Semi-automatic extraction of lineaments from remote sensing data and the derivation of groundwater flow-paths

Abstract

Abstract. We describe a semi-automatic method to objectively and reproducibly extract lineaments based on the global one arc-second ASTER GDEM. The combined method of linear filtering and object-based classification ensures a high degree of accuracy resulting in a lineament map. Subsequently lineaments are differentiated into geological and morphological lineaments to assign a probable origin and hence a hydro-geological significance. In the western catchment area of the Dead Sea (Israel) the orientation and location of the differentiated lineaments are compared to characteristics of known structural features. The authors demonstrate that a strong correlation between lineaments and structural features exist, being either influenced by the Syrian Arc paleostress field or the Dead Sea stress field or by both. Subsequently, we analyse the distances between lineaments and wells thereby creating an assessment criterion concerning the hydraulic significance of detected lineaments. Derived from this analysis the authors suggest that the statistic analysis of lineaments allows a delineation of flow-paths and thus significant information for groundwater analysis. We validate the flow-path delineation by comparison with existing groundwater model results based on well data.