SPOT IMAGE DATA AS AN AID TO STRUCTURAL MAPPING IN THE SOUTHERN ARAVALLI HILLS OF RAJASTHAN, INDIA

The 10 to 20 m resolution of SPOT image data, together with their potential for stereoscopic viewing, provides an excellent base for geological mapping inremote and rugged terrain that is akin to high-level aerial photographs. Their large format (60 × 60 km) also gives the advantage of synoptic coverage that ranks with images from the Landsat series of satellites. Use of stereo pairs of single-band SPOT images has enabled some revision of existing geological maps of the southern Aravalli Hills in Rajasthan at a scale of 1:100000, and has added significantly to knowledge of their complex mid-Proterozoic structure. In particular, many possibly early low-angled faults have been discovered, together with the tectonic nature of a major terrain boundary and much detail of intricate structures has been added in the more remote areas. The potentialfor lithological discrimination of multispectral SPOT data is severely limited by its restricted coverage of geologically important spectral features, and it is far surpassed by that of Landsat Thematic Mapper data, which would have been capable of more comprehensive lithofacies reconnaissance, had they been available. © 1990, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.