Application of Remote Sensing Data in Lithological Discrimination of Kerdous Inlier in the Anti Atlas Belt of Morocco

Remote sensing data reveals a great importance for lithological mapping due to their spatial, spectral and radiometric characteristics. Lithological mapping using spatial data is a preliminary and important step to mineral mapping. In this work, several spectral and radiometric transformations methods were applied on Landsat 8 OLI data to enhance lithological units in the study area situated in the Anti Atlas belt. The methods of Optimum Index Factor (OIF), Decorrelation Stretching (DS), Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Band Ratioing (BR) showed good results for lithological mapping in comparison with the existing geological and field investigation. An RGB color composite of OLI bands 651 was developed for mapping lithological units of the study area by fusing optimum index factor (OIF) and decorrelation stretching methods. furthermore, Band ratios derived from image spectra were applied in two RGB color composites (7+4/2, PC1, PC2)  and (PC1, 7/6, 3/7) providing good discrimination of the lithological units. The Landsat-8 OLI data significantly provided satisfied results for lithological mapping.