Application of remotely sensed data in detecting zinc-lead bearing mineralized zones in Westkunlun Huoshaoyun area

The combination of Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data is an efficient tool for mapping and interpreting lead-zinc mineralization in some area with high altitude or intensely rugged topography, where conventional geological mapping and systematic geochemical sampling become limitation and time consuming. This task is completed by using band ratios (BRs), principal component analysis (PCA), and spectral matched filtering (SMF) method. And it conclude that, (6/5, 7/6, 4/7) RGB color composite and (5/4, 6/5, 7/6) RGB color composite of Landsat 8 OLI, [(6+8)/4, 8/4, 5/3] RGB color composite and [3/2, (6+8)/4, 3/6] RGB composite of ASTER image, PC 3,4,5 of Landsat8 and ASTER images, contain useful information for lithological mapping. Lead-zinc mineralization zones could be exactly discriminated by spectral matched filtering (SMF) technique and ascertained by field work and XRD analysis. Consequently, the methodology proposed demonstrates a high potential of Landsat 8 OLI and ASTER data in lithological units discrimination and lead-zinc mineralization zones extraction in west Kunlun Mountains.