Geology and Remote Sensing Investigations in Antarctic Environments

Antarctica remains a remote and logistically difficult region in which to conduct geological fieldwork, making the data collected there of significant value. Actually, many parts of the continent still remain poorly known in regional geological scale and structural architecture. Remote sensing imagery is capable to provide a solution to overcome the difficulties associated with field mapping in the Antarctic. Advanced optical and radar satellite imagery is the most applicable tool for mapping and identification of inaccessible and un-exposed regions in Antarctic. Consequently, an improved scientific research using remote sensing technology would be essential to provide new and more complete lithological and structural data to fill the numerous knowledge gaps on Antarctica's geology. In this study, the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) is selected to conduct a regional remote sensing investigations. The Antarctic Peninsula (AP) is the northernmost part of the continent of Antarctica. Despite more than 50 years of geological mapping of the Antarctic Peninsula there are still significant gaps in the coverage in difficult to access areas and many regions where mapping is based upon sparse or inferred field observations. Recent generation of multi-platform satellite sensors could be investigated to extract geological information for Antarctic environments. Landsat-7 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat-8 and the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data were used in this study for regional geological mapping. The improvised image processing algorithms and Systematic GIS techniques were implemented to detect structural elements and geological features for producing regional image maps of the Antarctic Peninsula especially for Oscar II coast area, north-eastern Graham Land. The outcomes of the investigation demonstrated the applicability of satellite remote sensing data to produce new revisions of geological maps with high accuracy for the regions with exposed rocks in the Antarctica.