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Use of Space Shuttle to Detect Salt Domes in the Rio Grande Embayment of
South Texas
MOORE, JARVIS E., III, KEN M. MORGAN, R. NOWELL DONOVAN, and ARTHUR B. BUSBEY
Although not always easily visible at the surface, salt domes in southeast Texas can produce surficial expressions such as anomalous drainage patterns, surface lineations, and geobotanical alteration. This study examines the use of Space Shuttle color and color infrared photography to map salt domes and compares the results to Landsat and SPOT multisensor data. Shuttle photography may prove an effective "low cost" alternative for salt dome detection.
The Rio Grande Embayment of South Texas was chosen for this study because the region is well known for its history of hydrocarbon production from salt domes, salt domes have previously been detected in the area using Landsat data, and inexpensive Shuttle photography is readily available over the study area. Space Shuttle data, acquired from NASA's Earth Observation Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas, were digitized, resampled, rectified, and registered to a corresponding Landsat scene. The scene was then processed for image enhancement and geologic analysis. Results show that Shuttle color and CIR photography can be used to detect salt domes in this area of Texas. Although quality and band limitations exist with Shuttle data, the photographs provided low cost detection of the targeted oil and gas structures.