Lineaments extraction and analysis in Eljufra area, Libya

Several image processing techniques have been separately and simultaneously applied to data obtained from Landsat ETM+, ERS-2 SAR, and Digital Elevation Models (DEM) to evaluate the performance of different satellite sensors for extracting and mapping geological lineaments in the Eljufra area of northwest Libya. Herein, hundreds of new lineaments in various trends have been identified in comparison to previous results obtained from geological maps. Visible and near infrared color composite of Landsat ETM+ overlaid on shaded relief maps enhanced the ability of extracting and mapping geological lineaments. Analysis and interpretation of the extracted lineaments provided information about the tectonic evolution of the investigated area. A gravity survey was performed to explore the subsurface structure of the study area. Euler deconvolution was applied to the gravity data to estimate the depths and locations of gravity source anomalies. A comparison of results obtained from remote sensing and gravity data indicates that the origin of most lineaments is structural.