ABSTRACT: Geological Tour of Central Wyoming Basins

ADAMS, STEVEN L., OLIVER A. CHADWICK, JAMES E. CONEL, HAROLD R. LANG, and EARNEST D. PAYLOR, II, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA

Nine Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) quarter scenes, co-registered with three arc second digital topographic data, were used to create a simulated flight over the Bighorn, Wind River, and Powder River basins, Wyoming. The flight path was chosen to elucidate various stratigraphic, structural, and geomorphic features.

The satellite imagery was resampled into Universal Transverse Mercator projection, geometrically and radiometrically corrected to produce a mosaic covering approximately 120 X 200 mi. The video was generated by computer interpolation between approximately 58 manually-selected key frames to produce a 120 s animation consisting of 60 interleaved field-rendered frames per second (i.e., 7200 total frames). The simulated velocity during the flight segment of the video is approximately 23,500 mph, covering approximately 635 mi on the ground.

Various spectral band combinations, including simulated natural color, principal components, and false-color-infrared composites, are used during the flight to enhance features of interest. The opening scene is a space view of the entire input data set. During the simulated flight, geologic and geomorphic features are examined in the following order along the flight path: Thermopolis anticline, Hamilton dome, Circle Ridge, Maverick Springs dome, Little dome, western and central Owl Creek Mountains, terrace remnants along the Wind River, Crowheart Butte, Dinwoody Lakes, Glacial outwash along the northeastern Wind River Mountains, Eocene deposits along Badwater Creek, southern Bighorn Mountains, Buffalo Creek drainage, Casper Arch, Casper Mountain, Rattlesnake Hills, Granite Mountains, nd Beaver Rim. The flight ends with a traverse through the Wind River Canyon.

Performed under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91017©1992 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, Casper, Wyoming, September 13-16, 1992 (2009)