Contributions of Space Imagery to Exploration Efficiency

John R. Everett

Despite its demonstrated value, satellite imagery is a drastically under-used exploration tool. Explorationists cling to traditional methods. Satellite data do not replace conventional exploration tools, but they complement and impart an efficiency to the application of some of the more expensive of those tools.

Satellite imagery has profoundly improved our understanding of the tectonics, and consequently exploration possibilities, of many areas (e.g., western China and the western Overthrust belt). It has also lead to an understanding of such phenomenon as the effect of hydrocarbons on clays and consequent spectral response (e.g., the Paradox basin), giving us powerful new exploration techniques. Satellite data have both expanded the purview of our inquiries and focused our attention on subtle variations in texture and spectral response.

Early recognition of regional structural and lithologic patterns and the interrelationship of individual features within an exploration province significantly increase the efficiency (and reduce the cost) of subsequent geophysical and geologic work. Rapidly scanning large areas, where surface conditions are appropriate, for geochemical or geobotanical evidence of hydrocarbons, quickly directs exploration attention to the most promising areas. In the present competitive economic climate, we can ill afford to ignore either effective new exploration techniques or ways of increasing exploration efficiency.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91030©1988 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, 20-23 March 1988.