GEOLOGICAL MAPPING OF ORHON, TARIAT, AND EGIIN DAWAA, CENTRAL MONGOLIA THROUGH THE INTERPRETATION OF REMOTE SENSING DATA

Multi-spectral satellite data from the Advanced Spaceborn Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) were used to make interpretations regarding the surface lithology and structure of the Tariat, Egiin Dawaa, and Orhon regions in Central Mongolia. These areas experienced widespread Cenozoic volcanism. This study mapped the locations and extents of the volcanic flows, located cinder cones and faults evident in the areas, and identified a possible exposure of the Mongolian granitic batholith in the Orhon area. ER Mapper, a geospatial imaging software, was used to generate and run algorithms. Image transforms and supervised classifications were used to identify the features of interest in this study. Samples from the area were examined spectrally and petrologically to assist in developing effective image transforms. Band ratios were the predominant image transform used. A greater than/less than algorithm was developed to allow a more precise identification of those pixels in a satellite image that correspond to the laboratory spectrum of a sample.