Application of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) multispectral imagery to mineral and lithologic mapping in southern West Greenland

Remote sensing data acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) were used for mineral and lithologic mapping at the Sarfartoq carbonatite complex area in southern West Greenland. The geology of the study area consists of carbonatites, fenites, hydrothermal alteration zones, gneisses, alluvial deposits etc. The Adaptive Coherence Estimator algorithm was used to analyze the remote sensing data. The reference spectra were selected from the imagery. The mapping results show the distribution of carbonatite, hydrothermally altered zones, fenite, and sericite. In addition, lichen and tundra green vegetation were also mapped.  Due to the moderate spatial resolution of ASTER SWIR bands, it was not possible to detect and map the rock units in some parts of the study area. The study shows the possibilities and limitations of the use of the ASTER multispectral imagery for geological studies in the Arctic regions of West Greenland. The paper is the first reported study on the use of ASTER data for mineral and lithologic mapping in the Arctic regions of West Greenland.