Skip to main content
Article
Delineation of Copper Mineralization Zones at Wadi Ham, Northern Oman Mountains, United Arab Emirates Using Multispectral Landsat 8 (OLI) Data
Frontiers in Earth Science
  • Fares M. Howari, Zayed University
  • Habes Ghrefat, King Saud University
  • Yousef Nazzal, Zayed University
  • Mahmoud A. Galmed, King Saud University
  • Osman Abdelghany, United Arab Emirates University
  • Abdel Rahman Fowler, United Arab Emirates University
  • Manish Sharma, Zayed University
  • Fatima AlAydaroos, UAE Space Agency
  • Cijo M. Xavier, Zayed University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-18-2020
Abstract

© Copyright © 2020 Howari, Ghrefat, Nazzal, Galmed, Abdelghany, Fowler, Sharma, AlAydaroos and Xavier. Copper deposits in the ultramafic rocks of the Semail ophiolite massifs is found to be enormous in the region of northern Oman Mountains, United Arab Emirates. For this study, samples of copper were gathered from 14 different sites in the investigation area and were analyzed in the laboratory using the X-ray diffraction, GER 3700 spectroradiometer, and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer. Detection and mapping of copper-bearing mineralized zones were carried out using different image processing approaches of minimum noise fraction, principal component analysis, decorrelation stretch, and band ratio which were applied on Landsat 8 (OLI) data. The spectra of malachite and azurite samples were characterized by broad absorption features in the visible and near infrared region (0.6–1.0 µm). The results obtained from the principal component analysis, minimum noise fraction, band ratio, decorrelation stretch, spectral reflectance analyses, and mineralogical and chemical analyses were found to be similar. Thus, it can be concluded that multispectral Landsat 8 data are useful in the detection iron ore deposits in arid and semi-arid regions.

Publisher
Frontiers Media S.A.
Disciplines
Keywords
  • copper,
  • Landsat 8,
  • mapping,
  • ophiolite,
  • spectra,
  • United Arab Emirates
Scopus ID
85091921093
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Indexed in Scopus
Yes
Open Access
Yes
Open Access Type
Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series
Citation Information
Fares M. Howari, Habes Ghrefat, Yousef Nazzal, Mahmoud A. Galmed, et al.. "Delineation of Copper Mineralization Zones at Wadi Ham, Northern Oman Mountains, United Arab Emirates Using Multispectral Landsat 8 (OLI) Data" Frontiers in Earth Science Vol. 8 (2020) ISSN: <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/issn/2296-6463" target="_blank">2296-6463</a>
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/yousef-nazzal/7/