An analysis of geologic lineaments seen on LANDSAT MSS imagery

Abstract

Lineament maps drawn from several LANDSAT images of a part of north Wales and western England display considerable variation in the number of lineaments identified. Analysis of the maps shows that it is not the case that maps with fewer lineaments are simply subsets of those with many lineaments. Rather, each map contains a high proportion of lineaments that are unique to it. Despite these differences, the same preferred lineament orientation is identified from almost all maps. These results imply that all available LANDSAT imagery may usefully contribute to a lineament analysis, little value may be placed on the density of lineaments seen on any one image and preferred lineament orientation is relatively easy to identify. It is concluded that guarded use may be made of lineament analysis in geology. Lineament maps may be employed to suggest hypotheses rather than to test them.