observation. The second goal is to propose a new classification method (i.e. Spectral Angle

67 Mapper (SAM), Spectral Information Divergence (SID) and Support Vector Machine (SVM)
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68 with Radial Base Function (RBF) using the integrated data of Landsat-8 and ASTER satellite

69 images to enhance lithological discrimination of various rock types and units in Korbiai-Gerf

70 area.

71

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72 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

73 2.1. Remote sensing data

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74 ASTER is an imaging tool on board the Terra satellite, launched in December 1999 as a part

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75 of NASA's Earth Observing System program. ASTER data covers a wide spectral range with 14

76 bands of narrow band widths cover the ranges from the visible to the thermal infrared regions.

77
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Landsat-8 data have higher radiometric resolutions (16 bits) and lower spectral resolution
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78 compared with ASTER data.
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79 The ASTER shortwave infrared (SWIR) channels increase the accuracy of the spectral

80 identification of minerals and rock units of the Earth surface (e.g. Crósta et al., 2003; Ninomiya
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81 et al., 2005 and 2006; Gad and Kusky, 2006 and 2007; Hassan et al., 2014; Gabr, et. al., 2015;
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82 Sadek et al., 2015). Landsat-8 data with high radiometric resolution is an effective tool for

83 detailed geological mapping (Hassan and Ramadan, 2014; Sadek, et al., 2015).
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84 In the present study, both Landsat-8 and ASTER L1B images, acquired in August, 2016 and
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85 January 2003 respectively, have been used. Nine ASTER VNIR and SWIR spectral bands have
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86 been stacked and processed using ERDAS Imagine 2015 and ENVI 5.3. The geological map of

87 the study area and layout of the processed images has been produced using the ArcGIS 10.4

88 Software package.

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92 2.1.1. Band ratio

93 This technique is applied by dividing the Digital Number (DN) values of one band by the

94 corresponding DN values of another band and displaying the new DN values as a grey scale

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95 image that provides relative band intensities (Sabins, 1997 and 1999). The proposed ASTER and

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96 Landsat-8 (VNIR and SWIR) band ratio images were used to enhance the boundaries between

97 the exposed lithological units in the study area. In addition, different ASTER indices including

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98 kaolinite, clay and sericite-muscovite and calcite-carbonate indices have been used to identify

99 the widely-exposed rock units based on their enrichment with essential and secondary mineral

100 constituents.
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101 2.1.2. Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
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102 Principal Component Analysis (PCA) as one of the spectral enhancement techniques has
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103 been used for lithological discrimination. It is also used to improve the classification results in
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104 the present proposed method. On the other hand, Independent Components (IC) analysis is a type

105 of spectral un-mixing method that does not require knowledge of targeted surface materials
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106 (Gómez et al., 2007). The (IC) analysis derives a new dataset containing new bands which

107 comprise a linear combination of the input bands.

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108 2.1.3. Spectral classifiers

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109 Spectral based classification methods were developed for use on both hyperspectral and

110 multispectral remote sensing data, often with enhanced results that can easily be compared to

111 spectral properties of materials. In the present study, SAM, SID and SVM supervised

112 classification techniques have been used to detect lithological units based on their spectral
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113 properties. Information about the rock units in the study area have been collected from different

114 sources including field observation and the published geological maps. This information has

115 been used to train the satellite image classifier and applied to satellite images (i.e. ASTER and

116 Lansat-8) using the ENVI version 5.3 Software to extract the different rock types in the whole

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117 image.

118 The SAM is a supervised classification method that permits rapid mapping by calculating the

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119 spectral similarity between the image spectrum to reference reflectance spectra (Schwarz and

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120 Staenz, 2001). The reference spectra used by SAM has been extracted from the image as area of

121 interest (ROI average) using the field observation data. The spectral similarity between the

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122 spectra is determined by calculating the angle between the spectra and converting them to
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123 vectors in a space with dimensionality equal to the number of the spectral bands.

124 Spectral Information Divergence (SID) is a famous spectral classification technique that uses a
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125 divergence measure for matching pixels to reference spectra. The smaller the divergence, the
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126 more likely the pixels are similar.

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127 The supervised SVM classifier is known for its classification accuracy output (Burges, 1998;

128 Hassan, et al., 2015), due to the fact that it is built on a rigorous mathematical model (Perumal
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129 and Bhaskaran, 2011). The Radial Basis Function (RBF) is one of the non-linear SVM classifier,

130 which uses the penalty factor C to adjust the penalty of the classifier and γ (Gaussian kernel's)
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131 parameters to further optimize the classification output (Ding, 2011). The larger C, the higher
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132 outcome accuracy in the training phase. The γ parameter, has a greater effect on the classification

133 process than the C parameter (Linden et al., 2010). In the present study, the optimal values of C

134 and γ are 100 and100. These values were applied on ASTER-DEM (slope, curvature)

135 +PCA+ICA as well as Landsat-8 (VNIR+SWIR)+DEM+PCA-ICA data layers.

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136 In the current study, a full comparison of the different remote sensing data inputs of Landsat-8

137 and ASTER using SAM, SID and SVM classification techniques is obtained to identify the most

138 discriminatory data layers for lithological classification at Korbiai-Gerf area and the results are

139 summarized in a flowchart (Fig. 2). The accuracy assessment of SAMs, SIDs and SVMs

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140 classification is evaluated using various combinations of data inputs in order to get the best

141 lithological discrimination for the widely exposed rock units.

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142

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143 2.2. Field investigation

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144 The interpreted information from the processed remote sensing data was verified through the
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145 field observation whereby the exposed lithological units have been identified and their

146 boundaries have been confirmed. Representative samples from the different exposed rock units
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147 were collected for the petrographic study.

148
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149 3. GEOLOGICAL SETTING

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150 The Gabal Korbiai-Gerf area consists of a sequence of late Neoproterozoic Precambrian
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151 basement rocks, which comprises quartzo-feldspathic gneiss, psamopelite-pelite association,

152 ophiolitic assemblages and intrusives (Fig. 1). The ophiolitic rocks comprise serpentinite - talc
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153 carbonate rocks, metagabbro and locally pillowed basic-intermediate. metavolcanics. The
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154 ophiolitic assemblages are eastwards thrusted over the metasediments, gneisses and calc-alkaline

155 island-arc schistose metavolcanics and their related meta-volcaniclastics and tuffs. The whole

156 sequence is intruded by syn-to late tectonic gabbroic and granitoid intrusions as well as dykes

157 and veins. The Precambrian rocks are intruded by post tectonic syenite and quartz syenite which
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158 are related to the Mesozoic Late Cretaceous Nugrub El-Fuqani alkaline ring complex (El Ramly

159 and Hussein, 1983; Sadek et al., 1996; Tolba, 2000; EGSMA, 2002).

160

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161 3. 1. Gneisses and pelites-psammopelites

162 N-S trending sequence of quartzo-feldspathic gneiss and psammopelite-pelites are exposed

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163 at the southern eastern sector of the mapped area forming the northern part of the Hamisana

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164 shear zone (e.g. Stern, 1989; Miller and Dixon, 1992; de Wall et al., 2001; Ali-Bik et al., 2014).

165 These rocks are intruded by syn- to late-tectonic granitoids.

3.1.1. Quartzo-feldspathic gneisses

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166

167 These rocks were suggested to be of igneous origin (Bennet and Mosley, 1987; Greiling et
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168 al., 1994). They are folded and dissected by dyke swarms (Miller and Dixon, 1992; Stern et al.,

169 1989). The quartzo-feldspathic gneisses show gneissic texture marked by the presence of
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170 alternating felsic quartzo-feldspathic bands with mafic bands consisting mainly of biotite,
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171 muscovite and hornblende (Fig. 3a). Locally, these gneisses are migmatized and show ptygmatic
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172 folding, pegmatitic intrusios and quartz veins. Dark bands of hornblende gneiss form

173 intercalations within the biotite gneiss and psammopelitic-pelitic rocks.

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174 Petrographically, the quartzo-feldspathic gneisses are subdivided into biotite gneiss and
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175 hornblende gneiss (Ali-Bik et al., 2014). Biotite gneiss is composed mainly of quartz,

176 plagioclase, microcline, hornblende and biotite. Sphene, epidote, chlorite, sericite, garnet and

177 opaques are accessories. The felsic and mafic constituents are arranged in parallel alignment

178 giving gneissic texture (Fig. 3b). Hornblende gneisses are medium-grained and foliated rocks.
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179 They consist mainly of hornblende, few biotite and plagioclase, minor quartz (up to 10% mode),

180 opaques, apatite and sphene.

181 3.1.2. Psammopelite - pelite association

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182 An association of sedimentary origin consisting mainly of laminated pelite and psammopelite

183 is exposed forming a thin strip east of the Madarai-Abu Hodeid ophiolitic mass. The pelitic and

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184 psammopelitic rocks are intercalated with dark hornblende schist bands of variable widths.

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185 Along the zone of thrust contact with the serpentinites, the metapelite rocks are highly deformed

186 and tectonized. Sheared elongated serpentinite - talc carbonate pods and slices are tectonically

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187 incorporated within the pelitic and psammopelitic rocks.
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188 Microscopically, psammopelitic rock shows alternating layers of mica and quartz with

189 plagioclase. Biotite and/or muscovite aggregates are predominant forming the micaceous layers.
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190 Cordierite is formed at the expense of biotite, and it is replaced by fine aggregates of muscovite
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191 during the final retrogressive stage (Ali-Bik et al., 2014).

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192 3.2. Ophiolitic Assemblages

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193 The serpentinite-talc-carbonate rocks, metagabbro and the pillowed metavolcanics represent

194 the dismembered ophiolitic assemblages in the Gerf nappe complex (Fig. 1). At the southern
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195 part, these rocks are thrusted over the surrounding gneisses and meta-psammoplites and
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196 metapelite- association, while they are thrusted over the calc-alkaline island-arc schistose

197 metavolcanics at the northern part (Fig. 3c). The thrust contacts of the serpentinite rocks with the

198 surrounding metavolcanics in the central parts are irregular due to the irregular boundaries of

199 these metavolcanics. The ophiolitic assemblages are intruded by syn-late tectonic granitoids,

200 gabbro-diorite, late tectonic gabbro and monzogranite.

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201 3.2.1. Serpentinite-talc carbonate rocks

202 The serpentinite-talc carbonate rocks forming the Korbiai-Gerf mass are slightly massive at

203 the northern part, while at the eastern and western and southern parts they are highly sheared and

204 altered and dissected by magnesite veins (Fig. 3d). At Gabal Korab Kansi and southwards along

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205 Wadi Shinai area, the serpentinite rocks are highly altered and deformed, where the talc

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206 carbonate and ankerite rocks are predominant. Korbiai old gold mine is located within the

207 alteration shear zone in the metavolcanics along the tectonic contact zone with the ophiolitic

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208 serpentinites.

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209 Petrographically, the serpentinite talc-carbonate rocks are considered to have been derived
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210 from peridotite-dunite (Tolba, 2000 and Abdel Gawad, 2002) and they are grouped into massive

211 serpentinites, altered sheared serpentinite and talc-carbonate rocks. The massive serpentinites are
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212 the predominant rock types which composed mainly of relics of olivine, antigorite, and

213 chrysotile, replaced by magnesite, carbonates, talc and magnetite giving mesh structure (Fig. 3e).
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214 In the sheared serpentinite variety, the serpentine minerals are replaced by carbonate and talc
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215 with secondary iron oxides.

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216 3.2.2. Metagabbro

217 These rocks occur as small outcrops and scattered mega sheared pods within the serpentinite
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218 rocks at the eastern part of the Gerf ophiolitic mass. They show tectonic contact with the
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219 ophiolitic metavolcanics. The metagabbroic rocks are heterogeneous, sheared and locally

220 layered. Microscopically, the metagabbroic rocks consist essentially of altered labradorite, augite

221 and hornblende. Quartz, epidote and opaques are accessories. Tremolite, epidote and chlorite are

222 the main alteration secondary minerals. Ophitic and subophitic textures are common.
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223 3.2.3. Basic-intermediate metavolcanics

224 A Circular exposure of ophiolitic basic to intermediate metavolcanics (pillowed in parts) is

225 structurally emplaced within the central part of Korbiai-Gerf serpentinite body. The

226 metavolcanics are slightly massive, fine-grained and vesicular. Petrographically, they are basaltic

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227 to basaltic andesite in composition and they consist mainly of epidotized plagioclase,

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228 hornblende, augite, chlorite and few quartz porphyroclasts in groundmass of the same

229 composition.

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230 3.3. Island-arc basic-intermediate metavolcanics and related tuffs

231
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A sequence of schistose metavolcanics mainly basaltic andesite in composition locally
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232 associated with schistose acidic metavolcanics and their related meta-volcaniclastics are exposed

233 at the northern eastern, western and southern parts of Korbiai-Gerf ophiolitic mass (Fig. 1). At
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234 the western side of Gabal Gerf and northeast of Korbiai old gold mine, these metavolcanics are
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235 highly foliated and sheared (Figs. 3f and 4a) and transformed into chlorite actinolite schist at the
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236 eastern and western parts of the Korbiai ophiolitic mass. Along the sheared contact zones, the

237 metavolcanics enclose irregular serpentinite - talc carbonate slices. NE of Gabal Korbiai, a
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238 trench has recently been dug within the sheared metavolcanics to collect gold-bearing smoky

239 quartz veins (Fig. 4b).

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240 According to the mineral assemblages, the exposed meta-volcaniclastic meta-tuffs are
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241 classified into andesite to dacite tuffs which can be classified into andesitic meta-tuffs and lapilli

242 meta-tuffs. Lapilli meta-tuffs comprise lithic and crystal tuffs. Petrographically, the metavolcanic

243 varieties are grouped into metabasalts, meta-andesites and epidote-tremolite-actinolite schist

244 (Sadek, 2005 and Abdel Gawad, 2002).

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245 Metabasalt consists mainly of altered pyroxene, hornblende and plagioclase with subordinate

246 amounts of actinolite and chlorite. The rock shows subophitic and diabasic textures. Meta-

247 andesites consist mainly of phenocrysts of plagioclase, hornblende and quartz embedded in a

248 fine-grained groundmass of plagioclase, calcite, zoisite, chlorite and iron oxides are the main

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249 accessories. Porphyroblastic and porphyritic textures are observed. Epidote-tremolite-actinolite

250 schist consists mainly of altered plagioclase and pseudomorphs actinolite, tremolite pheoncrysts

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251 embedded in fine groundmass of the same composition in addition to epidote, chlorite and iron

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252 oxides. Schistose and porphyritic textures are common.

253 Tuffs consist mainly of quartz and plagioclase phenocrysts in fine-grained groundmass (Fig.

254
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4c). The metamorphic mineral assemblages in these rocks suggest the lower to upper greenschist
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255 amphibolite facies metamorphism.
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256 3.4. Magmatic assemblages

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257 3.4.1. Syn tectonic gabbro-diorite

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258 This rock association crops out as few outcrops in the study area as intrusive in serpentinites

259 and the schistose metavolcanics particularly at the northern eastern part of Gabal Korbiai.
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260 Petrographically, gabbro-diorite rocks are medium-coarse grained and range in composition from

261 hornblende gabbro to diorite. They consist of plagioclase, hornblende, minor biotite together
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262 with accessory opaques. Chlorite and epidote are the common secondary minerals (Fig. 4d).
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263 3.4.2. Syn-tectonic tonalite-granodiorite

264 These rocks range in composition from tonalite to granodiorite. They are grouped into two

265 varieties including; 1) the foliated rocks which are exposed at the eastern part of Korbiai-Gerf

266 ophiolitic mass, and 2) slightly massive variety outcropping at the northern western and western
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267 parts of the mapped area dissected by E-W trending basic dyke swarms (Fig. 1). In general,

268 these rocks are jointed, xenolithic and show exfoliation. They intrude the surrounding ophiolitic

269 serpentinites, the schistose metavolcanics and gabbro-diorite. Microscopically, the tonalite-

270 granodiorite rocks consist mainly of variable amounts of plagioclase (about 40-50%), quartz

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271 (about 30%), few K-feldspars (less than 10%) and biotite ± hornblende (about 10%), zircon,

272 apatite and iron oxides are accessories. Epidote, sericite and chlorite are secondary constituents.

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273 Granular, myrmekitic and perthitic textures are common.

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274

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275 3.4.3. Late tectonic gabbro
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276 The late tectonic gabbroic intrusion is located at the southern border of Gabal Korab Kansi at

277 the western side of the mapped area where they have intruded the serpentinite-talc-carbonate
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278 rocks and schistose metavolcanics (Fig. 1). This intrusion was previously mapped as ophiolitic
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279 gabbro (Zimmer et al., 1995) and as a late tectonic mafic intrusion (e.g. O'Conner et al., 1993;
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280 Abdel Magid et al., 1996; Sadek et al., 1997; Nasr et al., 2000; Nasr and Beniamin, 2002; Sadek,

281 2005) and as ultramafic-mafic intrusion (Abdel Gawad, 2002).

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282 This intrusion is very similar to the Abu Fas layered ultramafic-mafic intrusion which is

283 located southward at Wadi Allaqi and has been described by Sadek (1995) and Sadek and El
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284 Ramly (1996). Three discontinuous titano-magnetite layers with NNW-SSE trend and steep to
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285 vertical dips are present interlayered with olivine gabbro, they vary in width from 5 to 10 m and

286 extend for 2 km. The general trend of the titano-magnetite layers is concordant with the layering

287 trend of the host olivine gabbro.

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288 Petrographically, the intrusion is made up of a crude primary large scale layered assemblage

289 of olivine-pyroxene gabbro and pyroxene-hornblende gabbro. Olivine pyroxene gabbro consists

290 essentially of labradorite, augite, hypersthene and olivine showing ophitic texture (Fig. 4e).

291 Magnetite is the main accessory mineral while chlorite, epidote, tremolite-actinolite and

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292 iddingsite and secondary magnetite are the main secondary minerals. Pyroxene-hornblende

293 gabbro consists mainly of augite, labradorite and hornblende. Iron oxides are found as

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294 accessories. Chlorite, epidote, saussurite and actinolite-tremolite are present as secondary

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295 minerals. Ophitic and subophitic textures are observed in all varieties.

296

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297 3.4.4. Late tectonic monzogranite

298 At the southern eastern side of the mapped area, low relief outcrops of monzogranite are
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299 exposed intruding the quartz feldspathic gneiss and serpentinites (Fig. 1). Petrographically, they
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300 are medium to coarse-grained consisting mainly of orthoclase, microcline, quartz, subordinate
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301 albite-oligoclase, biotite, muscovite and accessory iron oxides. Sericite, epidote and chlorite are

302 present as secondary minerals. Microperthitic and myrmekitic textures are common (Fig. 4f).
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303 3.5. Dykes and veins

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304 All of the exposed metamorphic and magmatic rocks in the study area are traversed by
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305 numerous basic and acidic including granitic dykes of varying trends and widths. Northwest of

306 Gabal Korbiai and south of Gabal Korab Kansi, E-W trending swarms of basic-intermediate in

307 composition dykes dissect the syn-tectonic tonalite-granodiorites. Quartz, magnesite and

308 pegmatite veins of variable trends traverse the serpentinite talc-carbonate rocks. Gold was mined

309 during the Roman times from the smoky quartz veins dissecting the schistose metavolcanics and
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310 gabbro particularly at the tectonic thrust and alteration zones around Gabal Korbiai and Gabal

311 Madarai.

312 3.6. Post tectonic Syenite-quartz syenite

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313 Small outcrop of post tectonic syenite and quartz syenite is exposed at the northern western

314 corner of the mapped area. It is the southern extension of Gabal Nugrub Al- Fuqani ring complex

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315 which consists mainly of syenite, alkaline granite and syenogranite. The ring complex is related

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316 to Mesozoic Lower Cretaceous in age (El Ramly and Hussein, 1983). These rocks are medium to

317 coarse-grained with grey and pinkish varieties. Petrographically, the syenites are composed

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318 mainly of orthoclase, perthitic orthoclase, aegrine, biotite and nepheline. The accessory minerals
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319 are apatite, sphene and iron oxides. The secondary alteration products are epidote, sericite and

320 chlorite. Rare quartz crystals are present in the quartz syenite variety. Perthitic and
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321 hypidiomorphic textures are observed.

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322 4. General tectonic and structural settings

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323 The Korbiai-Gerf Nappe is justaposed along N-S trending west-verging thrust zone against

324 a wide belt of foliated metasediments and metavolcanics. The available evidence does not
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325 support the status of Gerf nappe as a suture zone but as allochthonous ophiolitic fragments which

326 can be traced southward to the Hamisana shear zone.

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327 The Korbiai-Gerf mafic and ultramafic rocks represent a slice of Neoproterozoic oceanic
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328 lithosphere, with an age of 750 Ma (Kröner et al., 1992 and Zimmer et al., 1995). The study area

329 is affected by the East African Orogeny (Stern, 1994), which evolved during the Pan-African

330 tectono-thermal events affected most of the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS) in the Neoproterozoic

331 from 950 to 450 Ma (Engel et al., 1980; Vail, 1988).

332
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333 Both primary and secondary structural features have been recorded in the Korbiai-Gerf area.

334 Lamination in the meta-volcanisedimentary sequence and layering in the late tectonic gabbro

335 represent the main recorded primary structural elements in the study area, while thrust, foliations,

336 folds and faults are the main secondary structural features.

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337 Lamination and bedding in the meta-volcaniclastics display NW-SE and NNE-SSW trends

338 which are mostly concordant with the foloiation trend S1. Primary NNW-SSE layering with sub-

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339 vertical and steep dips to E are developed in the Korab-Kansi late tectonic gabbro.

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340 The ophiolitic assemblages have been tectonically emplaced within the surrounding

341 metasediments and metavolcanics showing variable thrust plane trends including N-S, E-W and

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342 NW-SE trends with the surrounding island arc-metavolcanics, the dip angles vary from 30o-50o
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343 towards W, N, and NE.

344 The thrust sheets within the Gerf ophiolitic mass can be interpreted as minor thrusts below the
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345 major Gref thrust plane. The gneisses and pelite-psammopelites show general N-S and NNE-
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346 SSW foliation trends with dip angle about 30o to W and SSW directions. The foliation in the
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347 schistose metavolcanics displays N-S, NW-SE and E-W variable trends. The dip angles vary

348 from 40o to 60o toward E, NE and S directions.

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349 NW-SE and E-W trending strike slip and normal faults are observed along the ophiolitic masses.

350 Crenulation and overturned open and tight folds are recorded within the metasediments and the
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351 metavolcano-sedimentry rocks. These folds show NW-SE general trend of axial planes with
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352 moderate plunge angles toward NW. Stretching mineral and slickenside lineation together with

353 the recorded other kinematic indicators suggest type nappe transport to the NW and subsequently

354 redirected to the west (O’Conner, 1993; Nasr et al., Nasr et al., 1996).

355

356 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

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357 5.1. Geological mapping

358 Based on the integrated remote sensing data, field investigation and previous geological

359 mapping (e.g. Abdel Magid et al., 1996; EGSMA, 2002; Tolba, 2000; Abdel Gawad, 2002;

360 Sadek, 2005; Gahlan and Arai, 2009), an enhanced lithological -map for the study area has

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361 been produced. The principal component analysis of Landsat-8 image (PC4, PC5 and PC2) in

362 RGB (Fig. 5a) discriminates Gerf ophiolitic basic metavolcanics with yellow color and the

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363 tonalite-granodiorite at the northeast of Gabal Korbiai with red color as well as the

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364 psammopelite-pelite rocks east Gabal Madarai with bright magenta color. On the other hand,

365 the island-arc basic intermediate metavolcanics exposed at the northern eastern part of Gabal

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366 Korbiai has been emphasized with bright green color. The gabbro-diorite is poorly emphasized
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367 in this Landsat-8 PC image.

368 The slightly massive serpentinite of Korbiai- Gerf mass have been discriminated with very
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369 dark blue color while the yellowish green color successfully emphasized the highly deformed
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370 serpentinites (mainly talc-carbonate) exposed at Wadi Shinai, Gabal Madarai at the southern end
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371 of the ophiolitic mass and Gabal Korab Kansi at the western part of the study area. These two

372 serpentinite varieties are poorly discriminated on the ASTER principal component image (PC2,
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373 PC6 and PC5) in RGB (Fig. 5b), while the gabbro-diorite rocks are emphasized with bright red

374 color and the Korab Kansi layered gabbro exhibits bright cyan colour.
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375 Landsat-8 band ratio image (bands 6/2, 6/7 and 6/5×4/5 on RGB) (Fig. 5c) discriminates the
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376 lithological units in the study area with accurate tracing of their contacts in the produced

377 geological map (Fig. 1). The serpentinite rock varieties and ophiolitic basic metavolcanics have

378 been emphasized by light red and cyan colors respectively. The island-arc assemblage of basic

379 to intermediate metavolcanics were discriminated with blue color, while the layered gabbro and

380 serpentinite rocks were poorly discriminated on this band ratio image.
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381

382 4.2. Lithological Classification

383 The lithological classification for the exposed basement rock units in the study area has

384 been carried out using classified Landsat-8 and ASTER images, SID, SAM and SVM algorithms

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385 Flowchart (Fig. 2), which have been applied on Landsat-8 and ASTER satellite data of the study

386 area and the results are shown in figures 6 to 11. The location of training sets representing the

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387 different lithological units have been selected based on the distributions of the different rock

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388 units in the study area (Fig. 1).

389 Independent Component (IC) and Principal Component (PC) derivative images have been

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390 extracted using both Landsat-8 and ASTER data in order to get more spectral derivative bands,
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391 which can be later stacked with the raw spectral bands (Flowchart Fig. 2). Curvature and

392 topographic slope have been extracted from ASTER-DEM (resampled to 15x15 m per pixel) to
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393 improve the lithological information and increase overall accuracy of the classification results.
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394 The SAM, SID and SVM algorithms have been used to classify lithological units extracted from
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395 all the pixel locations using Landsat-8 and ASTER dataset images as well as its derivative

396 images (Flowchart Fig. 2). Figures 6, 7 and 8 show the results of SID, SAM and SVM classifier
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397 algorithms applied in the Korbiai-Gerf area using different Landsat-8 dataset. As shown in

398 Figure (8), the best lithological discrimination of the exposed rock units has been obtained using
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399 SVM classifier applied on 20 bands of Landsat-8 data sets (3 bands SWIR+3 bands VNIR+2
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400 bands DEM (curvature and slope) + 6 bands IC bands + 6 bands PC). The overall accuracy of

401 SAM, SID and SVM against changing parameters gamma and penalty have been calculated and

402 listed in Table 1 for all lithological classes in the study area.
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403 The results of applying these classifiers lead to the conclusion that, the overall accuracies of

404 SAM, SID and SVM classifier algorithms derived from Landsat-8

405 (SWIR+VNIR+ICA+PCA+DEM) datasets are 40.32%, 41.56% and 95.43% respectively

406 revealing the best overall accuracy of the SVM classifier algorithm for the lithological

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407 classification (Table 1). Figures 9, 10 and 11 show the results of SAM, SID and SVM classifier

408 algorithms applied in the study area using different ASTER datasets (Fig. 2). The combination of

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409 29 bands of ASTER bands (9 bands SWIR and VNIR + 2 bands DEM + 9 bands IC and 9 bands

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410 PC) produces a classification with an overall accuracy 97.72% using SVM algorithm, while both

411 SID and SAM algorithms show overall accuracy 62.72% and 71.52% respectively (Table 2).

412
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As shown in Figure 11 the optimum discrimination for the exposed rock units in the study
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413 area has been provided using SVM classifier applied on ASTER data sets
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414 (SWIR+VNIR+DEM+IC+PC), while the rock units are poorly differentiated using both SAM

415 and SID classifier techniques respectively applied on different ASTER datasets (Figs. 9 and 10).
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416 Table 3 shows the average of producer’s and user’s accuracy calculated for each lithological unit
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417 using different ASTER datasets and their calculated surface areas in square kilometers. The

418 results indicated that the ASTER (SWIR+VNIR+DEM+ IC+PC) data sets improve the
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419 discrimination accuracy of all the exposed lithological units from 93.8% to 99.8%.
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420
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421 4.3. Rock forming minerals discrimination

422 Various ASTER band ratio images (ASTER indices) have been used to identify the exposed

423 rock units based on their enrichment with some essential and secondary minerals. ASTER band

424 ratio of kaolinite index (bands 4/5×8/6) image shows a bright tone emphasizing the granitoids

425 and gneisses (Fig. 12a). Calcite index (bands 6/8×9/8) image of ASTER VNIR and SWIR bands
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426 discriminated the serpentinite talc-carbonate rocks (in calcite-rich) with bright tone (Fig. 12b).

427 The ASTER band ratio (bands 5×7/6×6) image shows the bright tone emphasizing the rocks

428 enriched in secondary clay minerals such as the granitoids at Gabal Gerf and psammopelite-

429 pelite rocks exposed at the eastern side of Gabal Madarai (Fig. 12c). Sericite, muscovite and illite

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430 ASTER index (bands 5+7/6) image is effective in discrimination of the quartzo-feldspathic

431 gneiss (Fig. 12d).

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432 ASTER alunite-kaolinite-pyrophylite index (bands 5×7/6×6) shows a bright tone

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433 emphasizing the exposed serpentinite and gabbro (Fig. 13a), while ASTER carbonate/chlorite

434 index (bands 9+7/8 band ratio image) displays bright tone differentiating the talc-carbonate and

435
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ophiolitic basic metavolcanic rocks (Fig. 13b).
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436
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437 5. CONCLUSIONS
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438 Gabal Korbiai-Gerf basement complex in the extreme South Eastern Desert of Egypt mainly
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439 forms a huge ophiolitic Nappe composed of serpentinite talc-carbonate rocks and locally

440 pillowed basic schistose metavolcanics. These rock units are tectonically thrusted over the island
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441 arc pelite-psammopelite, quartzo-feldspathic gneiss and metavolcanics. The whole sequence is

442 intruded by syn-to late-tectonic gabbroic and granitoid intrusions. The overall mentioned
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443 sequences and intrusions are pierced by Mesozoic alkaline ring complexes composed mainly of
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444 syenite. In the present study, the integrated data of remote sensing, and previously published

445 geological mapping are used to discriminate and classify the lithological units and prepare a

446 detailed geological map of the study area. The obtained results have been verified by field

447 observation and petrographical investigation. Results indicated that, the processed remotely
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448 sensed data of ASTER (PC2, PC6, PC5) and Landsat-8 (PC4, PC5, PC2) principal component

449 images (have successfully discriminated most of the widely-exposed basement rock units in the

450 Korbiai-Gerf area. In addition, Landsat-8 band ratio images (bands 6/2, 6/7) and (bands 6/5×4/5)

451 differentiated these lithological units with enhanced lithological boundaries.

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452 Moreover, various classifier algorithms including SAMs, SIDs and SVMs have been applied

453 to classify the basement rocks in the study area. These classifiers were tested using several

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454 datasets to select the optimal inputs that deliver the best classification accuracy for the most

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455 accurate lithological classification. Results indicated that the best overall accuracy percentage of

456 the applied classifiers is 97.72% and that the accurate classified image is given using the

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457 classifier algorithm of SVM applied on the ASTER (SWIR+VNIR+ICA+PCA+DEM) datasets.
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458 This accuracy is higher than the same accuracy derived from Landsat-8 (95.43%), which can be

459 attributed to the higher spectral resolution of the ASTER spectral bands. The total surface areas
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460 of the exposed rock units have been calculated using this SVM ASTER classified image.
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461 The various ASTER band ratio images representing different indices successfully
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462 emphasized the exposures of different rock units based on their enrichment in some essential and

463 secondary minerals. Kaolinite, clay and sericite-muscovite indices images discriminated
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464 granitoids, psammopelite-pelite and quartzo-feldspathic gneiss. Serpentinite talc-carbonate rocks

465 are clearly differentiated on ASTER calcite and carbonate indices images.
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466 Results from the present study clearly indicate that the basement rock units exposed in the
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467 Korbiai-Gerf area are clearly represented in the detailed geological map produced from the

468 analyzed remote sensing data. The lithological boundaries obtained are well emphasized and

469 show a good resemblance to those of the previously published geological maps of the study area.

470 The SVM classifier algorithm, which is used for the first time in classification of the lithological
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471 units exposed in the Eastern Desert of Egypt at Korbiai-Gerf area, could be applied in similar

472 areas in the Arabian -Nubian -Shield.

473

474 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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475 The authors would like to offer their thanks and gratitude to the National Authority for Remote

476 Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS) staff and colleagues for their kind support throughout this

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477 study. The authors also wish to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers particularly Prof. Abdel-

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478 Rahman Fowler for their comments and suggestions, which greatly aided revision of this paper.

479 Thanks also to Dr. Safwat Gabr for his valuable discussions.

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480
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628 Geol. Surv., Cairo.

629 Salati, S., Van Ruitenbeek, F. J. A., Van der Meer, F. D., Tangestani, M. H., and Van der Werff,

630 H., 2011. Lithological mapping and fuzzy set theory: “Automated extraction of lithological

631 boundary from ASTER imagery by template matching and spatial accuracy assessment”.

632 International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 13 (5), 753-765.
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633 Schwarz, J. and Staenz, K., 2001: Adaptive Threshold for Spectral Matching of Hyperspectral

634 Data, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 27:3, 216-224,

635 DOI:10.1080/07038992.2001.10854938.

636 Shaddad, M.Z., 1982. The Gabal Garf igneous complex. Ann. Geol. Surv. Egypt. XII, 15-18.

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637 Stern, R.J., 1994. Arc assembly and continental collision in the Neoproterozoic East African

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638 orogen: Implications for the consolidation of Gondwana land. Ann. Rev. Earth Plan. Sci. 22,

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639 319-351.

640 Stern, R.J., Kroner, A., Manton, W.I., Reischmann, T., Mansour, M., Hussein, I.M., 1989.

641
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Geochronology of the late Precambrian Hamisana shear zone, Red Sea Hills, Sudan and
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642 Egypt. J. Geol. Soc. Lond.,146, 1017-1029.
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643 Tolba, M.I., 2000. Geological and petrological studies on the basement complex in the area

644 around Bir Madi, South Eastern desert, Egypt. Ph.D. Thesis, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams
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645 University, Cairo, 247p.

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646 Vail, J.R., 1988. Tectonics and evolution of the Proterozoic Basement of NE Africa. In: El Gaby,
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647 S., Greiling, R.O. (Eds.) The Pan-African Belt of NE Africa and Adjacent Areas. Earth Evol.

648 Sci., Vieweg, Wiesbaden, 195-226.

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649 Vaughan, R.G., Hook, S.J., Calvin, W.M. and Taranik, J.V., 2005. Surface mineral mapping at
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650 Steamboat Springs, Nevada, USA, with multi-wavelength thermal infrared images, Remote

651 Sensing of Environment, 99, (1-2), 140-158.

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652 Yu, L., Porwal, A., Holden, E.J., and Dentith, M. C., 2012. Towards automatic lithological

653 classification from remote sensing data using support vector machines|, Computers and

654 Geosciences, 45, 229-239.

655 Zimmer, M., Kroner, A., Jochum, K.P., Reischmann, T., Todt, W., 1995. The Gabal Gerf

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656 complex: A Precambrian N-MORB ophiolite in the Nubian Shield, NE Africa. Chem. Geol.

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657 123, 29-51.

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Table 1: Overall classification accuracy calculated for various combinations
of data sets using SVM, SAM, SID using LANDSAT-8 data.

Support Vector Spectral Angle Spectral Information

Machine (SVM) Mapper (SAM) Divergence (SID)

Datasets (layer
Accuracy Accuracy Accuracy
stacked)

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6 Landsat-8-
89.64% 51.66% 36.58%
VNIR-SWIR

14 stack (6

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Landsat-8-
95.37% 40.32% 41.19%
VNIR-SWIR +
6PC+c+s) bands

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14stack (6
Landsat-8-
95.17% 51.66% 51.86%

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VNIR-SWIR +6
IC+c+s) bands
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20 stack bands
(6 Landsat-8-
95.43% 40.32% 41.56%
VNIR-SWIR +6
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IC+ 6PC+c+s)
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Table 2: Overall classification accuracy calculated for various combinations of

data sets using SVM, SAM, SID using ASTER data.

Support Vector Spectral Angle Spectral Information

Machine (SVM) Mapper (SAM) Divergence (SID)

Datasets (layer
Accuracy Accuracy Accuracy
stacked)

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9ASTER
(SWIR-VNIR) 97.26% 44.97% 67.82%
bands

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20 ASTER (
SWIR-VNIR+
97.67% 42.29% 55.87%

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PCA+c+s)
bands

20 ASTER (

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97.57% 32.41% 62.72%
ICA+c+s)
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bands

29 ASTER
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(9SWIR-
VNIR+9ICA+ 97.72% 71.52% 62.72%
9PCA+c+s)
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bands
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Table 3: Average (Producer’s and User’s Accuracy) calculated for the lithological units using SVM
classifier applied on different ASTER datasets.

Class Name / lithological unit 9 ASTER 20 ASTER 20 29 Surface area

(SWIR- (SWIR- ASTER ASTER (Km2)

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VNIR) VNIR+ (SWIR- (9SWIR- calculated
bands PCA+c+s) VNIR+ VNIR+9I using ASTER
bands ICA+c+s) CA+9PC SVM classifier

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bands A+c+s) applied on 29
bands ASTER layer

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Wadi deposits 92.65 93.63 93.57 99.65 584.22

Syenite - quartz syenite 90.40 91.50 91.50 99.80 1.20

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Late-tectonic monzogranite-alkali
98.37 98.02 98.14 99.35 57.92
feldspar granite
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Late tectonic hornblende
pyroxene gabbro, olivine gabbro 91.53 93.53 93.54 98.69 140.44
and gabbro norite
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Syn tectonic tonalite –

96.83 96.905 96.735 97.20 421.21
granodiorite locally quartz diorite
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Syn tectonic foliated tonalite-

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92.35 92.33 92.82 98.92 167.29

granodiorite

Syn tectonic gabbro-diorite 91.84 91.64 91.38 93.82 115.33

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Calc-alkaline island-arc schistose

90.77 91.43 92.27 98.48 250.59
metavolcanics
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Ophiolitic basic-intermediate
91.13 91.95 92.70 94.05 55.32
metavolcanics
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Ophiolitic metagabbro 87.79 89.62 89.73 89.71 59.98

Ophiolitic Serpentinite talc-

92.91 91.17 93.14 99.18 473.38
carbonate

Psammopelite-pelite association 91.39 93.17 93.02 95.29 128.25

Quartzo-feldspathic gneiss 91.62 92.85 93.77 99.81 216.79

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Fig. 1: Detailed geological map of Gabal Korbiai-Gerf area, based on the integrated remote
sensing data, field investigations, petrographical studies and the previous geological mapping.
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Fig. 2: Flowchart summarizing the classification process.

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Fig. 3: (a) Alternating mafic and felsic bands in quartzo-feldspathic gneiss. (b) Oriented biotite
(Bi) and quartz (Qz) in quartzo-feldspathic gneiss. (c) Gabal Korbiai ophiolitic serpentinites (sp)
thrusted over the calc-alkaline schistose metavolcanics (mv). (d) Serpentinite rocks dissected by
magnesite veins, Gabal Korab Kansi. (e) Relics of olivine (Ol) replaced by antigorite (Tg) and talc
showing mesh structure in serpentinite rocks. (f) Highly foliated basic-intermediate metavolcanics
west of Gabal Gerf.
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Fig. 4: (a) Strongly deformed and sheared intermediate metavolcanics, NE of Gabal Korbiai. (b) Recent
trench dug to collect the gold-bearing quartz veins within the sheared metavolcanics, NE of Gabal
Korbiai. (c) Quartz (Qz) and plagioclase (Pl) phenocrysts in fine-grained groundmass, lithic tuffs. (d)
Plagioclase and hornblende (Hb) in gabbro-diorite. (e) Olivine (Ol) and labradorite (Lb) with ophitic-
subophitic texture in olivine gabbro. (f) Myrmekitic texture in monzogranite.
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Fig.5: (a) Landsat-8 (PC4, PC5 and PC2), (b) ASTER (PC2, PC6 and PC5) images on RGB, (c)
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Landsat-8 band ratio image (b6/b2, b6/b7 and b6/b5xb4/b5 on RGB) discriminating the different
lithological units. Serpentinite (Sr), Ophiolitic basic-intermediate metavolcanics (Vb), Tonalite-
granodiorite (Gd), Foliated tonalite-granodiorite (Gf), Gneiss (Gn), Gabbro norite (Gb) and
Psammopelite (Ps), Gabbro diorite (Gbd).
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Fig. 6: Lithological classification of the exposed rock units using SID classifier applied on
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Landsat-8 data (black color represents unclassified pixels). (a) Landsat-8 (6 SWIR-VNIR bands),
(b) Landsat-8 (6 SWIR-VNIR bands +6 PC bands + curvature + slope). (c) Landsat-8 (6 SWIR-
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VNIR bands +6 IC bands + curvature +slope). (d) Landsat-8 (20 (6 SWIR-VNIR+6PC+6IC+

curvature +slope).
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(a) (b)

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Fig. 7: Lithological classification of the exposed rock units using SAM classifier applied on
Landsat-8 data (black color represents unclassified pixels). (a) Landsat-8 (6 SWIR-VNIR bands),
(b) Landsat-8 (6 SWIR-VNIR bands +6 PC bands + curvature + slope). (c) Landsat-8 (6 SWIR-
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VNIR bands +6 IC bands + curvature +slope). (d) Landsat-8 (20 (6 SWIR-VNIR+6PC+6IC+

curvature +slope).
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(a) (b)

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Fig. 8: Lithological classification of the exposed rock units using SVM classifier applied on
Landsat-8 data (black color represents unclassified pixels). (a) Landsat-8 (6 SWIR-VNIR bands),
(b) Landsat-8 (6 SWIR-VNIR bands + 6 PC bands + curvature + slope). (c) Landsat-8 (6 SWIR-
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VNIR bands + 6 IC bands + curvature + slope). (d) Landsat-8 (20 (6 SWIR-VNIR+ 6PC + 6IC +
curvature + slope).
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Fig. 9: Lithological classification of the exposed rock units using SAM classifier applied on
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ASTER data (black color represents unclassified pixels). (a) ASTER (9 SWIR-VNIR bands), (B)
ASTER 20 (9 SWIR-VNIR bands + 9 PC + curvature + slope), (C) ASTER 20 (9 SWIR-VNIR +
9 IC bands + curvature + slope) bands), (d) ASTER (29 (9SWIR-VNIR + 9PC + 9IC + curvature
+ slope) bands).
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Fig. 10: Lithological classification of the exposed rock units using SID classifier applied on
ASTER data . (a) ASTER (9 SWIR-VNIR bands), (B) ASTER 20 (9 SWIR-VNIR + 9 PC+
curvature + slope) bands), (C) ASTER 20 (9 SWIR-VNIR + 9 IC bands + curvature + slope)
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bands), (d) ASTER (29 (9SWIR-VNIR + 9PC + 9IC bands + curvature + slope).
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Fig. 11: Lithological classification of the exposed rock units using SVM classifier applied on
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ASTER data. (a) ASTER (9 SWIR-VNIR bands), (B) ASTER 20 (9 SWIR-VNIR + 9 PC+ c + s)
bands), (C) ASTER 20 (9 SWIR-VNIR +9 IC bands + curvature + slope) bands), (d) ASTER (29
(9SWIR-VNIR + 9PC + 9IC + curvature + slope) bands).
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Fig. 12: Grey scale ASTER band ratio images representing different mineral indices, (a)
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Kaolinite index b4/b5xb8/b6. (b) Calcite index (b6/b8xb9/b8). (c) Clay index (b5xb7/b6xb6). (d)
sericite/muscovite/elite index (b5 + b7/b6).
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Fig. 13: Grey scale ASTER mineral indices images. (a) Alunite-Kaolinite- pyrophyllite index
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Highlights:

• The Korbiai-Gerf area comprises Precambrian ophiolitic and island-arc

assemblages.
• The ophiolitc assemblages are thrusted over pelites-psammopelites and

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schistose metavolcanics.
• The intrusives include tonalite-granodiorite, gabbro-diorite, gabbro-norite,
monzogranites and syenite-quartz syenite.

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• The integrated Landsat-8 and ASTER data successfully discriminated the
exposed rock units.

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• The SAM, SID and SVM classification algorithms were used for the first
time to classify the basement rocks in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.
• The produced geological map comprises well discriminated lithological

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units. The surface areas of the exposed rock units have been calculated.
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