Reflectance spectra of minerals and their discrimination using Thematic Mapper, IRS and SPOT multi-spectral data

Abstract

Minerals and rocks show varying spectral reflectances under different spectral ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum and such spectral responses vary because of colour, texture, crystal structure, specific gravity and other physical and optical properties. Hence in order to optimise the spectral ranges which may be used in the recognition of the minerals and the rocks, spectral reflectance measurements were carried out for 29 minerals under the visible and near-infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum covered by the TM bands 1, 2, 3 and 4, IRS bands 1, 2, 3 and 4 and SPOT bands 1, 2 and 3. The analysis of the data identifies the optimum spectral bands for distinguishing the different minerals and the mineral aggregates/rocks