EXPLORATION OF REMOTELY SENSED LINEAMENTS AS A VIABLE TOOL IN ASSESSING EVOLUTION OF THE BLUE RIDGE ESCARPMENT

One of the most unique features to result from geomorphic processes following the orogeny of the Appalachian mountain range is the Blue Ridge Escarpment (BRE), an approximately 500km long face of steep relief separating Piedmont regions from the higher elevations of the Blue Ridge in the southeastern United States. Despite its geographic prominence, there is still much debate surrounding the formational history and active evolution of the BRE. Through using remotely sensed elevation data and a Geographic Information System, our study looks to explore automatically extracted lineaments as a new tool to help researchers evaluate, and put into context, escarpment evolution theories. Once extracted through a linear feature detection algorithm, we explore the influence of lineament density, orientation, and location on mass wasting events and drainage patterns as two of the theories that lineaments could provide insight into. Through analysis derived from 10-meter resolution DEM data, 245,824 lineaments were automatically extracted with a dominant orientation of SW to NE, comparable to recorded structural trends of the region. Our results show that there is no clear relationship between the presence of lineaments and the occurrence of mass wasting events, however, observations unexpectedly indicate areas of low density having more landslides than areas of high density. Additionally, this study shows that there is potential application for lineaments in evaluating knickpoint dynamics in drainage systems. Automatically extracted lineaments show to be a potential tool for researchers to more efficiently evaluate geologic features/relationships and warrants further exploration.