Hyperspectral remote sensing monitoring of pyrite mine wastes: a record of climate variability (Pyrite Belt, Spain)

Monitoring of mine waste on sulphide deposits through hyperspectral remote sensing data contributes to predicting surface water quality, quantitatively estimating acid drainage and metal contamination on a yearly basis. The mineralogy of surface crusts loaded with highly soluble salts is a record of available humidity and temperature along the year. A temporal monitoring of salt efflorescence on mine wastes at a mine site in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (Spain) has been mapped in this work using hyperspectral airborne Hymap data. Climate change estimations are made based on oxidation stages derived from well-known sequences of minerals tracing sulphides oxidation intensity, using archive spectral libraries. Therefore, mine-waste weathering products of sulphide mapped from airborne hyperspectral remote sensing data can be used as a short-term record of climate change, providing a useful tool for assessing environmental geoindicators in semi-arid areas.