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Detecting lithology with Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Refection

Radiometer (ASTER) multispectral thermal infrared ‘radiance-at-sensor’ data

Article  in  Remote Sensing of Environment · November 2005

DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2005.06.009

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* Manuscript

Corrigendum

Detecting lithology with Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and

Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) multispectral thermal iinfrared
nfrared
"radiance-
"radiance-at-
at-sensor" data

Remote Sensing of Environment 99(1-2):127-139 (2005), ASTER special issue

Yoshiki Ninomiyaa, Bihong Fub and Thomas J. Cudahyc

aGeological Survey of Japan, AIST, Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan

bLanzhou Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
cCSIRO Exploration and Mining, PO Box 1130, Bentley, WA 6101, Australia
Corresponding author: Yoshiki Ninomiya Email: Yoshiki.Ninomiya@aist.go.jp

A factor of π was inadvertently left out of equation 10 in the original article. This
factor is necessary to convert the total energy leaving a surface element to radiance (W
m-2 µm-1 sr-1), as shown in Equation 5. The corrected equation is:

 λ13  c1 
exp i ⋅ ln + 1 − 1
λ  π ⋅ λ13 5 × L 13 
i i   sen 
nLsen = Lsen × (10 )
 
 c2 
exp  −1
 λ i × nT ε 13 
 a 
 Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139

Detecting lithology with Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and

Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) multispectral thermal infrared
‘‘radiance-at-sensor’’ data
Yoshiki Ninomiya a,*, Bihong Fu b, Thomas J. Cudahy c
a
Geological Survey of Japan, AIST, Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan
b
Lanzhou Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
c
CSIRO Exploration and Mining, PO Box 1130, Bentley, WA 6101, Australia

Received 1 October 2004; received in revised form 7 June 2005; accepted 20 June 2005

Abstract

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite measures multispectral
thermal infrared (TIR) emission from the Earth’s surface to space. Based on analysis of TIR spectral properties of typical rocks on the Earth,
several mineralogic indices including the Quartz Index (QI), Carbonate Index (CI) and Mafic Index (MI) for detecting mineralogic or
chemical composition of quartzose, carbonate and silicate rocks with ASTER-TIR data are proposed. These indices are applied to the
ASTER-TIR data scenes for selected study areas in China and Australia. The results show that ASTER-TIR can discriminate quartz and
carbonate rocks as well as mafic – ultramafic rocks, even with atmospherically uncorrected radiance-at-sensor data. Lithologic interpretations
agree well with published geologic data and field observations. The mineralogic indices applied to ASTER-TIR provide one unified approach
for lithologic mapping in arid and semi-arid regions of the Earth.
D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Quartz; Carbonate; Silicate; Mafic; Felsic; Ophiolite; Mineralogic indices; Emissivity spectra; ASTER; Thermal infrared; Geology; Lithologic
mapping

1. Introduction Remote-sensing for lithologic mapping using TIR

In a pioneering study of spectroscopy, Lyon (1965)
demonstrated that silica and silicate minerals, the major
components of the Earth’s crust, show strong fundamental
spectral bands corresponding to the Si – O bond length in the
thermal infrared (TIR) atmospheric window (8 – 12 Am),
although they do not cause prominent spectral features in
the visible to shortwave infrared region of the spectrum
(0.4 –2.5 Am). Various workers (e.g., Hunt & Salisbury,
1974; Salisbury et al., 1988) have shown that TIR
emissivity spectra of igneous rocks are correlated with the
bulk (‘‘chemical’’) SiO2 content.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: Yoshiki.Ninomiya@aist.go.jp (Y. Ninomiya).
0034-4257/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.rse.2005.06.009
spectral signatures was first demonstrated using the
airborne Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner called
TIMS (Kahle & Goetz, 1983; Kahle et al., 1980; Kahle &
Rowan, 1980). Similar airborne systems (e.g., Fu & Chou,
1998) confirmed the usefulness of TIR multispectral
remote sensing. These TIR systems were able to measure
the changes in wavelength of the broad emissivity low
related to the Si – O bonds. Systems with higher spectral
resolution, such as MIRACO2LAS (Cudahy and others,
1999) and SEBASS (e.g., Cudahy et al., 2000), are able to
map more detailed TIR spectral signatures related to the
abundances and chemistries of specific silicate, sulphate
and carbonate minerals.
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and
Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor was developed
based on the success of TIMS, and was launched onboard
 Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139

Terra in December 1999. Terra was the first of NASA’s 2. Basics and definition
Earth Observation System (EOS) series of satellites. It
obtains multispectral image of the Earth (Yamaguchi et 2.1. Radiance at sensor
al., 1998) not only in the visible to near-infrared (VNIR;
three bands between 0.5 and 0.9 Am, 15-m resolution, The DN of ASTER-TIR band i in Level-1B or Level-3A
stereoscopic capability for the NIR band) and in the data is linearly related to radiance at sensor (Wm 2 sr 1
shortwave infrared (SWIR; six bands between 1.6 and 2.5 Am 1) by
Am, 30-m resolution), but also in the TIR (five bands

between 8 and 12 Am, 90-m resolution, NEDT < 0.3 K at Lisen ¼ coef i
DN i  1 ; ð1Þ
300 K). An ASTER image covers about 60
60 km. where coef10 = 0.006882, coef11 = 0.006780, coef12 = 0.006590,
ASTER-TIR is the first satellite-borne multispectral TIR coef13 = 0.005693, and coef14 = 0.005225.
remote-sensing system with sufficient spectral, spatial and On the other hand, L sen is related to the radiance leaving
radiometric resolutions for geological applications. the surface (L sur), the transmissivity of the atmosphere (s)
ASTER typically observes more than 500 scenes per day. and the atmospheric path radiance (L Aj) by the equation
Most of the images are processed to Level-1A. All the
Level-1A images satisfying a condition on detected cloud Lsen ¼ Lsur Is þ LAj : ð2Þ
coverage are processed for nominal radiometric and geo- L sur is related to the radiance emitted from the surface by
metric corrections to generate the Level-1B ‘‘radiance-at-
sensor’’ data product. Level-2B data products of physical EA,
Lsur ¼ LBB Ie þ Iq; ð3Þ
parameters including surface radiance data with nominal k
atmospheric corrections (Level-2B01) are generated on the where L BB is the radiance emitted from a blackbody surface
basis of user request. Also, Level-4 DEMs are generated as (given by Planck function), e is surface emissivity, E A, is
from the along-track NIR stereo images (band 3N and 3B). the downwelling irradiance emitted by the atmosphere, and
A geometrically well-corrected orthorectified Level-3A q is surface reflectance, which for Lambertian surfaces is
product with ASTER-driven DEM is generated, which is related to surface emissivity by the Kirchhoff’s law,
radiometrically equivalent to the Level-1B data (Yamaguchi
q ¼ 1  e: ð4Þ
et al., 1998).
Most of the algorithms proposed so far for thematic From Eqs. (2) – (4) and Planck’s function, radiance at
mapping with multispectral TIR remote-sensing data, for sensor is given as
example, an algorithm to estimate the chemical SiO2 !
i
content in the surface silicate rocks (Ninomiya, 1995), i c1 1 i
EA,
i
 i i
Lsen ¼ 5 I

i
 Ie þ I 1  e Is þLAj ;
assume the input is spectral emissivity data (e.g., ASTER kki exp c2 =k IT  1 k
Level-2B05 product) calculated after atmospheric-correc-
ð5Þ
tion and temperature separation. Radiance at sensor was
2
thought not suitable for quantitative analysis. However, where the radiation constants c 1 = 3.742
10 (Wm Am4)
8

the potential applicability of Quartz Index (QI), Carbonate
Index (CI) and Mafic Index (MI) defined for ASTER-TIR
data in scene-independent lithologic detection is suggested
through theoretical and practical analyses of the behavior
of the indices, taking into consideration temperature
and atmospheric parameters (Ninomiya, 2002). One
advantage over methods utilizing Level-2B05 data is that
the lower-level data are free of functional uncertainties
introduced by the atmospheric-correction and temperature
separation algorithms. Another advantage is that the
lower-level data are more readily available. Additionally,
the straightforward applicability of the index approach to
orthorectified Level-3A data enables easy fusion with
GIS.
This paper focuses on the usefulness of these mineral
indices calculated from ASTER-TIR Level-1B and Level-
3A ‘‘radiance-at-sensor’’ data. Three test sites at different
elevations are selected to show the stability of the indices
against temperature and atmospheric conditions, and to
define the exact threshold values of the indices for lithologic
mapping.
and c 2 = 1.439
104 (Am K), T is the surface temperature
(K), k i is the center wavelength (Am) of ASTER band i,
(i.e., k 10 = 8.3, k 11 = 8.65, k 12 = 9.1, k 13 = 10.6, k 14 = 11.3).
2.2. Spectral properties of rocks
Fig. 1 shows directional emissivity spectral properties of
the selected typical rocks (Ninomiya & Fu, 1999) collected at
the Yushishan study area described in Section 3.1. The
spectra were measured with a portable thermal infrared
Fourier Transform Interferometer manufactured by Design
and Prototypes, Ltd., (Hook & Kahle, 1996) and convolved
into the responsivity functions of ASTER-TIR (Fujisada,
1995).
Major carbonate minerals show spectral emissivity
minima in ASTER band 14 (near 11.4 Am for calcite and
11.2 Am for dolomite) due to the C– O bending mode, as
shown in Fig. 1a. This feature in the emissivity spectra of
other carbonate minerals shifts to shorter wavelengths (e.g.,
to ¨11.0 Am for magnesite). Quartz and unaltered igneous
rocks composed of silicate minerals typically do not show
 Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139
Fig. 1. Emissivity spectra of (a) carbonate rock, (b) quartzose rock, (c)
granite, (d) diorite, (e) gabbro, (f) peridotite, with the convolved data to
ASTER bandpasses. Each tick in Y-axis registers 1.0 / 0.75 in emissivity
except for (b): 1.0 / 0.5.
any spectral features in VNIR to SWIR. In contrast, they
have prominent spectral features in TIR region due to
fundamental asymmetric Si – O – Si stretching vibrations.
Quartz, the most common mineral on the Earth, shows
absorption features (i.e., emissivity minima) in ASTER
bands 10 and 12, resulting in higher emissivity in band 11
than in bands 10 and 12, as shown in Fig. 1b. The series of
alkali feldspars (K-feldspars), which often coexist with
quartz in felsic igneous rocks, have a strong emissivity peak
in band 11, resulting in lower emissivity in band 11 than in
bands 10 and 12, contrary to the property of quartz
described above. For silica and silicate minerals and rocks,
the broad spectral emissivity low corresponding to Si – O
bond length shifts to longer wavelength as the chemical
SiO2 content (weight percent) decreases. After this property,
the ratio of the emissivity at band 12 to band 13 for silicate
rocks (typically igneous rocks) increases as the SiO2 content
decreases (i.e., as the rock type changes from felsic to
mafic), as shown in Fig. 1c, d, e and f. In addition, some
sulfate minerals including gypsum have a very strong
absorption at band 11 spectral region (i.e., near 8.7 Am)
due to stretching fundamentals, as a result, it exhibits lower
emissivity in band 11 than in bands 10 and 12, likely the
property of K-feldspars described above (Ninomiya & Fu,
2003). According to published spectral properties, some
oxides (Salisbury et al., 1992) and halite (Crowly & Hook,
1996) show similar spectral shape to ultramafic rocks (i.e.,
emissivities are high in ASTER bands 10 to 12; low in
ASTER bands 13 and 14).
2.3. Definition of indices (Ninomiya & Fu, 2002)
From the spectral emissivity property of a carbonate rock
composed of calcite and dolomite, the two major carbonate
minerals on the Earth, shown in Fig. 1a and described in
Section 2.1, the Carbonate Index (CI) for ASTER-TIR data
is defined as
D13
CI ¼ ; ð6Þ
D14
where D i is any kind of ASTER data related to ASTER
band i. In this paper, we use ‘‘radiance-at-sensor’’ data
without atmospheric corrections for D. CI is expected to be
high for calcite and dolomite. No peculiar response is
expected for other carbonate minerals.
From the spectral emissivity property of quartz shown in
Fig. 1b and described in Section 2.1, the Quartz Index (QI)
is defined as
D11
D11
QI ¼ : ð7Þ
D10
D12
QI is expected to be high for quartz and low for K-feldspar
and gypsum.
As described in Section 2.1, the broad spectral emissivity
low shifts to longer wavelengths as the chemical SiO2
content in silicate rock decreases, as shown in Fig. 1c to f.
This introduced the definition of the Mafic Index (MI) as
D12
MI ¼ : ð8Þ
D13
MI is correlated to the SiO2 content in silicate rocks,
typically igneous rocks, but it is also sensitive to carbonates.
To eliminate this unexpected property of MI, a series of
Mafic Index separated for carbonates, MIn , is redefined as
D12 D12 ID14n
MI n ¼ n ¼ : ð9Þ
D13 ICI D13nþ1
The original MI is the case for which n = 0. Comparing
images of different versions of MIn series shows good
separation of carbonates and silicates in MI3 (Ninomiya,
2002). Therefore, in the present paper, we use MI3 for MI.
MI is expected to correlate negatively with the SiO2 content
in silicate rocks. That is, it is expected to be high for
ultramafic rocks, and systematically lower as the rock type
changes to felsic and finally quartzose rock. MI is expected
to be high for halite and some iron oxides with the spectral
property described in Section 2.1. For theoretical blackbody
and natural graybody materials, typically vegetation,
MI å 0.89, which is similar to index values for intermediate
rocks with chemical SiO2 content ¨65% (Ninomiya, 2002).
 Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139
This MI value is expected to be a robust boundary between
mafic and felsic rocks, with minimum influence of other
factors on spectral contrast, for example, atmospheric
downwelling irradiance and topographic effects, because
blackbodies have low spectral contrast.
2.4. Stability analysis and improvement
The Carbonate Index (CI), Quartz Index (QI) and Mafic
Index (MI) were calculated from ASTER Level-1B data.
Scene-dependent qualitative analyses were made of the gray-
scale images of each index and the false-color composite
image of the three indices. Ninomiya and Fu (2002) pointed
out the potential usefulness of these indices for discriminat-
ing rock types. A theoretical analysis of the stability of the
indices with respect to surface temperature and atmospheric
parameters indicates that QI and MI are insensitive to
temperature, provided atmospheric conditions are good, but
that CI is heavily affected by temperature differences even in
good atmospheric conditions. We have confirmed these
properties of the indices by analysis of multi-temporal
images of known study areas (Ninomiya, 2002). Normal-
ization of the brightness temperature for band 13 to a fixed
temperature reduces the heavy dependency of CI to surface
temperature. The normalized radiance at sensor at band i is
defined as
( !)
k13 c1
exp Iln 135 þ1 1
i i
ki k
L13 sen
nLsen ¼ Lsen
  ;
c2
exp i 1
k
nT =ea13
ð10Þ
where L seni is radiance at sensor in band i, k i is the center
wavelength (Am) of band i, e a13 is the assumed emissivity in
band 13, nT is the fixed temperature (K) to be normalized,
and c 1 and c 2 are the radiation constants given in Eq. (5).
Here in this study, e a13 is adopted as 1.0, and nT is adopted as
300. Case studies with the indices applied to the normalized
radiance-at-sensor data suggested successful improvement
on the ability of CI in mapping carbonate rocks (Ninomiya,
2003; Ninomiya, 2004; Ninomiya & Fu, 2003). The
Fig. 2. The Carbonate Index (CI) calculated on simulated radiance-at-sensor
data vs. atmospheric water-vapor content (kg/m2) assigned in MODTRAN
at the elevation of 1000 m asl.
Fig. 3. The Quartz Index (QI) calculated on simulated radiance-at-sensor
data vs. atmospheric water-vapor content (kg/m2) assigned in MODTRAN
at the elevation of 1000 m asl.
normalization processing is not important for QI and MI;
however, here the normalized radiance at sensor is used for
all the indices for the uniformity of the data processing.
Hereafter, the indices applied for the normalized radiance
calculated with Eq. (10) are expressed as CI, QI and MI,
respectively.
For analyzing the sensitivity of the indices to the
atmospheric parameters, simulated ASTER-TIR radiance-
at-sensor data were generated for a 300-K blackbody and
typical rock samples shown in Fig. 1. Spectral atmospheric
transmissivity, path radiance and downwelling irradiance
were derived using an atmospheric radiative transfer
model, MODTRAN, a moderate-resolution version of
LOWTRAN 7 (Kneizys et al., 1988), applied to the
‘‘mid-latitude summer’’ model atmosphere. The measured
emissivity spectra in Fig. 1 and the calculated spectra of
atmospheric parameters are convolved into responsivity
function of each band in ASTER-TIR (Fujisada, 1995) to
generate e i , s i , L Aji and E A,i in Eq. (5). The spectral
contrast of emissivity for the surface rocks in remote
sensing is usually degraded by various factors, for
example, weathering, topography and mixing with gray-
body materials like vegetation. The degraded emissivity,
e d, can be estimated as
ed ¼ ðe  1ÞIa þ 1; ð11Þ
where the degradation ratio, a, is between 0 and 1. Here,
degradation is not considered in generating simulated
ASTER-TIR radiance-at-sensor data, so a = 1. (Downwel-
Fig. 4. The Mafic Index (MI) calculated on simulated radiance-at-sensor
data by atmospheric water-vapor content (kg/m2) assigned in MODTRAN
at the elevation of 1000 m asl.
 Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139
ling atmospheric irradiance also degrades the spectral
contrast of emissivity as shown in Eq. (5), but this term
is treated separately.)
As an example, the effect of water vapor content (kg/m2)
assigned in MODTRAN at the elevation of 1000 m above
sea level (asl) on CI calculated from the simulated radiance-
at-sensor data is shown in Fig. 2. By comparing the results
shown in Fig. 2 with the result derived by changing the
elevation of scene, it became clear that the main atmos-
pheric factor affecting the indices is water vapor content.
Fig. 2 indicates that CI is > 1.04 for the carbonates only if
the atmospheric water vapor content is less than 15 kg/m2.
The corresponding relationships for QI and MI are shown in
Figs. 3 and 4, respectively.
Figs. 2 – 4 suggest each index responds sensitively for the
targeted rock types. This indicates the possibility of
mapping the target rock types using fixed threshold values
independent of the specific scene, provided that the
atmospheric conditions are good enough.
Fig. 5 shows for ASTER Level-1B images a scatter
diagram of the histogram peak of CI vs. precipitable water
vapor content drawn from NCEP Reanalysis data provided
by the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center,
Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://
www.cdc.noaa.gov/. The closed dots in Fig. 5 are for
highly vegetated ASTER images, which are expected to
represent CI of graybody vegetation. The open dots are for
sparsely vegetated ASTER images, which may be affected
by the distribution of rocks in the image. Fig. 5 suggests
the applicable threshold for mapping carbonate with CI
would be 1.04 to 1.045 when the atmospheric water vapor
content is low enough (as a guideline, < 10 kg/m2), which
is consistent with the results shown in Fig. 2 and described
above.
Fig. 5. A scatter diagram of full-scene histogram peak of CI for ASTER
Level-1B images vs. precipitable water-vapor content from NCEP
Reanalysis data from the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center,
Boulder, Colorado, USA.
3. Results
3.1. Yushishan study area
Mt. Yushishan is located in Beishan Mountains, north-
western Gansu Province, China. The study area is the entire
ASTER Level-1B scene acquired on April 7, 2000. Its
center is located at 41-25VN and 95-05VE. The study area has
a typical continental arid climate with sparse vegetation.
The elevation of this area ranges from 1500 to 2500 m asl.
Precipitable water at the time of the ASTER data acquisition
is estimated as 5 kg/m2 with the archived NCEP Reanalysis
data.
Fig. 6a displays a geological map (BGMRGP, 1989)
overlaid on the VNIR false-color composite image of the
Yushishan study area. Outcrops are exposed well in this
study area, and consist of a variety suite of intrusive rocks
ranging in composition from felsic to ultramafic, and in age
from Precambrian to Permian. Rocks of the upper Precam-
brian Sinian system are dominated by dolomitic limestone
and quartzite. For all the other sequences, older or younger
than Sinian sequence, major components are silicate
sedimentary, metamorphic and volcanic rocks with minor
exposure of carbonate rocks. Quaternary sediments are
mainly composed of debris.
Fig. 6b shows a color-composite image made from the
three indices, with QI assigned to red, CI to green, and MI to
blue. The three components were each linearly stretched
such that 99% of the data ranged between 0 and 255 DN.
The usefulness for lithologic study of the color composite,
together with gray-scale images of the individual indices,
has been pointed out by Ninomiya and Fu (2002) in a
photointerpretive study. Our present paper confirms the
predicted lithologic properties through the discussion of
qualitative results such as those in Fig. 6b, together with the
quantitative index values.
Horizontal stripes in the cross-track direction are
significant in Fig. 6b and c. They arise from residual system
noise resulting from insufficient corrections for sensitivity
differences of each detector element in the ASTER-TIR
array, and also from inaccurate chopper temperature
calibration.
As shown in Fig. 6a and b, clouds have similar high CI
index values to carbonates, and are displayed as greenish in
Fig. 6b. Even haze and thin clouds undetectable in VNIR
images can cause this kind of confusion in CI, and analysis
of multiple images of the target area is necessary to assure
reliability.
Quaternary deposits shown in Fig. 6b were divided into
several parts according to provenance. The high-QI, reddish
part (Qa) is expected to be quartzite debris; the high-CI,
greenish part (Qb) is expected to be carbonate; and the low-
QI, low-CI but high-MI, bluish part (Qc) is expected to be
silicate rocks. The region ‘‘Qd’’ shows various colors, which
suggests complexity of rock types and source regions. The
region ‘‘Qe,’’ represented as cyan, has MI values as high as
 Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139

Fig. 6. (a) A compiled geological map overlaid on an ASTER VNIR false-color composite image of the Mt. Yushishan study area. Abbreviated names of map
units: Z, Precambrian rocks; C – O, Cambrian to Ordovician rocks; O – S, Ordovician to Silurian rocks; P, Permian rocks. (b) Color-composite image of the
indices: QI = red, CI = green and MI = blue. Index values linearly scaled to display 99% of the histogram between 0 and 255 DN. The alphabetic labels identify
the targets of discussion in the main text. (c) Detected pixels with the indices as: red, quartzite (QI > 1.05); dark red, siliceous rock (QI > 1.03); yellow, carbonate
rock (CI > 1.045); dark yellow, possible carbonate rock (CI > 1.035); purple, ultramafic rock (MI > 0.92). Display is of MI image with a fixed gray-scale range of
0.8 to 0.9.
 Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139
those for mafic rocks. However, further investigation is
needed to determine whether the suspected mafic debris
exists or not. One possible source of confusion and
ambiguity is the presence of minerals showing similar
values of MI, for example halite or some iron oxides.
With respect to the older sequences, a part of Sinian
system mapped as Precambrian and shown as ‘‘A’’ in Fig. 6a
has high QI values (reddish) and we expect it to be quartzite,
but most of the rest of the Sinian system (‘‘B’’ and the area
around Mt. Yushishan itself) has high CI values (greenish)
and we expect it to be limestone or dolomite. Except for the
Sinian system, other areas appear bluish, suggesting that the
local lithologies are dominated by silicates. In the Paleozoic
region, some parts (‘‘C’’), represented as magenta, are high
both in QI and MI, but low in CI. Others areas (‘‘D’’ –‘‘F’’)
are represented as bluish, typical for silicate rocks. Also, the
Paleozoic region includes a greenish part (‘‘G’’) that we
expect to be carbonate rocks.
The rock types detected on the basis of the individual
index values confirm the lithologies predicted from the
colors in Fig. 6b. That is, the regions expected from the false
colors to be quartzose or carbonate rocks are demonstrated
to have high enough QI (> 1.05) or CI (> 1.045) to qualify.
Each pixel thus classified is red or yellow, respectively, in
Fig. 6c. A secondary threshold on CI (> 1.035 for this
image), dark yellow in Fig. 6c, complements the detection
of carbonate rocks, and a threshold on QI (> 1.03 in this
case), dark red in Fig. 6c, is effective for detecting siliceous
rocks with relatively high quartz and low feldspar content.
The regions of Paleozoic silicate rocks are classified by MI
value as follows: the region ‘‘D’’ with average MI å 0.90 is
expected to be intermediate to mafic; the region ‘‘E’’ with
average MI å 0.87 is expected to be felsic; and the region
‘‘F’’ composed of sub-regions with average MI of 0.87 –
0.90, is expected to be mixed felsic and mafic.
Most of the region of intrusions is displayed as bluish,
suggesting silicate composition. The analyses on the colors
combined with the relative tone in MI gray-scale image
shown in Fig. 6c, clearly indicate the different rock types.
Both units ‘‘H’’ and ‘‘I’’ are mapped as felsic intrusions (Fig.
6a); however, ‘‘H’’ appears darker in the MI image (Fig. 6c),
indicating a higher chemical SiO2 content than unit ‘‘I.’’
Many veins in unit ‘‘H’’ with relatively high MI values (i.e.,
low SiO2 content) are recognized as linear features in the MI
gray scale image, which is consistent with the field
observation. For the analysis based on the value of MI, the
gray scale of MI (Fig. 6c) was set between 0.8 (black) and 0.9
(white), and the pixels with MI > 0.92 (colored purple) are
considered to be ultramafic rocks. MI values for both units
‘‘H’’ and ‘‘I’’ are < 0.9, indicating felsic to intermediate
composition. The average MI value for unit ‘‘H’’ is ¨0.85,
and the value for unit ‘‘I’’ is ¨0.875, which suggests that the
chemical SiO2 content in ‘‘I’’ is the lower. Unit ‘‘K,’’ mapped
as ultramafic intrusions, is well-detected with MI > 0.92, and
unit ‘‘J,’’ mapped as mafic intrusions, is also well-detected
with MI > 0.90. Unit ‘‘J’’ is displayed as white in Fig. 2c. MI
values indicate that part of the mapped felsic intrusions (‘‘L’’)
is, as appears, to have mafic to ultramafic composition,
although it is not indicated as such in the published geologic
map.
3.2. Mt. Fitton study area
The Mt. Fitton study area is in the eastern central part of
South Australia. It lies between 29-45V and 30-00V S, and
between 139-10Vand 139-30VE. The elevation there ranges
from 50 to 750 m asl. The climate is arid, and vegetation is
sparse. We analyzed an ASTER Level-3A image acquired
over the study area on April 24, 2000, using the three mineral
indices as for the Yushishan area discussed above. Fig. 7a
shows the geology compiled from a published geological
map (GSSA, 1965) overlaid on a VNIR false-color image of
the ASTER scene. Precipitable water at the time of the
ASTER data acquisition was ¨6 kg/m2 as estimated from the
archived NCEP Reanalysis data. The Precambrian Adelaide
System is developed well in the study area, with only minor
exposures of Jurassic and Cretaceous sequences. Fig. 7b, c
and d present the index images, CI (index values: 1.02–
1.045), QI (1.0 –1.06) and MI (0.8 – 0.9). Some rocks in the
study area have been hydrothermally altered. To locate
alteration minerals exhibiting Al –OH spectral absorption
bands, two additional indices, OHIa and OHIb, were
generated (Ninomiya, 2003). OHIa is defined for ASTER
SWIR data as D 4 * D 7 / D 6 / D 6, where D i is radiance-at-
sensor data for ASTER band i. OHIa is used to detect minerals
having an absorption feature at 2.2 Am, typically montmor-
illonite and micas. OHIb is defined for ASTER SWIR data as
D 4 * D 7 / D 5 / D 5. It is used to detect minerals having an
absorption feature at 2.17 Am, typically pyrophillite. Minerals
with absorption features both at 2.17 and 2.2 Am, typically
kaolinite and alunite, are detectable in both indices. The
results suggest that only altered minerals having absorption
feature at 2.2 Am occur in the Mt. Fitton study area. Together
with the geologic map, this suggests that the detected
alteration minerals are mostly micas. Pixels of alteration
minerals (OHIa > 4.0) are displayed as cyan in Fig. 7f.
Alteration occurs in a variety of Precambrian sequences
and intrusions.
The region ‘‘A’’ is expected from its high CI values to be
carbonate (Fig. 7b). ‘‘A’’ is displayed as cyan in Fig. 7e.
Usually, pure carbonate shows high CI and low QI and MI,
but in this case it shows relatively high MI (Fig. 7d). This
implies that carbonate and mafic minerals or rocks occur
together in the region, consistent with the published
geological map and field observations of talc and tremolite
there. Other thin or small units are expected from their CI
values to be carbonates. The regions labeled ‘‘B’’ are an
example; the southern region ‘‘B’’ is at Wildman Bluff (Fig.
7a). Marginally high CI values for pixels in lines repre-
sented by ‘‘C’’ indicate the existence of carbonate-rich
layers unresolved in the 90-m ASTER-TIR pixels. Carbo-
nate content in the layers may be low. High CI values in
 Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139

‘‘D’’ indicate the presence of some carbonate; however,
consideration of all the index values for ‘‘D’’ indicates
silicate composition.
Several small regions (‘‘E’’ in Fig. 7c) with QI values
> 1.05 display as reddish in Fig. 7e, indicating that they are
quartz-rich and feldspar-poor stone or sand. Some of the
regions seem to be in Cenozoic deposits; however, the
locations of the regions in general coincide with Mesozoic
formations. Regions labeled ‘‘F’’ have marginally high QI
values, but the composition cannot be specified without
consideration of the other index values discussed below.
The brightness of the MI image in regions ‘‘G’’ and ‘‘H’’ is

Fig. 7. (a) A compiled geological map overlaid on an ASTER VNIR false-color composite image of the Mt. Fitton study area. Abbreviations for map units: Pw,
upper Proterozoic Wilpena group in Adelaide system; Pu, lower Proterozoic Unberatana group in Adelaide system. (b) Gray-scale image of CI, linearly
stretched to display values from 1.02 to 1.045. Alphabetic labels identify the targets of discussion in the text. (c) Gray-scale image of QI, linearly stretched to
display values of 1.0 to 1.06. Alphabetic labels identify the targets of discussion in the text. (d) Gray-scale image of MI, linearly stretched to display values of
0.8 to 0.9. Alphabetic labels indicate the targets of discussion in the text. (e) Color-composite image of the indices: QI = red, CI = green, and MI = blue. Index
values have been linearly scaled to display 99% of the histogram for each color. (f) Pixels detected with the indices: red, quartzite (QI > 1.05); dark red, siliceous
rock (QI > 1.04); yellow, carbonate rock (CI > 1.045); dark yellow, possible carbonate rock (CI > 1.04); cyan, Al – OH bearing altered rock (OHIa > 4.0); pink,
quartz-rich Al – OH bearing altered rock (QI > 1.04 and OHIa > 4.0). Display is of MI image with a fixed gray-scale range of 0.8 to 0.9.
 Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139

Fig. 7 (continued).

similar, which suggests that the chemical SiO2 contents of
the surface rocks exposed there are also similar. From the
MI values (0.85 – 0.86), it appears that the rocks are felsic
silicates. On the other hand, the QI values differ: for ‘‘G,’’
QI å 1.005 to 1.015, whereas for ‘‘H’’ QI å 1.02 to 1.03.
This indicates that the rock types are different, even if the
chemical SiO2 content is the same. We interpret ‘‘G’’ to
contain felsic rocks rich in K-feldspar, such as granite,
whereas ‘‘H’’ may contain acidic rocks poor in K-feldspar.
This interpretation agrees well with the geologic map.
There are several small regions like ‘‘J’’ with very high
values of MI. Values of ¨0.89 to 0.90 indicate intermediate to
mafic silicate rock composition. The presence of tremolite in
some of the regions in ‘‘J’’ has been confirmed at the field and
is consistent with the remote-sensing assessment. Also,
several thin layers represented by ‘‘K’’ are expected to be
relatively mafic. The region ‘‘I’’ has relatively high MI
values, indicating relatively low SiO2 contents compared to
massive units such as ‘‘G’’ and ‘‘H.’’ It is not certain if the
high-frequency textural features in the CI and MI images at
region ‘‘I’’ are topographic artifacts, or if they reflect the
complicated distribution of carbonate and silicate minerals
there.
The joint analysis of the different mineral indices applied
to Fig. 7e revealed areas having MI values of 0.8– 0.9 that
subdivided the region ‘‘F,’’ with relatively high QI values,
Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139
 Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139

into two sub-regions. The eastern part in the lower
Proterozoic sequence (Pu1) seems to be siliceous, and the
western part consist of upper Proterozoic sequences (Pu3,
Pu4, Pw1 and Pw2) seems to be silicate rocks with lower
SiO2 content.
The latest formation of Proterozoic (Pw3) in the south-
western part of the study area, around Quartzose Peak (Fig.
3a), is indicated to be quartzose or siliceous rocks, with red
pixels (QI > 1.05) or dark red pixels (QI > 1.04). A part of the
region near ‘‘Dingo Hill’’ (Fig. 3a) appears to be mica-rich,
from high values of OHIa and QI. These pixels are pink in
Fig. 3e. Most of the other regions in Pw3 seem to be silicate
rocks with relatively high SiO2 content. Comparing the
images of the indices in and around the detected altered
regions shows that some areas appear from QI values to be
quartz-rich, but the remote-sensing indices alone are not
sufficient to determine whether the quartz is from source
rock or generated by hydrothermal silicification processes.
3.3. Xigaze study area
The study area is located on the Xigaze segment of
Yarlung Zangbo ophiolite belt, southern Tibet, China, from
29-00Vto 29-20VN and from 88-45Vto 89-30VE. The elevation
of this area ranges from 3700 to 5000 m asl. Xigaze has a
warm, semi-arid monsoon highland climate and vegetations
are sparsely distributed along the river valleys. Short grasses
sparsely cover the mountain regions. Two ASTER images of
the Xigaze area were analyzed. The image of the western part
of the study area was acquired on December 13, 2001; the
image of the eastern part was acquired on November 1, 2000.
Fig. 8a shows the compiled geological map (Wang et al.,
1984) overlaid on the mosaicked ASTER VNIR false-color
images. Precipitable water at the time of the ASTER data
acquisition is estimated from archived NCEP Reanalysis data
to have been nearly 0 kg/m2 for the western scene, and 3 kg/
m2 for the eastern scene. The Xigaze ophiolite represents a
peculiar oceanic lithosphere, comprising from north (top) to
south (bottom) marine sediments in stratigraphic contact over
pillow lavas or lava flows, to fresh harzburgites and
lherzolites (Nicolas et al., 1981). It is bounded by Upper
Cretaceous flysch (K2) in the north and by Upper Triassic
flysch (T3) or Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous abyssal
sediments and basic lava (J3 – K1) in the south. The J3 – K1
sequence along the boundary with ultramafic unit partly
consists of radiolarian cherts.
The labels on the mosaicked color-composite image of
the indices (Fig. 8b) together with the MI image scaled 0.85
(black) to 0.95 (white) (Fig. 8c) show locations of features
in the discussion below. QI values >1.05 characterize pixels
showing the outcrop in T3. These appear red and are labeled
‘‘A’’ in Fig. 8c. The high QI values indicate almost pure
quartz rock. The QI values around the outcrop itself are
lower, which from the index values nevertheless appears to
be silicate. The region K2 (‘‘B’’) shows many bright and
dark small flecks in the CI image, and small color patches in
the color-composite image (Fig. 8b). Further investigation is
necessary to understand the complicated lithologic informa-
tion represented here. Alternatively, the pattern may result
from some kind of topographic artifact. Comparing the MI
image to the VNIR image indicates that most of the outcrops
in the northern part in K2 have relatively high values of MI,
indicating high mafic contents. Probably the source of these
sedimentary rocks is the nearby mafic– ultramafic rocks.
Regions in the ophiolitic belt (‘‘C’’) shown as white in
Fig. 8c have MI values > 0.97 and correlate well to the
mapped ultramafic rocks (Fig. 8a). Some of the ultramafic
regions (‘‘D’’) in the geological map have lower values of
MI. In part of one of the westernmost regions ‘‘D’’ (Fig. 8a),
possible carbonate rocks appear yellow (CI > 1.045) in Fig.
8c. This occurrence is not explained in the published
geological map. Region ‘‘E,’’ which has MI values lower
than for ultramafic rocks but high enough (MI > 0.9) for us
to expect mafic rock compositions, agrees well with the
distribution of mafic rocks in the geological map. A part of
region ‘‘E’’ has relatively high CI values (> 1.04) indicated
as dark yellow in Fig. 8c. We interpret this to indicate
carbonate content. This possibly reflects the carbonate
concentrations in pores in the basalt rocks occurring in
‘‘E’’ that we observed in the field. There are several
ultramafic or mafic layers detected in the MI index image.
Some, labeled ‘‘F,’’ are not described in the published
geological map. The regions of radiolarian cherts in J3 –K1
have been identified as units with QI > 1.035, the pixels of
which appear dark red or red in Fig. 8c. These are labeled
‘‘G.’’ The extent of the units may be grasped intuitively with
the color-composite image of the indices (Fig. 8b).
4. Discussion
The case studies reported here are at different elevations
and present a set of examples that demonstrate the stability
of the mineral indices to temperature and atmospheric
changes. The stability of the indices, especially CI, to
temperature is accomplished by normalizing the radiance-at-
sensor data to a fixed temperature as described in Section
2.4. Analyses of the behavior of the indices with respect to

Fig. 8. (a) A compiled geological map overlaid on an ASTER VNIR false-color composite image of the Xigaze study area. Abbreviation of map units: T3,
Upper Triassic rocks; J3 – K1, Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous rocks; K1, Lower Cretaceous rocks; K2, Upper Cretaceous rocks; E, Lower Tertiary rocks.
(b) Color-composite image of the indices: QI = red, CI = green, and MI = blue, linearly scaled to cover 99% of the histogram for each color. The alphabetic labels
indicate the targets of discussion in the text. (c) Pixels detected with the indices: red, quartzite (QI > 1.05); dark red, siliceous rock (QI > 1.035); yellow,
carbonate rock (CI > 1.045); dark yellow, possible carbonate rock (CI > 1.04). Display is of MI image with a fixed gray-scale range of 0.85 to 0.95.
 Y. Ninomiya et al. / Remote Sensing of Environment 99 (2005) 127 – 139
atmospheric parameters indicated that the dominant atmos-
pheric factor affecting the indices is water-vapor content.
The relative insensitivity of the indices to temperature and
atmospheric water vapor suggests that fixed threshold
values for the indices can be applied widely to detect rock
types, provided that atmospheric water-vapor content is low
enough. In the case studies presented above, precipitable
water-vapor content was estimated to have been <10 kg/m2
according to NCEP Reanalysis data.
We conclude that:
Carbonate rocks composed of calcite and/or dolomite are
well-detected by the CI index and exceed a threshold value
of 1.045. A secondary threshold of CI å 1.035 (the value is
determined case by case) is useful in complementing the
detection of carbonate rocks. It should be cautioned that
index values for clouds or anomalous atmospheric regions
overlap with values for carbonate rocks. Even thin clouds
undetectable in VNIR images can introduce ambiguity into
the CI image, so that analysis of multiple images of the
same area is desirable.
Quartzite or quartzose rocks are detected using QI with a
threshold value of 1.05. A secondary threshold of
QI å 1.035 (case by case) is useful in detecting siliceous
rocks high in quartz but low in K-feldspar. It should be
noticed that rocks rich in both quartz and K-feldspar have
low QI values, which is usual for igneous rocks such as
granite, but rare for sedimentary rocks. QI usually functions
well as an indicator of quartz-rich sedimentary rocks.
Mafic rocks (here, silicate rocks with less than 60%
chemical SiO2 content) are well-detected using MI > 0.90.
Ultramafic rocks (here, silicate rocks with less than 50%
chemical SiO2 content) are well-detected using MI > 0.92.
MI å 0.89 is a stable boundary between mafic and felsic
rocks. There is little effect on spectral contrast by extraneous
factors because the blackbody spectrum yields similar
values in MI as for intermediate rocks (Ninomiya, 2002),
as indicated in Fig. 4. MI values for vegetation, a typical
graybody, are similar to values for intermediate rocks;
therefore, analysis is required to classify rock types with MI
in the presence of vegetation.
Complicated spatial patterns of index values appear as
small patches in the images for some regions in the case
study areas. Further investigation is needed to determine
whether these reflect complicated lithologic settings, or
image artifacts.
Artifactual cross-track striping in ASTER-TIR images is
emphasized in index images (CI, QI, MI). Striping
originates from the systematic noise of ASTER Level-1
data processing. That is, residual calibration errors in the
corrections for detector sensitivities, together with array and
chopper temperature calibration, lead to the striping.
Detecting rock types with the fixed thresholds from the
indices is confirmed to be feasible. However, sometimes the
striping makes it difficult to represent details in the spatial
distribution of rock units. Rowan and Mars (2003) also
discussed this problem affecting ASTER-TIR data. We
expect revisions to the ASTER Level-1 standard data-
processing software will reduce the amount of striping.
We find that it is better to use ASTER data resampled
with a nearest-neighbor (NN) algorithm, rather than bilinear
or cubic-convolution algorithms, for applications using
spectral data. However, NN resampling in ASTER often
cause curved linear and zonal artificial patterns in the index
images. We attribute this noise to some error in the ASTER
standard processing code. Because of this problem, it may
be better for now to use convolution re-sampling.
5. Conclusions
The Carbonate Index (CI), Quartz Index (QI) and Mafic
Index (MI) defined by emphasizing the diagnostic features
found in the TIR spectral emissivity data measured for
corresponding rock types are applied to the ASTER Level-
1B and Level-3A radiance-at-sensor data scenes observing
selected study areas in China and Australia. The conceptual
lithologic mapping approach proposed here is applicable to
radiance-at-sensor data without atmospheric corrections and
has advantages over ones that require as input the
atmospherically corrected spectral emissivity data produced
by the ASTER Temperature-Emissivity Separation (TES)
algorithm. Our results indicate the robustness of the index
approach in detecting rock types in spite of climate and
elevation differences for each case study. This suggests the
potential of this approach for global lithologic mapping in
arid and semi-arid regions on a standardized basis,
especially in areas where field exploration is difficult for
political and geographical reasons.
Acknowledgements
This study was partly funded by the ITIT project of
AIST, Japan and Key Laboratory of Gas Geochemistry,
Lanzhou Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, and benefited from discussion with the ASTER
science team members. The spectral emissivity data were
measured with the Micro Fourier Transform Interferometer
(AFTIR) owned by Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis
Center (ERSDAC). We thank Drs. Yutaka Takahashi,
Keyang Ma and Maobing Wu for their help during field
investigations. B. Fu would like to acknowledge the
support from Postdoctoral Fellowship (P 03150) of Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) during the
paper work.
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