Mineralexplorationusingdecisiontree classificationforASTERimagery

JosManuelLattus GeologyDepartment,UniversidaddeChile

ABSTRACT
Several processing techniques, or methods, for ASTER imagery are based on spectral similarity between laboratory spectra and imagery spectra (pixel data). On the other hand there are processingtechniquesbasedonbasicormoreadvancedbandmathoperations,wherebrightpixels matchcertainspectralfeatures.Thisprocessisalsoassociatedwithacertainlevelofthresholding defined by the user. The decision tree classification is a useful tool to select pixel spectra that matches exactly the feature you want to highlight, based on the features that the user considers importanttodefineamineraloramineralassociation.

INTRODUCTION
Spectralcurvesofanytypeofmaterialarethebasisforremotesensingimageprocessing.Whena hyperspectral image can be obtained, comparisons between laboratory curve and curve pixel deliver excellent results with an identification of the precise surface elements; however, when multispectral images (landsat/aster) are obtained, the spectral curve only shows part of the information,andthenanalysisismorecomplexandlimited.Forthisreason,manymethodologies have been used to process a specific spectral curve at specific wavelengths and to generate mathematicalalgorithms,principalcomponentanalysisandbandratios,amongothersThetrouble when processing an image without knowing what materials are in the field is that these methodologiesdelivergreyscaleimageresultsforeachindexwherebrighterpixels(or,according tothemethodology,darkness)representthematerialmappedinthescene;however,evenifsuch material is not present in the area of study, it causes the results to become relative since it will always have a brighter pixel, and this can generate false anomalies in the interpretation. The decisiontreeclassificationtriestoremovethisrelativeoutcomeandlocateonlythosepixelsthat meetcertainrequirementssetbytheusertohaveabettercertaintyintheresults.

ASTER
ASTER(Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) is an advanced collector of multispectral images launched aboard NASAs Terra spacecraft in December 1999. Astercoversawidespectralregionwith14bandsfromvisibletothermalinfraredhighresolution spatial, spectral and radiometric bands. In addition, another infrared band provides stereoscopic coverage. The spatial resolution varies according to wavelengths: 15 m in the visible and near infrared(vnir),30mininfrared(swir),shortwaveand90minthethermalinfrared(tir).Eachaster scenecovers6060km[1]. Thefollowingtableshowsthe mainfeaturesfromasterimages. Table1Aster3sensorsystemfeatures
Subsystem Bandn 1 VNIR 2 3n 3b 4 5 SWIR 6 7 8 9 10 11 TIR 12 13 14 Spectralrange(m) 0.520.60 0.630.69 0.780.86 0.780.86 1.601.70 2.1452.185 2.1852.225 2.2352.285 2.2952.365 2.3602.430 8.1258.475 8.4758.825 8.9259.275 10.2510.95 10.9511.65 90 12bits 30 8bits 15 8bits Spatialresolution(m) Bits

Imagespectrometry
The study of the spectral curves is the basis for multispectral and hyperspectral imaging. Each imageiscomposedofanumberofbandsandeachbandinturniscomposedofanumberofpixels, witheachpixelineachbandvaluegeneratingthespectralcurveofthepixel. The curves of the pixels are compared to laboratory curves, and this way the image pixels that correspond to each material are determined. When hyperspectral images are obtained, materials canbepreciselymappedbecausethecomplexityofcurvesthatdelivertheseimagesdonotdiffer greatlyfromcurvesmeasuredinthelaboratory.However,whenmultispectralimagesareobtained, itgeneratesabigdifferencebetweenthelaboratorycurveandcurvethatcanbeobservedfromthe sensor.Therefore,processingmethodologiesshouldbefocusedonspecificfeaturesofthecurveat specificwavelengthranges.

Figure1Spectralcurvesfromthelaboratoryandtheiradjustmenttothevnir+swirasterbands

Figure1showskaolinite,grassandasphaltlabcurvesthatwereresampledtoASTERwavelength curves. A hyperspectral image curve is very similar, but in the aster image (multispectral) the curvelosesmuchinformationsoanalysisismorerestricted.However,therearecharacteristicsthat aremaintainedinacertainrangeoftheelectromagneticspectrum,whichhelpsidentifytheelement eventhoughlimitedinformationisavailable. Vegetation, for example, has a big jump in the magnitude of reflectance between the red (band2:0.66microns)andnearinfraredband(band3:0.82microns).Ifthecompletecurveofthe grass and other vegetal issues (a type of shrub or tree) is available, they can be identified and classifiedasdifferentinthepicture,butwiththelimitedcurveinASTERimages,thatdistinction cannot be made and saying that the pixel corresponds to vegetation will have to be enough. The same applies to all elements required to be mapped into an image; it needs to be known which feature is visible in the image and how the information about the bands is managed to highlight theirabundance.

In geologicalexploration, the characteristic curves of the prospective mineralsof interest must be known,aswellastherangewithintheelectromagneticspectrumthatcanbestudiedorwhichhave uniquecharacteristics.Oncethisanalysishasbeencompleted,itcanbedecidedifmineralsstudied withinthesamewavelengthsorhavesomecharacteristicsthatdifferentiateeachothertodetermine ifaspecificmineralindexoranindexofmineralassociationswillbeobtained. Table2Spectrometryrangeofstudyforcertainminerals
Mineralassociation Ironoxides Minerals Hematite Goethite Jarosite Illite Muscovite Kaolinite Alunite Pyrophyllite Chlorite Epidote Calcite Cuartz Garnet Albite Studyrange VISIBLE

Argillic

SWIR

Proplillitic

SWIR

Silicates

TIR

Decisiontreeclassification
ENVI (Environment for Visualising Images) is a powerful software from ITT Visual Information Solutions (USA), who has specialised for decades in image processing of all types RGB, multispectral, hyperspectral, radar, etc. as one of the main strengths of spectral analysis and classificationtechniques.Thetreedecisionclassificationisavailableinthesoftwaresince2004and, althoughithaspowerfulqualitiesandisdesignedforcertaintypesofanalysis,thesetoolscanbe leveraged in a different way to classify pixels that meet certain conditions, and thus the spectral curve,andthendidnotclassify,therebyavoidingmethodologieswherelikelihoodparametersare managed and not always real certainty. While it is true that the application that will give the mathematicalalgorithmstogeneratetargetsofinterestshouldnotbeexcluded,theintentionisto showatoolthatallows,incertaincases,foramorepreciseanalysisoftheelementsmapped. Thedecisiontreeclassifierperformsmultistageclassificationsbyusingaseriesofbinarydecisions toplacepixelsintoclasses.Eachdecisiondividesthepixelsinasetofimagesintotwoclassesbased onanexpression.Youcandivideeachnewclassintotwomoreclassesbasedonanotherexpression. Youcandefineasmanydecisionnodesasneeded.Theresultsofthedecisionsareclasses.Youcan usedatafrommanydifferentsourcesandfilestogethertomakeasingledecisiontreeclassifier.You caneditandprunethedecisiontreesinteractively,andyoucansavethetreesandapplythemto otherdatasets[2]. Areviewwillbeconductedofthemineralsthatareidentified,aswellashowitscurveisviewed fromtheastersensorandhowthedecisiontreecanbebuilttoclassifytheseelements.Thefocusof thisstudyistodeterminethepresenceofalunite,kaolinite,muscoviteandcalcite.

Figure2Spectracurves(resampledtoASTER)fromalunite,calcite,kaoliniteandmuscovite

Figure 2 shows the spectral curves of studied minerals with the adjustment to the spectral information that the aster image reads in the SWIR channel. To make the classification decision trees,thefocuswillbeonabsorptionsthathavethosedifferentminerals;theseabsorptionscanbe absoluteorrelative(Figure3).

Figure3Trueandrelativeabsorptions

Theprincipalfeatur resobservedi inmineralspectralcurvesareshownin nTable3: Table3 3Trueandre elativeabsorp ptionsindiffe erentminerals

Mine eral Alun nite Calci ite Kaolinite covite Musc Absorption True Relative True True Relative True Wavelenght/b W band 2.167m/ban 2 nd5 2.209m/ban 2 nd6 2.336m/ban 2 nd8 2.209m/ban 2 nd6 2.167m/ban 2 nd5 2.209m/ban 2 nd6

To ide entify within the image p pixels whose curves meet this feature, first make an atmosphe , eric correct tionmustbem madetotheim magedatainordertohave ereflectancev values. IfFigure3isconsid deredasarefe erence,thenth herearethree epoints(a,bandc)thatre eflectbothtyp pes ofabso orptions;the conditionsth hatcanbeusedinthedec cisiontreewo ouldbeaval lleyforthetr rue absorp ption,andatu urningpointi intherelative eabsorptionc couldmathem maticallywritt tenasfollows s: Trueabsorpti T ion:a>b<c Relativeabso R orption:(a>b b>c)and(m mab<mbc),w wheremabis stheslopebe etweenaandb, andmbcthes a slopebetween nbandc. Forarelativeabsorp ption,achang geofslopeisneededbetw weenabandbc c,whichpass sesfromalow wer toahig gherslope. This w way decision tree is buil with the logical condi n lt itions mentio oned above. The followi ing abbrev viationsareas ssignedtorep presentthetre ee: Absbx:Trueabsorptionin A nbandx Rbdx:Relativ R veabsorption ninbandx.

Figu ure4Decisiontreeforclassif fyingminerals

The pixels assigned to each class (alunite, calcite, muscovite, kaolinite) must then match with the stipulatedabsorptionsinthedecisiontree.

ASTERimageprocessing
Toevaluatethismethodology,aprocessingofaknowngeologicalareaofinterestcalledCupritein Nevada,USAwillbeconducted. Cuprite district is located in the southwest corner of the Great Basin about 15 km south of Goldfield, Nevada. Occurrences of copper, silver, gold and lead have been reported in the Cambrianlimestoneandsulfuroccurrencesoftuffaceoussedimentaryrocksandashflowtuffsof theTertiarywelded[3]. Thisdistricthasbeenthemostprocessedareafortestingmultispectralandhyperspectralsensors. It highlights different types of hydrothermal alteration with extensive occurrences of alunite, kaolinite,muscovite,calcite,dickite,buddingtoniteandopal,amongothers(Figure5).

Figure5MineralmappingofcupritewithhyperspectralAVIRISimage(alunitekaolinitedickite buddingtoniteilite/smectiteopalcalcitemuscovitemuscovite+chloriteunalteredtuffsplayadeposits)

ForASTERimageprocessingatCuprite,thetreefromFigure4wasinitiallyused,whichobtained some good results for the alunite and kaolinite minerals, although a classification overestimated calciteandmuscovite(Figure6).

Figure6Cla assificationmap pgeneratedfro ominitialdecis siontree

Byusin ngotherfeatu uresofthecu urvesofcalci iteandmuscovite,thecla assificationca anbeimprove ed. Figure7showsthef finalclassifica ationtreegen neratedtopro ocesstheaster rCupriteima age.

Figure7F Finaldecisiont treeforasterpr rocessingatCu uprite

ThefinalresultsoftheclassificationareshowninFigure8.

Figure8FinalmapbydecisiontreeclassificationinASTERimageatCuprite

Figure9showsthemappingperformedwiththefinaldecisiontreeandmappingcarriedoutwith the AVIRIS hyperspectral image. The colours of the minerals in the aster image mapping are modifiedtoallowbettercomparisonbetweentheresultsofbothprocesses.

Figure9ASTERimagemapping(left)vsAVIRISimagemapping(right)(alunitakaolinitacalcitamuscovita)

CONCLUSIONS
Thedecisiontreeclassificationisausefultoolforclassifyingitemsinmultispectralimaging;itcan detectsmallvariationsinthespectralcurvesofthepixels,whichmakesthedifferencebetweenone mineral and another. The results for Cuprite are similar with very good accuracy in mapping hyperspectral AVIRIS images, despite having only six bands in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) whileAVIRIShas50bandsinthatrange. Thismethodologyisapplicabletoanyareaofgeosciences.Thedecisiontreeconstructiongoeshand in hand with the spectral knowledge that is available on the items needing to be mapped, and it providesthecurvetobedistinguishablefromotherelements. The classification can not only use different bands, it also can include elevation models, which nourish suchconditionsasaltitude,slopeandaspect(angletowherethepixellooksfromthenorth).Othersensors canalsobeincorporated,alongwiththeimageclassificationpreviouslymade.Itisrecommendabletohave agoodgeoreferencethatissimilarbetweenallelements(pixels)thatenterthetree.

REFERENCES
Abrams,M.,Hook,S.&Ramachandran,B.(2002)Asteruserhandbookversion2.[1] Envidocumentation,ittvisualinformationsolutions,enviversion4.7,2010edition.[2] Rowan, L., Hook, S.Y. & Mars, J. (2003) Mapping hydrothermally altered rocks at Cuprite, Nevada, using the advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer (aster), a new satelliteimaging system. Economicgeology,vol.98.[3] Rowan,L.&Mars,J.(2003)Geologicmappingandasterdataanalysis.Usgspresentation.[3]

10