ASTER and GF-5 Satellite Data for Mapping Hydrothermal Alteration Minerals in the Longtoushan Pb-Zn Deposit, SW China

Hydrothermal alteration minerals are an effective prospecting indicator. Advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer (ASTER) satellite data are some of the most commonly adopted multispectral data for the mapping of hydrothermal alteration minerals. Compared to multispectral data, hyperspectral data have stronger ground object recognition ability. Chinese Gaofen-5 (GF-5) is the first hyperspectral satellite independently developed by China that has the advantages of both wide-width and high-spectral-resolution technology. However, the mapping ability of GF5 data for hydrothermal alteration minerals requires further study. In this study, ASTER and GF-5 satellite data were implemented to map hydrothermal alteration minerals in the Longtoushan Pb-Zn deposit, SW China. Selective principal component analysis (SPCA) technology was employed to map iron oxide/hydroxides, argillic, quartz, and carbonate minerals at the pixel level using ASTER data, and the mixture tuned matched filtering (MTMF) method was implemented for the extracted hematite, kaolinite, calcite, and dolomite at the sub-pixel level using GF-5 data. When mapping the hydrothermal alteration minerals, the distribution features of the hydrothermal alteration minerals from the Longtoushan Pb-Zn deposit were systematically revealed. A comprehensive field investigation and petrographic study were conducted to verify the extraction accuracy of the hydrothermal alteration minerals. The results showed that the overall accuracies for the ASTER and GF-5 data were 82.6 and 92.9 and that the kappa coefficients were 0.78 and 0.90, respectively. This indicates that the GF-5 data are able to map hydrothermal alteration minerals well and that they can be promoted as a hyperspectral data source for mapping systematic hydrothermal alteration minerals in the future.

Automated summary

This study successfully mapped hydrothermal alteration minerals using ASTER and GF-5 satellite data, revealing the distribution characteristics of hydrothermal alteration minerals in the Longtoushan Pb-Zn deposit and validating the mapping ability of GF-5 data. This is of great significance for future systematic mapping of hydrothermal alteration minerals.