Hyperspectral Imaging for Mineral Mapping

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Exploration Methods and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 October 2019) | Viewed by 30210

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Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique de Nantes, University of Nantes, 2 rue de la Houssinière, BP92208 44322 Nantes, CEDEX 3, France
Interests: field and imaging spectroscopy; extraction of physical parameters; quantitative research; application to environmental geology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Imaging spectroscopy (also called hyperspectral imaging or “HIS”) is one of the most powerful non-destructive remote sensing tools to obtain accurate mineralogical information about inaccessible targets—information which is often not available by other techniques. Identification of minerals and other geologic materials using visible to near infrared (VNIR), shortwave infrared (SWIR), and now longwave infrared (LWIR) spectroscopy is well established. Laboratory spectral studies have shown that spectral parameters such as absorption band shape, minimum position, depths, widths, areas, absolute reflectance, and combinations of these various parameters can be used to extract compositional information as well as quantify, or at least severely constrain, important physical and chemical properties such as major, and in some cases minor, element chemistry, endmember abundances, moisture content, grain size, etc.

Hyperspectral data in the VNIR-SWIR, extensively used in planetary exploration, have been available for over 30 years, and analysis of these for geologic applications is considered mature. With a number of planned Earth observation hyperspectral missions such as PRISMA (2018, Italy) and EnMAP (2020, Germany), after the Hyperion precursor, this non-destructive technology will be available for widespread monitoring and mapping of the complex Earth surface, in particular by extracting chemical and physical parameters. The aim of this special issue is to focus on recent advances in the understanding and the quantitative interpretation of mineral/rock spectral signatures in the VNIR, SWIR and LWIR spectral ranges in terms of chemical composition and physical properties, the understanding of intimate/areal mixtures as well as radiative transfer modeling.

Dr. Véronique Carrere
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • spectroscopy
  • hyperspectral remote sensing
  • spectral signature
  • mineral mapping
  • planetary surface composition and physical properties
  • VNIR-SWIR-MWIR-LWIR spectral range
  • absorption features
  • reflectance
  • emissivity
  • radiative transfer modeling
  • spectral deconvolution
  • mixture analysis

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 12557 KiB  
Article
Obtaining Hyperspectral Signatures for Seafloor Massive Sulphide Exploration
by Øystein Sture, Ben Snook and Martin Ludvigsen
Minerals 2019, 9(11), 694; https://doi.org/10.3390/min9110694 - 10 Nov 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3597
Abstract
Seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposits are hosts to a wide range of economic minerals, and may become an important resource in the future. The exploitation of these resources is associated with considerable expenses, and a return on investment may depend on the availability [...] Read more.
Seafloor massive sulphide (SMS) deposits are hosts to a wide range of economic minerals, and may become an important resource in the future. The exploitation of these resources is associated with considerable expenses, and a return on investment may depend on the availability of multiple deposits. Therefore, efficient exploration methodologies for base metal deposits are important for future deep sea mining endeavours. Underwater hyperspectral imaging (UHI) has been demonstrated to be able to differentiate between different types of materials on the seafloor. The identification of possible end-members from field data requires prior information in the form of representative signatures for distinct materials. This work presents hyperspectral imaging applied to a selection of materials from the Loki’s Castle active hydrothermal vent site in a laboratory setting. A methodology for compensating for systematic effects and producing the reflectance spectra is detailed, and applied to recover the spectral signatures from the samples. The materials investigated were found to be distinguishable using unsupervised dimensionality reduction methods, and may be used as a reference for future field application. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hyperspectral Imaging for Mineral Mapping)
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23 pages, 11543 KiB  
Article
Mineral Mapping and Vein Detection in Hyperspectral Drill-Core Scans: Application to Porphyry-Type Mineralization
by Laura Tusa, Louis Andreani, Mahdi Khodadadzadeh, Cecilia Contreras, Paul Ivascanu, Richard Gloaguen and Jens Gutzmer
Minerals 2019, 9(2), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/min9020122 - 19 Feb 2019
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 11728
Abstract
The rapid mapping and characterization of specific porphyry vein types in geological samples represent a challenge for the mineral exploration and mining industry. In this paper, a methodology to integrate mineralogical and structural data extracted from hyperspectral drill-core scans is proposed. The workflow [...] Read more.
The rapid mapping and characterization of specific porphyry vein types in geological samples represent a challenge for the mineral exploration and mining industry. In this paper, a methodology to integrate mineralogical and structural data extracted from hyperspectral drill-core scans is proposed. The workflow allows for the identification of vein types based on minerals having significant absorption features in the short-wave infrared. The method not only targets alteration halos of known compositions but also allows for the identification of any vein-like structure. The results consist of vein distribution maps, quantified vein abundances, and their azimuths. Three drill-cores from the Bolcana porphyry system hosting veins of variable density, composition, orientation, and thickness are analysed for this purpose. The results are validated using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy-based mineral mapping techniques. We demonstrate that the use of hyperspectral scanning allows for faster, non-invasive and more efficient drill-core mapping, providing a useful tool for complementing core-logging performed by on-site geologists. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hyperspectral Imaging for Mineral Mapping)
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21 pages, 7276 KiB  
Article
Rock Sample Surface Preparation Influences Thermal Infrared Spectra
by Evelien Rost, Christoph Hecker, Martin C. Schodlok and Freek D. Van der Meer
Minerals 2018, 8(11), 475; https://doi.org/10.3390/min8110475 - 23 Oct 2018
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6254
Abstract
High-resolution laboratory-based thermal infrared spectroscopy is an up-and-coming tool in the field of geological remote sensing. Its spatial resolution allows for detailed analyses at centimeter to sub-millimeter scales. However, this increase in resolution creates challenges with sample characteristics, such as grain size, surface [...] Read more.
High-resolution laboratory-based thermal infrared spectroscopy is an up-and-coming tool in the field of geological remote sensing. Its spatial resolution allows for detailed analyses at centimeter to sub-millimeter scales. However, this increase in resolution creates challenges with sample characteristics, such as grain size, surface roughness, and porosity, which can influence the spectral signature. This research explores the effect of rock sample surface preparation on the thermal infrared spectral signatures. We applied three surface preparation methods (split, saw, and polish) to determine how the resulting differences in surface roughness affects both the spectral shape as well as the spectral contrast. The selected samples are a pure quartz sandstone, a quartz sandstone containing a small percentage of kaolinite, and an intermediate-grained gabbro. To avoid instrument or measurement type biases we conducted measurements on three TIR instruments, resulting in directional hemispherical reflectance spectra, emissivity spectra and bi-directional reflectance images. Surface imaging and analyses were performed with scanning electron microscopy and profilometer measurements. We demonstrate that surface preparation affects the TIR spectral signatures influencing both the spectral contrast, as well as the spectral shape. The results show that polished surfaces predominantly display a high spectral contrast while the sawed and split surfaces display up to 25% lower reflectance values. Furthermore, the sawed and split surfaces display spectral signature shape differences at specific wavelengths, which we link to mineral transmission features, surface orientation effects, and multiple reflections in fine-grained minerals. Hence, the influence of rock surface preparation should be taken in consideration to avoid an inaccurate geological interpretation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hyperspectral Imaging for Mineral Mapping)
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13 pages, 3651 KiB  
Article
Mapping Surface Quartz Content in Sand Dunes Covered by Biological Soil Crusts Using Airborne Hyperspectral Images in the Longwave Infrared Region
by Shahar Weksler, Offer Rozenstein and Eyal Ben-Dor
Minerals 2018, 8(8), 318; https://doi.org/10.3390/min8080318 - 26 Jul 2018
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4909
Abstract
Biological soil crusts (BSCs), composed of cyanobacteria, algae, mosses, lichens, and fungi, are important ecosystem engineers that stabilize the quartz-rich dunes in the Nitzana study area near the Israel–Egypt border. The longwave infrared (LWIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum is very useful for [...] Read more.
Biological soil crusts (BSCs), composed of cyanobacteria, algae, mosses, lichens, and fungi, are important ecosystem engineers that stabilize the quartz-rich dunes in the Nitzana study area near the Israel–Egypt border. The longwave infrared (LWIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum is very useful for quartz identification since quartz reflectance in the visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared (VIS-NIR-SWIR, 0.4–2.5 µm) spectral regions lacks identifying features, whereas in the LWIR region, the quartz emissivity spectrum presents a strong doublet feature. This emissivity feature can be used as a diagnostic tool for BSCs development in desert environments, because BSCs attenuate the quartz feature as a function of their successional development. A pair of day and night airborne hyperspectral images were acquired using the Specim AisaOWL LWIR sensor (7.7–12 µm) and processed using an innovative algorithm to reduce the atmospheric interference in this spectral domain. The resulting day and night apparent emissivity products were used to produce a surface quartz content map of the study area. The significant reduction in atmospheric interference resulted in a high correlation (R2 = 0.88) between quartz content in field samples determined by X-ray powder diffraction analysis and emissivity estimations from the airborne images. This, in turn, served as the ground truth to our quartz content map of the surface, and by proxy to the BSC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hyperspectral Imaging for Mineral Mapping)
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