Tom Skulski

Integration of lithological, geophysical, and remote sensing information: a basis for remote predictive geological mapping of the Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland

The Baie Verte Peninsula is a geologically complex area on the northwest coast of Newfoundland. The region is composed of multiple geological domains and has undergone extensive tectonic activity, uplift, and deformation, producing multiple unconformity surfaces. In addition, multiple phases of intrusion, some with volcanic cover sequences, add to the complexity of the geological model. This study concentrates on establishing a basic framework of the spatial relationships between individual lithological units and their contained mineral deposits from remotely sensed data. Of primary interest is providing basic lithological discrimination, which could form the basis of future field mapping. Multiple thematic maps were produced from compilations of satellite imagery, aerial photography, high-resolution digital elevation maps (DEMs), airborne radiometrics, and aeromagnetics. Common edge boundaries within the geophysical and spectral data were used to discriminate regions having similar physical and mineralogical signatures. The resulting patterns provide a proxy, or remote predictive method, for recognition of the distinct geological features within the study area. Furthermore, the techniques and methods introduced in this paper can be applied to other areas for producing presurvey geological templates.