Spatial Analysis of Lineaments and Their Tectonic Significance Using Landsat Imagery in Alarasah Area-Southeastern Central Yemen

Abstract

Remote Sensing data are being used in solving various earth related problems by digital image processing in a computer. Detection of the geological linear features contributes significantly towards the understanding of structural scenario of the area. The purpose of this study was to identify lineaments on Alarasah area, Shabwah Province, Southeastern central Yemen, with the aid of Satellite images. Therefore, automated and manual methods were applied to extract lineaments from Satellite images. In general, automated extraction does not work properly to identify the faults or fault zones present in the area, the problem faced is related to the length and the pattern of the faults. For this reason, it has been decided to use the manually extracted lineaments for further analysis. The manual method is believed to extract the lineaments showing similarity with geological lineaments/faults present in the area. The resultant lineament map is tested with the fault map of the area compiled from the literature and geological map. Good relationship was observed between lineaments extracted from Satellite images and the geological structure in the study area. The final lineament map generated for the study area will help to identify potential zonation of hydrocarbon resources.