Legacy product - no abstract available

The widespread utilisation of orthocorrected imagery facilitates higher quality decisions for land use mapping, environmental monitoring and infrastructure planning. To enable the transition to orthocorrected imagery as the norm, Geoscience Australia (GA) is collecting Ground Control Points (GCPs) suitable for geo-coding ALOS PRISM imagery to sub-pixel accuracy. Using a pushbroom sensor model and strip adjustment, innovative software developed by the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRC-SI), known as BARISTA, is capable of long pass orthocorrection processing using only a small number of GCPs located near both ends of each pass. Consequently, GA is collecting, through the private sector, GCPs located mainly near the coastal fringe of the continent.

Extensive benefits and tools can be gained for mineral explorers, land-users and government and university researchers using new spectral data and processing techniques. Improved methods were produced as part of a large multi-agency project focusing on the world-class Mt Isa mineral province in Australia. New approaches for ASTER calibration using high-resolution HyMap imagery through to testing for compensation for atmospheric residuals, lichen and other vegetation cover effects have been included in this study. . Specialised data processing software capable of calibrating and processing terabytes of multi-scene imagery and a new approach to delivery of products, were developed to improve non-specialist user interpretation and comparison with other datasets within a GIS. Developments in processing and detailed reporting of methodology, accuracies and applications can make spectral data a more functional and valuable tool for users of remote sensing data. A highly-calibrated approach to data processing, using PIMA ground samples to validate the HyMap, and then calibrating the ASTER data with the HyMap, allows products to have more detailed reliable accuracies and integration with other data, such as geophysical and regolith information in a GIS package, means new assessments and interpretations can be made in mapping and characterising materials at the surface. Previously undiscovered or masked surface expression of underlying materials, such as ore-deposits, can also be identified using these methods. Maps and products made for this project, covering some ~150 ASTER scenes and over 200 HyMap flight-lines, provide a ready-to-use tool that aids explorers in identifying and mapping unconsolidated regolith material and underlying bedrock and alteration mineralogy.

Identifying and mapping regolith materials at the regional and continental-scale can be facilitated via a new generation of remote sensing methods and standardised geoscience products. The multispectral Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflectance Radiometer (ASTER) is the first Earth observation (EO) system to acquire complete coverage of the Australian continent. The Japanese ASTER instrument is housed onboard the USA's Terra satellite, and has 14 spectral bands spanning the visible and near-infrared (VNIR - 500-1,000 nm - 3 bands @ 15 m pixel resolution); shortwave-infrared (SWIR - 1,000-2,500 nm range - 6 bands @ 30 m pixel resolution); and thermal infrared (TIR 8,000-12,000 nm - 90 m pixel resolution) with a 60 km swath. Although ASTER spectral bands do not have sufficient spectral resolution to accurately map the often small diagnostic absorption features of specific mineral species, which can be measured using more expensive 'hyperspectral' systems, current coverage of hyperspectral data is very restricted. The extensive coverage and 30m pixel size of ASTER make it well suited to national scale work. The spectral resolution of ASTER make it best suited to mapping broader 'mineral groups', such as the di-octahedral 'Al-OH' group comprising the mineral sub-groups (and their minerals species) like kaolins (e.g. kaolinite, dickite, halloysite), white micas (e.g. illite, muscovite, paragonite) and smectites (e.g. montmorillonite and beidellite). Extracting mineral group information using ASTER, using specially targeted band combinations, can find previously unmapped outcrop of bedrocks, weathering products, help define soil type and chemistry, and delineate and characterise regolith and landform boundaries over large and remote areas.

Soil mapping at the local- (paddock), to continental-scale, may be improved through remote hyperspectral imaging of surface mineralogy. This opportunity is demonstrated for the semiarid Tick Hill test site (20 km2) near Mount Isa in western Queensland. The study of this test site is part of a larger Queensland government initiative involving the public delivery of 25,000 km2 of processed airborne hyperspectral mineral maps at 4.5 m pixel resolution to the mineral exploration industry. Some of the mineral maps derived from hyperspectral imagery for the Tick Hill area include the abundances and/or physicochemistries (chemical composition and crystal disorder) of dioctahedral clays (kaolin, illite-muscovite and Al smectite, both montmorillonite and beidellite), ferric/ferrous minerals (hematite/goethite, Fe2+-bearing silicates/carbonates) and hydrated silica (opal) as well as soil water (bound and unbound) and green and dry (cellulose/lignin) vegetation. Validation of these hyperspectral mineral products is based on field soil sampling and laboratory analyses (spectral reflectance, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and electron backscatter). The mineral maps show more detailed information regarding the surface composition compared with the published soil and geology (1:100,000 scale) maps and airborne radiometric imagery (collected at 200 m line spacing). This mineral information can be used to improve the published soil mapping but also has the potential to provide quantitative information suitable for soil and water catchment modeling and monitoring.

This class set of 10 Discovering Remote Sensing student manuals is designed to be used in conjunction with the Discovering Remote Sensing kit, catalogue item 30832. Each student manual contains; - background text covering concepts of resolution, scale, radiation, spectral bands, reflectance, false colour and much more. Images used in the kit use platforms such as NOAA, Landsat TM and SPOT. The manuals also include an activity based around Geoscience Australia's web-based satellite image processor. - twelve reproducible student activities - one set of five A4 image cards used with the student activities. Please note - the student examination and answers to the student activities are not included in the student manuals. These are available in item 30832. Ten sets of 5 images cards are also available in a bulk set for purchase separately (catalogue item 30842). Suitable for secondary levels Years 8-12

Spectral data from airborne and ground surveys enable mapping of the mineralogy and chemistry of soils in a semi-arid terrain of Northwest Queensland. The study site is a region of low relief, 20 km southeast of Duchess near Mount Isa. The airborne hyperspectral survey identified more than twenty surface components including vegetation, ferric oxide, ferrous iron, MgOH, and white mica. Field samples were analysed by spectrometer and X-ray diffraction to test surface units defined from the airborne data. The derived surface materials map is relevant to soil mapping and mineral exploration, and also provides insights into regolith development, sediment sources, and transport pathways, all key elements of landscape evolution.

Next Generation Mineral Mapping (NGMM) is a CSIRO Minerals Down Under initiative aimed at developing spectral sensing capabilities in collaboration with the government geological agencies across Australia for delivering a new range of pre-competitive geoscience information at low cost to the resources industry. A 2 year multi-organisational project was established in July 2006 and involved the collection of 25000 km2 of airborne HyMap imagery (~250 flight-lines at 5m pixel resolution), over 100 ASTER scenes and associated ground and laboratory validation data collected along major structural/geological corridors across Queensland. This paper will show the effectiveness of software/methods for delivering seamless, accurate mineral and geologic maps from HyMap and ASTER data through comparison with field and laboratory validation data, as well as some geological case histories including. - Geothermometric (metamorphic temperature) mapping using clay physicochemistry; - Local to regional hydrothermal alteration cells associated with the Century Pb-Zn and Starra Au-Cu deposits; and - Associated environmental indicators from remote spectral data for resource development, including dust mapping/monitoring. These results and capabilities also have major implications for mapping soil mineralogy and related properties/processes at local-, catchment- and continental-scales, including soil pH, metal availability, water (content, permeability/runoff), soil loss and organic carbon stocks. The mineral maps and associated data from this project are available on the web (www.em.csiro.au/NGMM).

Legacy product - no abstract available

The Pine Creek GIS package has been prepared jointly by AGSO and the Northern Territory Survey for release in both digital and hard copy (atlas) formats. Based on the 1:500 000 geological map of the Pine Creek Geosyncline (2nd edition) published by BMR in 1984, the GIS has been supplemented where possible by recently acquired data from mapping in the Litchfield, Katherine, and South Alligator areas. The aim of this project was to bring together almost 45 years of regional mapping projects by both organisations by integrating existing hard copy geological maps and other relevant geoscientific data into a digital Metallogenic Geographic Information System (GIS).