Abstract: Integration of Structural and Geobotanical Remote Sensing for Hydrocarbon Microseep Identification--Preliminary Results

Timothy Warner

In geobotanical remote sensing studies for hydrocarbon exploration, it is assumed that oil and gas in the substrate has an identifiable response in the overlying vegetation. Structural remote sensing interpretation methods generally are based on an assumption that lineaments observed in imagery are surface expressions faults and joints. However, both structural and geobotanical remote sensing methods are ambiguous, and it is difficult to exclude random associations. In this study the two methods are combined, to test whether an integrated approach can give a more reliable interpretation. Two test sites in West Virginia have been identified: one over the historic Volcano oil field in Wood, Pleasants and Ritchie counties, the other is over a gas storage field in Lewis Count , operated by Equitrans Corporation of Pittsburgh. A data-base has been developed of Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite imagery, which includes imagery acquired in early spring, summer, early fall and mid-fall. These images have been co-registered to a common map format. The early spring image was spatially enhanced and used for visual and computer-based lineament identification. The mid-fall imagery gives the best discrimination of the vegetation associations, but the early fall imagery has anomalously high reflectances in the near infrared (especially band 4, 0.76 - 0.90 µm, and to a lesser extent band 5, 1.55 - 1.75 µm) over both test sites, possibly a broad geobotanical anomaly. Future work will include a soil-gas survey to determine if vegetation associations can be correla ed with microseeps.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90950©1996 AAPG GCAGS 46th Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas