Journal of African Earth Sciences 85 (2013) 103–114

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Journal of African Earth Sciences

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Using ETM+ and ASTER sensors to identify iron occurrences in the Esfordi
1:100,000 mapping sheet of Central Iran
Behnam Sadeghi a,b,⇑, Masoumeh Khalajmasoumi c, Peyman Afzal a,d, Parviz Moarefvand e,
Amir Bijan Yasrebi d, Andy Wetherelt d, Patrick Foster d, Afshar Ziazarifi f
a
Department of Mining Engineering, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
b
Young Researchers Club, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
c
Department of Geology, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran
d
Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
e
Mining and Metallurgy Faculty, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
f
Department of Mining Engineering, Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Many iron occurrences and deposits exist in the Central Iranian structural zone, especially in the Bafq dis-
Received 8 June 2012 trict. The Esfordi 1:100,000 mapping sheet is located in this region and there are several iron mines and
Received in revised form 30 April 2013 deposits, e.g. Chadormalu, Choghart, Seh-Chahoon, Mishdowan and Zaghia. The aim of this study is to
Accepted 16 May 2013
identify and detect the iron bearing occurrences by utilizing the Landsat ETM+ and the Advanced Space-
Available online 29 May 2013
borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellite data. Several methods consist of Lin-
ear Band Prediction (LS-Fit), Matched Filtering (MF), Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM), Spectral Feature
Keywords:
Fitting (SFF), Band Ratio (BR: 2/1 and 3/1) and Visual interpretation (RGB: 531) were used for this pur-
Central Iran
Esfordi
pose. Structures were identified by visual interpretation of images and band combinations (RGB: 431).
Iron Target areas were found by LS-Fit, MF and SAM overlapping being situated in the North and the
Remote sensing North-East, Central and North Western parts of the Esfordi mapping sheet which is now proposed for iron
Alteration occurrences prospecting.
Structures Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
From a structural point of view the Central Iran consists of the
Anarak-Bafq-Kerman metallogenic belt, parts of the Sahand–Baz-
man volcanic belt and the Sanandaj–Sirjan structural–metamor-
phic zone (Samani, 1988; Alavi, 1994). There are different types
of iron ores (>2 Gt) located in the Bafq district where hosts
Chadormalu mine as the largest iron reserve containing 400 Mt
of iron ore (Moore and Modabberi, 2003; Ramezani and Tucker,
2003; Jami, 2005; Daliran et al., 2010). The Esfordi 1:100,000 map-
ping sheet, is located between the longitude ranges of 55°300 0000
and 56°000 0000 and latitude ranges varying between 31°300 0000
and 32°000 0000 and one of the important Fe-P-REE mineralized re-
gion in the Bafq district as depicted in Figs. 2 and 4. There are Kir-
una type iron ore deposits which consisting of magnetite–hematite
and apatites. Several magnetite–apatite deposits of Bafq district
comprise several ore bodies with large-scale replacements and
brecciation textures, and a sodic–calcic alteration envelope (Bony-
adi et al., 2011, 2012).
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: behnamsadeghi.researches@yahoo.com (B. Sadeghi).
Remote sensing advances in recent years have helped earth sci-
ence researchers to identify and map the distribution of target
minerals on the Earth’s surface. The potential of recognition using
multi-spectral satellite data depends on the wavelength range and
power of spectral separation of the sensor. Using the spectral do-
main of the short wave infrared (SWIR), part of the electromagnetic
wavelength for detection of iron oxide alteration is one of the most
important usages of remote sensing in geology, e.g., Rutz-Armenta
and Prol-Ledesma (1998); Tangestani and Moore (2001); Hewson
et al. (2001); Abrams et al. (1983); Kaufman (1988) and Sabins
(1999). Most studies for the identification of alteration zones have
been performed having used techniques such as Band Ratio (Sa-
bins, 1999), PCA (Ranjbar et al., 2003; Zhao et al., 2008; Zoheir
and Emam, 2012; Ciampalini et al., 2012a,b). Multi-spectral satel-
lite data such as TM, ETM+, and ASTER SWIR bands have been used
by geologists for exploration purposes in Iran (e.g., Ranjbar et al.,
2003; Moghtaderi et al., 2007; Azizi et al., 2010; Beiranvnd Pour
and Hashim, 2011; Beiranvnd Pour and Hashim, 2012). For exam-
ple Moghtaderi et al. (2007) delineated some alkali metasomatose
within the Chadormalu district in the vicinity of iron ore deposits.
Due to the limited spectral resolution of TM, it can only be used for
ores containing iron oxides and hydroxyl minerals. The ETM+
sensor with six bands in the range of SWIR have been used for

1464-343X/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2013.05.003
104 B. Sadeghi et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 85 (2013) 103–114

Fig. 1. Spectral bands of ASTER and Landsat ETM+ sensors (Raup et al., 2007).

identification of the alteration zones and this sensor is much more
flexible than the Landsat TM sensor (Crosta et al., 2003; Van Ede,
2004). However, the newer methods which are proposed for iden-
tification of alteration zones, include Matched Filtering (MF(, Lin-
ear Spectral Unmixing (LSU(, Spectral Angle Mapping)SAM) (e.g.
Rowan et al., 2006 and Castro, 2004). The ASTER sensor is one of
the multi-spectral sensors that has been installed on the TERRA sa-
tellite. This sensor can measure the reflection of the Earth’s ground
in three bands, that is, between the wavelengths of 0.52–0.86 lm
with a resolution of 15 m (visible and near-infrared: VNIR), six
bands between the wavelengths of 1.6–2.43 lm with a resolution
of 30 m (SWIR), and five bands between the wavelengths of
8.125–11.65 lm with a resolution of 90 m (thermal infrared: TIR)
(Fig. 1). Furthermore, the TERRA satellite has a back-looking tele-
scope with a resolution of 15 m in the VNIR that matches with
the wavelength of the band 3 that is used to extract 3D informa-
tion. Meanwhile, the sensor swath of ASTER is 60 km (Yamaguchi
et al., 2001; Rowan et al., 2006). According to extreme variations
of spectral reflectance curves of minerals in the SWIR region and
high spectral resolution of the ASTER sensor, the sensor identifies
different rocks and minerals on the Earth’s surface effectively. Con-
sidering the differences of the sensor resolution capability between
ETM+ and ASTER sensors, usually ETM+ images are used for the lin-
eaments and ASTER images are used to identify minerals and alter-
ations of the Earth’s surface.
The aim of this paper is to utilize ETM+ and ASTER sensors for
the identification of iron occurrences and their relationships with
the lineaments to determine, predict and propose the iron-rich
areas and prospects within the Esfordi 1:100,000 mapping sheet
of Central Iran. Some algorithms were used to determine iron alter-
ation zones, which show a certain color range, e.g. Linear Band Pre-
diction (LS-Fit), Matched Filtering (MF), Spectral Angle Mapper

Fig. 2. Geological map of the Esfordi 1:100,000 mapping sheet.

 B. Sadeghi et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 85 (2013) 103–114 105

Fig. 3. The metallogenic province of Bafq showing a N–S striking section of the Kashmar–Kerman Tectonic Zone bordered by major crustal faults of Kuh-Banan (KBF) and
Zarand (ZRF) and the Location map of the Bafq–Robat-e-Posht-e-Badam magnetic targets and the Esfordi deposit (Taken from Ramezani and Tucker, 2003 and Jami, 2005).

Fig. 4. 3D geological map of the Esfordi sheet with some pictures from some of the most important mineralized zones.
106 B. Sadeghi et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 85 (2013) 103–114

Table 1
Sensor characteristics of the Landsat TM and ASTER instruments (Rajendran et al., 2012).

Sensors Landsat TM ASTER

Characteristics VNIR SWIR TIR
Spectral bands with range (lm) Band 1 0.45–0.52 Band 01 0.52–0.60 Band 04 1.6–1.7 Band 10 8.125–8.475
Nadir looking
Band 2 0.52–0.60 Band 02 0.63–0.69 Band 05 2.145–2.185 Band 11 8.475–8.825
Nadir looking
Band 3 0.63–0.69 Band 03N 0.76–0.86 Band 06 2.185–2.225 Band 12 8.925–9.275
Nadir looking
Band 4 0.76–0.90 Band 03B 0.76–0.86 Band 07 2.235–2.285 Band 13 10.25–10.95
Backward looking
Band 5 1.55–1.75 Band 08 2.295–2.365 Band 14 10.95–11.65
Band 610.40–12.50 Band 09 2.36–2.43
Band 7 2.08–2.35
Spatial 30 15 30 90
Resolution (m)
Swath width (km) 180 60 60 60
Radiometric 8 8 8 12
Resolution (bits)
Cross track ±318 km (±24 deg) ±116 km (±8.55 deg) ±116 km (±8.55 deg)
Pointing

(SAM: Kruse et al., 1993), Spectral Feature Fitting (SFF: Clark et al.,
1991), band ratio (2/1 and 3/1) and visual interpretation
(RGB: 531). Moreover, the lineaments were separated by the visual
interpretation of ETM+ images and band combinations (RGB: 431
and 531).
2. Geological setting of the Esfordi 1:100,000 mapping sheet
The Bafq district is one of the most important mineralization
zones of Central Iran with the upper Precambrian metamorphic-
sedimentary rocks and Rift series of Precambrian – Paleozoic (Hag-
hipour, 1977). Central Iran is a fragment of Gondwanaland with a
Precambrian basement. Within a Pan-African rift zone a huge pre-
cambrian volcanic field was formed on top of a silicic diapir, with
ignimbritic cauldrons, ring fracture intrusions, and resurgent gran-
ites (Forster and Jafarzadeh, 1994).
Intrusive rocks host mineralization of magnetite; apatite–mag-
netite and sometimes they are also rich with Rare Earth Elements
(REEs). The mineralizations are commonly associated with calc–
alkaline volcanic rocks and metasomatic alteration. Iron oxide–
apatite deposits and occurrences happen within felsic volcanic
tuffs and volcano-sedimentary sequences of the Early Cambrian
age (Stosch et al., 2011). Based on high values of apatite within
the iron ore deposits of the area, there is a strong potential of REEs
existence (Daliran et al., 2010; Stosch et al., 2011; Yasrebi et al.,
2011). There are many large and rich iron and iron-apatite deposits
around the Bafq district, e.g., Chadormalu, Choghart, Seh-Chahoon,
Mishdowan, Chah-Gaz and Zaghia iron ores and the Esfordi iron-
apatite ore deposits (Figs. 3 and 4).
In Bafq and the Saghand districts along the Chapedony and
Poshte Badam faults, the basement complexes illustrate structural
vestiges of Precambrian deformational, depositional, erosional,
metamorphic and magmatic events. In this region, the basement
complexes contain the Chapedony, Poshte Badam, Boneh Shurow
and Tashk formations. The prevailing metamorphism, from low
grade to high grade, is pre-Pan African Orogeny (i.e. from 2400 to
570 Ma). The presence of greenstone belts, a paleo-suture zone
and ophiolitic rocks (i.e. from 2100 to 1500 Ma) around the high-
grade metamorphic rocks of the Chapedony Formation, provide
evidence that cratonization forming the Iranian basement occurred
during the Paleo- and Mesoproterozoic. After formation of the
basement complexes, metamorphism of the Precambrian forma-
tions and establishment of the Arabo–Iranian coherent platform
at the end of Pan African Orogeny, Central Iran broke up during a
Neoproterozoic–Early Cambrian extensional tectonic regime. Pre-
cambrian–Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks were then deposited
on the basement complexes. The Iranian basement complexes are
extensively overprinted by Pan African Orogeny and younger igne-
ous events (Nadimi, 2007).

3. Satellite data

The ETM+ instrument carried by the Landsat satellite records

Fig. 5. Laboratory VNIR–SWIR reflectance spectra of limonite, jarosite, muscovite
and kaolinite from the USGS spectral library.
data in seven multispectral bands including six channels in the vis-
ible and reflected infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum
and one channel in the thermal infrared region (Rajendran et al.,
2012). The Landsat ETM+ data which was used in this study was ac-
quired on June 1, 2002 with 0% cloud cover. The ASTER sensor on-
board the Earth Observing System (EOS) TERRA platform is a
multispectral imaging system, launched in December 1999, which
travels in a near circular, sun-synchronous orbit with an inclina-
tion of approximately 98.2°, an altitude of 705 km and a repeat cy-
cle of 16 days. This contribution uses 14-band ASTER Level 1B data
acquired on June 1, 2001. The imagery is supplied in terms of
scaled radiance at sensor data with radiometric and geometric
 B. Sadeghi et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 85 (2013) 103–114 107

Fig. 6. Results of the MF method on the Esfordi 1:100,000 mapping sheet. Hematite – violet, jarosite – blue and limonite – yellow. (For interpretation of the references to color
in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

corrections applied. It is georeferenced to the UTM projection and
for the WGS-84 ellipsoid. The sensors characteristics and the
wavelength regions of both instruments are given in Table 1. The
increase of spectral bands in the ASTER SWIR region (one spectral
band for Landsat versus six spectral bands for ASTER) enhances the
surface lithological mapping capability (Abrams, 2000; Azizi et al.,
2010; Rajendran et al., 2012).
4. Spectral characteristics of iron minerals
Alteration zones are formed in a wide range of geological envi-
ronments such as volcano-plutonic rocks and with hydrothermal
mineral deposits, which can be exploration targets. Iron alteration
zones usually consist of hematite, limonite, goethite and jarosite.
Several authors employed remote sensing and GIS methods for

Fig. 7. Results of the SAM method on the Esfordi 1:100,000 mapping sheet. Iron alterations-red. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)
108 B. Sadeghi et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 85 (2013) 103–114

Fig. 8. The results of LS-Fit method on Esfordi 1:100,000 sheet (iron alterations-light blue). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)

lithological mapping as well as identifying mineral deposits
(Abrams and Hook, 1995; Gad and Kusky, 2007; Gabr et al.,
2010; Kusky and Ramadan, 2002; Mars and Rowan, 2006; Rowan
and Mars, 2003; Rowan et al., 2003). Sabins (1997) demonstrating
that remote sensing is a valuable tool for mineral exploration in at
least four ways: (1) mapping regional lineaments and structural
features, (2) mapping local fracture patterns which may control
individual ore deposits, (3) detecting hydrothermally altered rocks
associated with ore deposits, and (4) providing basic geologic data
(Rajendran et al., 2012). The reflectance spectrum of a rock

Fig. 9. The results of Band Ratio method on Esfordi 1:100,000 sheet. 2/1 is violet and 3/1 is bright green. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the
reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
 B. Sadeghi et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 85 (2013) 103–114
Fig. 10. The results of visual interpretation using geological map of the area and exist evidence.
depends on the mineralogical composition of its surface, which is
usually a mixture of the whole rock mineralogy and weathering
minerals. Absorption of bands in the VNIR and SWIR can rise due
to either electronic or vibrational processes that occur in these
minerals. The electronic processes in the minerals include three
types, viz. conduction bands, charge transfer and crystal field ef-
fects (Rajendran et al., 2012). The presence of ferrous iron (Fe2+)
in the weathered surface produces absorptions centered at about
0.45 lm, 1.0–1.1 lm, 1.8–1.9 lm, and 2.2–2.3 lm, depending on
its lattice environment. The ferric iron (Fe3+) produces absorptions
at about 0.65 lm and 0.87 lm (Abrams et al., 1988; Rajendran
et al., 2011, 2012). Fe2+ is soluble so rarely if ever appears in weath-
ered materials. Indeed the oxidizing nature of the surface environ-
ment ensures that it is converted to insoluble Fe3+ ions, in oxy-
hydroxides and sulfates. The ‘signature’ of Fe2+ is generally in fer-
romagnesian silicates.
Jarosite, K(Fe3+)3(OH)6(SO4)2, is a common iron mineral in
acidic, sulfate-rich environments formed by the oxidation of sul-
fides, especially pyrite (FeS2: Baron and Palmer, 1996; Bedini,
2011). Jarosite has characteristic absorption features in the VNIR
and SWIR wavelength regions (Hunt and Ashley, 1979; Bishop
and Murad, 2005). The mineral has a broad ferric iron absorption
feature near 0.90 lm, is more reflective overall than goethite or
hematite and displays a local reflectance maximum at near
0.70 lm, also diagnostic vibrational absorption features in the
SWIR wavelength region due to Fe–OH and OH stretches and bend-
ing (Hunt and Ashley, 1979; Sabine, 1999; Bishop and Murad,
2005). The surface weathering of pyritizated rocks has led to the
formation of abundant goethite and limonite. Goethite has partic-
ular absorption features in the VNIR wavelength region due to
electronic transitions of ferric iron (Hunt and Ashley, 1979; Clark,
1999). Goethite displays a broad ferric iron absorption feature near
0.90 lm and two additional features near 0.50 and 0.66 lm with a
peak near 0.75 lm, as shown in Fig. 5 (Hunt and Ashley, 1979;
Clark, 1999; Sabine, 1999; Bedini, 2011).
109
5. Discussion
In this study, various methods were used and their results were
compared with regional geological particulars which were extracted
from the geological map of the Esfordi mapping sheet and other geo-
logical data. Based on the reference of mineral spectra and consider-
ing the lithologies and geological conditions of the study area,
spectra of specific indicator minerals were selected from the USGS
spectral libraryand their spectral graph was determined. Addition-
ally, the spectral reflectance curves of the minerals in the spectral li-
brary in ENVI 4.8 software (USGS ENVI) have to be resampled to the
full range of ASTER spectral bands for spectral analysis (Clark et al.
2003). Resampling is important to delineate bands which have spec-
tral reflection (Prediction Bands) and absorption (Model Bands) for
each specific mineral (Fig. 5). Iron alterations and specific minerals
in the study area consist of hematite, jarosite, goethite and limonite.
Data extraction methods used for alteration included Matched Fil-
tering (MF), Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM: Kruse et al., 1993), Linear
Band Prediction (LS-Fit), Spectral Feature Fitting (SFF: Clark et al.,
1991), band ratio (2/1 and 3/1) and Visual interpretation (RGB:
531). The ASTER data are utilized to extract the iron alterations using
the mentioned methods, except visual interpretation method. Be-
sides, the ETM+ data are used to detect the features and also to ana-
lyze by visual interpretation method.
5.1. Matched Filtering (MF)
The Matched Filtering (MF) is a partial spectral unmixing tech-
nique for detection of the known spectral class of interest while
suppressing the background. It is expressed as by Bedini (2011):
MFðxÞ ¼ ðt  mÞT S1 ðx  mÞ ð1Þ
where t, x, m and S are target vector, sample vector, background
mean and background covariance, respectively (Schott, 2007). The
resulting MF(x) is thresholded to control the false alarm rate.
110 B. Sadeghi et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 85 (2013) 103–114
This is a rapid method for detecting specific materials based on
spectral reflectance curves matching with the images. Of course,
masking the features such as vegetation, clouds and lakes caused
the error in the results of this algorithm. In this method, utilization
of all image members for undertaking a detailed analysis is not
essential. The main advantage of this algorithm is its proper classi-
fication for occurrences which are scattered in these kinds of
images.
The results of the algorithm, which were superimposed on the
RGB: 123 output, show that Iron alteration minerals (hematite,
goethite, jarosite and limonite) have a good overlap together, as
depicted in Fig. 6. Based on the results, hematites and jarosites oc-
cur in the northern part of the mapping sheet, although there are a
lot of jarosites in the central part of it. Besides, limonites are abun-
dant in the central part of the area.
5.2. Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM)
The SAM method, due to using the spectral angle between the
vectors of the reference spectral data, is the most effective for clas-
Fig. 11. Final superimposed output of the results of all methods, except SFF method, on the geological map of the Esfordi mapping sheet and the 123 RGB map.
sification of multi spectral data (Kruse et al., 1993). The algorithm
of the SAM method is based on calculation of spectral similarity by
using computation of the angle between two spectra as vectors in
n-dimensional spaces. Low and high angles between the two spec-
tra indicate high and low similarity, respectively. Factors of solar
radiation have no effect on the calculation of this method, because
the angle between the two vectors is independent of their length.
In this method it is considered that each spectrum, corresponds
to a vector space with dimensions equal to the number of bands.
According to the obtained image, the results of this method did
not provide a suitable answer, as shown in Fig. 7. There are small
parts of iron alterations in the southern part of the Esfordi mapping
sheet.
5.3. Linear Band Prediction (LS-Fit)
The LS-Fit method performs a linear band prediction due to a
least squares fitting technique. It can be utilized to find regions
of anomalous spectral response in a data set, e.g., altered clay min-
erals. Covariance of the input data is calculated and is used to pre-
 B. Sadeghi et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 85 (2013) 103–114
Fig. 12. Comparison between faults (on the geological map) and lineaments (on the RGB: 431).
dict the selected band as a linear combination of the predictor
bands. However, the difference (residual) between the actual band
and the modeled band is estimated. Pixels with a large residual
(positive and negative) indicate the presence of an unknown fea-
ture which is an absorption band. The prominence of this method
against the other methods (e.g. PCA or Band Ratio) is decreasing
noise within the images.
Results obtained from this method did not match with the re-
sults of the other methods. It resulted in iron alterations being sit-
uated in the NW and SE parts of the study area (Fig. 8). Comparison
between MF and LS-Fit methods do show a good correlation be-
tween their results.
5.4. Spectral Feature Fitting (SFF)
This is an absorption-feature-based method for matching image
spectra to reference end-members (Clark et al., 1990, 1991, 1992;
Clark and Swayze, 1995). The method after continuum removal
using the least squares fitting technique, determines the similarity
of pixel spectra with reference spectra. Continuum removal is nor-
malizes the reflection spectrum of a material, with the aim of com-
paring its absorption characteristics. Continuum (C) is a curve that
has been produced based on the junction of relative maximums of
spectra of a phenomenon. Continuum removal uses a spectral sig-
nature assigned to each pixel. In parts of the spectral signature
which are assigned 1, the continuum and spectral signature are
then adopted and where it is less than 1, the absorption features
will be extractable. Results obtained by the SFF method did not
provide a suitable result.
5.5. Band Ratio
The band ratio images are applied to suppress the topographic
variation and the image brightness differences related to grain size
variation (Adam and Felic, 1967; Sultan et al., 1987; Rowan et al.,
2003). This technique has been used successfully in lithological
mappings for other areas worldwide (Abrams et al., 1983; Amer
111
et al., 2010; Gabr et al., 2010; Galvao et al., 2005; Goetz et al.,
1983; Kruse et al., 1993; Matthews and Jones, 1992; Ninomiya
et al., 2005; Ramadan et al., 2001; Rowan et al., 2003; Sultan
et al., 1987; Swayze et al., 1998; Rouskov et al., 2005; Ciampalini
et al., 2012a,b). However, this method can be utilized for geological
mapping, rock units and hydrothermal alteration identification, the
vegetation index determination and revealing differences between
the spectral reflectance properties of rocks and soil around them
(Yamaguchi et al., 1998). Band selection for the different ratio
images is based on the spectral signatures of rocks. When the ratio-
ing techniques are applied, all the reasonable grouping of minerals
is best discriminated by a combination of ratios that includes short
wavelength bands (i.e. ASTER band ratios: 3/1, 4/1 or 4/2), the ratio
of the long wavelength bands (5/7) and a ratio of one band each
from the short and long wavelength band groups such as 5/4 or
5/3 (Crippen, 1989). Such ratio images designed to display the
spectral contrast of specific absorption features can be used exten-
sively in geological remote sensing (Rowan et al., 1974, 1977). This
method includes dividing two bands on each other. The band with
the most reflection becomes the numerator and another band with
the most reflection becomes the denominator. The spectral proper-
ties of iron minerals altered are usually the ASTER band ratios, 2/1
and 3/1 which were used in this study (Rowan et al., 2003). The
combination of these two ratios is shown in Fig. 9.
5.6. Visual interpretation
Based on this method, each of the components such as vegeta-
tion and alteration zones are shown with a color spectrum. ETM+
bands are used to analyze by visual interpretation method. The
most important color combination for depicting the alteration of
iron is 531 (Guo Liu and Mason, 2009), which displays iron altera-
tions in brown-reddish, brown–red and orange colors.
Furthermore, the other color combinations such as 473 and 472
which are usually similar to 742, 741 and 754 (Jingyuan and Xuc-
man, 1991; Chica-Olmo and Abarca, 2002) were used. These meth-
ods are frequently used for checking the truth of the results of 531.
112 B. Sadeghi et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences 85 (2013) 103–114
Of course, matches based on these RGBs results and the geological
maps, show some areas were determined manually within GIS and
they were fitted to an orange color, see Fig. 10. Small section of iron
oxidation are scattered in the NW, central and eastern parts of the
Esfordi mapping sheet. Hence the final output had been generated
using the results of all used methods except SFF method (Fig. 11).
6. Lineament separation
Most ore deposits and mineralization are related to the tectonic
setting and structures of the area consisting of lineaments, faults
and annular structures. One of the best ways to identify these
structures is by the processing of multi spectral satellite images
specifically ETM+. Using satellite imagery can obtain an idea of
the regional tectonic frameworks and also identify its relationship
with the various phases of volcanic, intrusive and possible promis-
ing areas of mineralization and alteration zones. In Landsat ETM+
531 RGB color composite can give us the sharper borders especially
by using the Geomatica software by applying a variety of detectors
which is linear enhancement. As a result, ASTER was used for iron
alteration mapping, whereas Landsat ETM+ was used for the linea-
ment separation.
Determination of structures of the region using remote sensing,
which involves having a picture clearly showing the changes of
rock units. These changes can be displacement and deformation
of units. In this paper, structural separation was evident with the
visual interpretation of ETM+ images by band combination that
is, (RGB: 431). One of these interpretations is separation of the
structures based on evidences, e.g. status of the plants, deviation
from the path of streams, abrupt changes in lithology depicted
by the changing tones and textures of images and Lithological units
movement. In this method, the Esfordi 1:100,000 scale geological
map was used as a guide. However, it should be understood that
these maps can only help us in identifying some of the structures,
and will only give us a general overview of the region and its struc-
tures and cannot really isolate the structures completely. In this
method, using the color composition of (RGB: 431), an image
was created that displayed the existing structures and processes
well, as shown in Fig. 12. Based on the results obtained, there are
many lineaments, especially in the northern, central and eastern
parts of the Esfordi mapping sheet.
The correlation between iron alterations, lineaments and also
the well-known iron ores situations such as Choghart and the Esf-
ordi mines represent the potential iron occurrences in the eastern
and northern and especially the NW parts of the Esfordi mapping
sheet, as shown in Figs. 11 and 12.
7. Conclusions
Based on the results derived by the different remote sensing
methods and combining the extraction algorithms of alteration
zones and lineaments in both the ASTER and ETM+ multi spectral
satellite images, the best methods for evaluation of the areas with
the better mineralization are band ratio, visual interpretation and
matched filtering. Certainly, Linear Band Prediction (LS-Fit) and
Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) methods produce somewhat good
results. Therefore, common areas are proposed as appropriate
areas for investigation these being located in the North to the
North-East, Central and the North Western of the mapping sheet.
Hence, it is suggested that these areas must be reviewed as possi-
ble geological targets.
The main reason for the inefficiency of the SAM method is due
to the presence of the pseudo iron alterations existence in alluvi-
ums within the study area, especially in the southern parts of the
Esfordi mapping sheet.
The achieved results illustrate that sufficient correlation can be
found between the iron occurrences in the central and western
parts of the mapping sheet and the identified iron deposits and
mines namely Choghart, Esfordi, Zaghia and Narigan. Furthermore,
prospecting by remote sensing, geophysics and geochemistry
explorations are suggested based on the existence of the Chadorm-
alu iron mine located in the northern adjacent mapping sheet.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thankfully acknowledge contributions from
Mr. Hassan Heidarian for the geological data of the Central Iran, Dr.
Majid Rahimzadehgan, Dr. Mona Sojdehee, and the editors and
reviewers of this paper are also thanked for editing the text and
their constructive remarks. The paper was extracted from a re-
search project entitled ‘‘Reconnaissance of exploration targets for
metallic mineralization by composition of airborne magnetometer-
ic, remote sensing and stream sediments geochemical data in Esf-
ordi 1:100000 sheet, Central Iran’’ by supporting of Islamic Azad
University, South Tehran branch. The authors wish to acknowledge
the research deputy of Islamic Azad University, South Tehran
branch for financial support of this study.
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.jafrearsci.2013.05.003.
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