Geology topics

Frederic C. Billingsley

Publications and source records attributed to Frederic C. Billingsley.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS1977

Photo-optical enhancement of landsat imagery for land use in south-central Iowa

Because the photographic laboratory at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory found it difficult to estimate what were the optimal color renditions of the Iowa landscape for land classification purposes, the Iowa Geological Survey developed its own capability for producing color products from digitally enhanced Landsat data. Research has now shown that efficient production of enhanced images requires full utilization of both computer and photographic enhancement . procedures. Experimental photo-optical enhancement techniques carried out at the EROS Data Center (EDC) for a Landsat-1, 29 August 1972 scene, proved to be more easily interpreted for land classification purposes than the EDC standard color composite. I.f digital processing can be minimized by using photographic enhancement techniques, then costs of enhanced products could be greatly reduced. Perhaps one of the major objectives of computer processing of Landsat data should be to produce high quality cosmetically enhanced (eliminate striping and line drops) data which has a range of digital values that can be completely recorded by film media. If digital processinq can distribute reflectance data throughout the entire recording ranqe of photographic film, then photographic enhancement techniques could be employed cheaply by users familiar with the type of information they wish to extract from the imaqery. Alternatively, if custom enhanced imagery is to be produced for users not having a photographic capability, different enhancements may be tried in an iterative fashion in the photographic laboratory, without having to reprocess digital data in the computer for each iteration. The savings in time and money should be considerable using this approach.

Iowa↗

USGS1975

Application of ERTS images and image processing to regional geologic problems and geologic mapping in northern Arizona

The purpose of this study was to apply the techniques of computer image processing to ERTS images as an aid to the solution of some regional geologic problems of significant interest. ERTS-1 images were applied to studies in the Shivwits Plateau, Coconino Plateau, and north-central Arizona regions. Unprocessed ERTS images revealed a wealth of new structural information and enabled a broad regional study to be made of the tectonic history of the southwestern Colorado Plateau. Spectral information from ERTS-1 was shown to be compatible with ground spectral reflectance measurements made with a portable field instrument developed during this investigation, provided that allowance was made for atmospheric effects. Computer image processing yielded lithologic boundary information within the Coconino Plateau region not obtainable from unprocessed images. Various enhancement techniques were compared in the three areas of study, and some simple rules were developed to guide the processing of images in unknown areas. A new hypothesis was developed for the history of the Colorado River. An ancestral and relatively old Upper Colorado Drainage followed approximately its present course as far as the western side of the Kaibab Uplift, where it diverged from the present course by following a strike valley trending north-northwest. This drainage was captured relatively recently by a much younger Lower Colorado Drainage, which developed by headward erosion after the opening of the Gulf of California. A byproduct of the regional studies in each of the three areas was the identification of areas favorable for the localization of shallow and deep ground waters. On the Shivwits Plateau water trapped in the axis of the old strike valley underlying the Shivwits lavas is a potential source. On the Coconino Plateau sandstone lenses, underlain by clays, within the otherwise permeable Kaibab Limestone are potential perched aquifers. These can be identified on computer-enhanced images. Lineaments detected first on ERTS-1 frames and later verified on aerial photographs were used south of Flagstaff, Arizona, to identify maximum fracturing along the Oak Creek fault in the Woody Mountain well field; a site for a new deep well has been selected and is being drilled by the city of Flagstaff.

Arizona↗

USGS1975

Land classification of south-central Iowa from computer enhanced images

The author has identified the following significant results. Two enhanced false color negatives from multispectral scanner scenes, dated 15 April 1974 and 29 August 1972, were printed at a scale of 1:125,000 to form the basis for land use interpretations in the Wapello County, Iowa test site. The use of geomorphic principles proved valuable in the interpretation of the April scene to form valuable generalizations for planning purposes on soil associations, topography, alluvial valleys, and agricultural land use. The August scene was superior in providing information on urban extent, transportation networks, forest cover, and water bodies.

Iowa↗