Applicability of the multispectral remote sensing on determining the natural rock complexes distribution and their evaluability on the radiation protection applications

The mafic and ultramafic rocks of Mettupalayam belong to Southern Granulite Terrain (SGT), and it is prominent with economically valuable resources. The radiation shielding properties of the rock types, along with the remote sensing aspects, are considered in the study. The image processing techniques like Principal Component Analysis, Band ratio, Minimum Noise Fraction are performed using Landsat data to discriminate the litho units. The spectral characters derived from Landsat data identified with the significant absorptions of Fe2+, Fe3+ and OPx. The Monte Carlo simulation was applied to evaluate the radiation protection ability of the studied rock samples. The examination showed a high shielding capacity for Gabbro rocks compared to the other studied rocks. The linear attenuation coefficient of the mentioned Gabbro rocks varied among 47.838 and 0.075 cm(-1) when the gamma-ray energy increases in the energy interval 0.015 and 15 MeV. Moreover, the Radiation defensive capacity of the Gabbro samples decreased from 100 to 20.095% while the halve value layer increases from 0.014 to 9.269 cm with raising the gamma photon energy among 0.015 and 15 MeV, correspondingly.

Automated summary

This study focuses on the mafic and ultramafic rocks of Mettupalayam in the Southern Granulite Terrain. Image processing techniques and spectral character analysis were used to evaluate the radiation shielding properties of the rocks. The results showed that Gabbro rocks have a high shielding capacity.