Strategic Mineral Mapping in the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex Using Orbital Multispectral and Hyperspectral Imageries

We have developed a method that can effectively identify and map the distribution and semi-quantitative abundance of minerals in a volcanic terrain using NASA's spaceborne spectral instruments. Our method synergistically combines spatially extensive but spectrally low-resolution Landsat multispectral imageries with spatially narrow but spectrally high-resolution Hyperion hyperspectral imageries. This approach profits from the advantages of the two types of data while compensating the disadvantages, leading to retrievals of reasonably detailed mineralogical information within a practical processing timeframe. We mapped the mineralogy of the Altiplano-Puna volcanic province in the Central Andes and detected ferric iron minerals, alunite, and kaolinite. This contributes to the ongoing efforts to better understand the Altiplano-Puna region for scientific and industrial purposes, as well as a demonstration for analysis of other planetary surfaces using similar datasets.