Satellite data based abundance mapping of mafic and ultramafic rocks in Mettupalayam, Tamil Nadu, India

The mafic and ultramafic rocks of Mettupalayam belong to the southern granulite terrain of India, which is concomitant with vital economic resources. The advantage of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflectance Radiometer (ASTER) data for mapping the litho units are exploited well here for differentiating the rock units with the aid of band combination (1, 3, 6), principal component analysis (5, 1, 6) and band ratioed band combination (2/3, 3/2, 1/5 and (9–8)/1, (8–6)/2, and (9–6)/3). As part of the field study, the collection of samples and ground control points were carried out and in addition to that, the generation of laboratory reflectance spectra for samples was achieved. The Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) were performed using ASTER data with the aid of spectra obtained from the laboratory conditions to demarcate the abundance of mafic and ultramafic rocks of the area. The XRF method was used to retrieve the major oxides of the field-collected samples and the spectral absorption characters are validated with it. The results show a vibrant interpretation of the litho units.