Evaluation of SPOT Imagery Data

Z. Berger, R. L. Brovey, B. F. Merembeck, H. R. Hopkins

SPOT, the French satellite imaging system that became operational in April 1986, provides two major advances in satellite imagery technology: (1) a significant increase in spatial resolution of the data to 20 m multispectral and 10 m panchromatic, and (2) stereoscopic capabilities. The structural and stratigraphic mapping capabilities of SPOT data and compare favorably with those of other available space and airborne remote sensing data.

In the Rhine graben and Jura Mountains, strike and dip of folded strata can be determined using SPOT stereoscopic imagery, greatly improving the ability to analyze structures in complex areas. The increased spatial resolution also allows many features to be mapped that are not visible on thematic mapper (TM) imagery. In the San Rafael swell, Utah, TM spectral data were combined with SPOT spatial data to map lithostratigraphic units of the exposed Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks. SPOT imagery provides information on attitude, geometry, and geomorphic expressions of key market beds that is not available on TM imagery. Over the Central Basin platform, west Texas, SPOT imagery, compared to TM imagery, provided more precise information on the configuration of outcropping beds and drainage pa terns that reflect the subtle surface expression of buried structures.

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