Tectonic lineament mapping of the Thaumasia Plateau, Mars: Comparing results from photointerpretation and a semi-automatic approach

Photointerpretation is the technique generally used to map and analyze the tectonic features existent on Mars surface. In this study we compare qualitatively and quantitatively two tectonic maps based on the interpretation of satellite imagery and a map derived semi-automatically. The comparison of the two photointerpreted datasets allowed us to infer some of the factors that can influence the process of lineament mapping on Mars. Comparing the manually mapped datasets with the semi-automatically mapped features allowed us to evaluate the accuracy of the semi-automatic mapping procedure, as well as to identify the main limitations of the semi-automatic approach to mapping tectonic structures from MOLA altimetry. Significant differences were found between the two photointerpretations. The qualitative and quantitative comparisons showed how mapping criteria, illumination conditions and scale of analysis can locally influence the interpretations. The semi-automatic mapping procedure proved to be mainly dependent on data quality; nevertheless the methodology, when applied to MOLA data, is able to produce meaningful results at a regional scale.