REMOTE SENSING, SPECTROMETRY, AND IMAGE ANALYSIS APPLIED TO CHARACTERIZATION OF A HYDROTHERMALLY ACTIVE SITE IN THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN

Spectral reflectance and image analysis techniques are applied to identify the occurrence and source of thermal waters possessing surface temperatures of approximatley 100 ºC. Laboratory measurements of spectral reflectance in the UV-visible range are collected on soil and sediment samples from an area in the south-central Snake River Plain are correlated with processed Landsat and ASTER images from the region analyzed in the band 6 and bands 10-14 respectively, to locate thermal anomalies, subtracting atmospheric effects using the algorithm of Yamaguchi et al. 1992. Multispectral and hyperspectral images have been used to identify geothermal indicator minerals. ArcGIS analysis of geology, soils, water table depth layers, is employed to identify faults through image enhancement of linear traces and correlation with field and mineralogical data.