C. MIELKE, T. MUEDI, A. PAPENFUSS, N.K. BOESCHE, C. ROGASS, C.D.K. GAUER T, U. ALTENBERGER AND M.J.

DE WIT

Multi- and hyperspectral spaceborne remote sensing

of the Aggeneys base metal sulphide mineral deposit sites
in the Lower Orange River region, South Africa

C. Mielke
Helmholtz Center Potsdam, German Research Center for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
e-mail:Christian.Mielke@gfz-potsdam.de
University of Potsdam, Institute for Earth and Environmental Sciences, Potsdam, Germany
e-mail: chmielke@uni-potsdam.de

T. Muedi
AEON-ESSRI and Department of Geological Sciences, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Summerstrand,
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
e-mail: ttmuedi@gmail.com

A. Papenfuss and N.K. Boesche

Helmholtz Center Potsdam, German Research Center for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
e-mail: Anne.Papenfuss@gfz-potsdam.de; Nina.Boesche@gfz-potsdam.de
University of Potsdam, Institute for Earth and Environmental Sciences, Potsdam, Germany
e-mail: apapenfu@uni-potsdam.de

C. Rogass
Helmholtz Center Potsdam, German Research Center for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
e-mail: Christian.Rogass@gfz-potsdam.de

C.D.K. Gauert
University of the Free State, Geology Department, Bloemfontein, South Africa,
e-mail: gauertcdk@ufs.ac.za

U. Altenberger
University of Potsdam, Institute for Earth and Environmental Sciences, Potsdam, Germany
e-mail:Uwe@geo.uni-potsdam.de

M.J. de Wit
AEON-ESSRI, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
e-mail: Maarten.deWit@nmmu.ac.za

© 2016 March Geological Society of South Africa

Abstract

New tools and algorithms for geological remote sensing are developed and verified at test sites throughout the
world in preparation of the German hyperspectral satellite Mission (EnMAP), which is an Environmental
Mapping and Analysis Program.
The Aggeneys Cu-Pb-Zn deposit, situated in the arid north western part of South Africa, represents a unique
field laboratory for testing these new tools. Here spaceborne hyperspectral data covering the Swartberg,

SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY. 2016 • VOLUME 119.1 PAGE 63-76 • doi:10.2113/gssajg.119.1.63 63
MULTI- AND HYPERSPECTRAL SPACEBORNE REMOTE SENSING AGGENEYS, SOUTH AFRICA

Big Syncline and Gamsberg area were collected by the Hyperion sensor. New synergies between multispectral
and hyperspectral spaceborne data can be demonstrated, such as the Iron Feature Depth index (IFD), which has
recently been proposed for mine waste mapping in the North West Province of South Africa and for gossan
detection at Haib River in South Namibia.
The work presented here explores the potential of the IFD for gossan mapping and characterization at
Gamsberg and Big Syncline, from EO-1 ALI and Landsat-8 OLI data together with mineral maps from expert
systems such as the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Material Identification and Characterization
Algorithm (MICA), and first results from EnMAPs EnGeoMAP algorithm. Field spectroscopic measurements and
field sampling were carried out to validate and calibrate the results from the expert systems and the IFD.
This ground truthing is a necessary complementary step to link the results from the expert systems and the
IFD to in-situ field spectroscopy.
Future mineral exploration initiatives may benefit from the techniques described here, because they can
significantly narrow the expensive, exploration activities such as hyperspectral airborne data, field activities and
drilling, by identifying the most promising mineral anomalies in an area from the spaceborne data.

Introduction

The arid Northern Cape Province of South Africa represents a
unique field laboratory to illustrate the capabilities of space
borne remote sensing systems such as the multispectral
Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (Irons et al., 2012) and the
hyperspectral EO-1 Hyperion sensor (Middleton et al., 2013).
Here it is possible to assess, which information about
the surface geology can be retrieved by new algorithms from
the aforementioned, operational spaceborne sensors. Future
multispectral space borne sensors such as Sentinel-2 (Drusch
et al., 2012) and hyperspectral spaceborne sensors, for
example the German Environmental Mapping and Analysis
Program (EnMAP) (Kaufmann et al., 2008), benefit from this
research.
The work presented here uses the Aggeneys Pb, Zn,
Cu deposit to further illustrate and explore the potential of
modern multispectral and hyperspectral spaceborne remote
sensing techniques for geological exploration and mapping of
ore deposits. Aggeneys has been chosen as a test site because
the outcropping (Figure 1) litho-stratigraphic units are large
enough to be relevant on the spaceborne scale of ~30 m per
pixel (Stalder and Rozendaal, 2005). In addition, the vegetation
is sparse and subdued and has only a minor impact on the

Figure 1. Landsat-8 composite (Center Wavelength: R: 2200 nm, G: 865 nm, B: 562 nm) of the lower Orange River area. The four Pb, Zn, Cu deposits
of the Bushmanland area are located around the town of Aggeneys as distinct inselbergs surrounded by the red, iron oxide rich Namaqualand sands.
Landsat data courtesy NASA/USGS: LC81760802013311.

64 SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY

 C. MIELKE, T. MUEDI, A. PAPENFUSS, N.K. BOESCHE, C. ROGASS, C.D.K. GAUER T, U. ALTENBERGER AND M.J. DE WIT

Figure 2. EO-1 Advanced Land Imager composite (Center Wavelength: R: 2215 nm, G: 790 nm, B: 565 nm) of the Aggeneys mineral deposit area
showing the main deposits in the area: Swartberg, Broken Hill, Big Syncline and Gamsberg. Colored dots mark the locations of field sampling and
field spectrometer measurements. Data courtesy USGS/NASA: EO1A1760802013309110KF.

signal in the spectrum, during the dry season. Finally the wealth
of published information on the Broken Hill Type (BHT)
deposits of the Aggeneys area (Colliston et al., 1986; Colliston
and Schoch, 2002; Bailie and Reid, 2005; Bailie et al., 2007)
allows a testable assessment of the results from the remote
sensing techniques. Nevertheless, readers should not expect
new contributions to the controversy on the age relationship
and the correlation of the lithologic units of the Bushmanland
terrain and the Aggeneys area as presented in (Colliston and
Schoch, 2002; Colliston et al., 2012; Cornell et al., 2009; Bailie
et al., 2007), as this is not within the scope of this article.
The presented remote sensing techniques focus on the
detection and characterization of surface exploration targets via
new indices such as the Iron Feature Depth index (IFD) for
mapping gossan areas via the presence of iron bearing
minerals, such as goethite, hematite and jarosite (Mielke et al.,
2014a; Mielke et al., 2014b). Additionally, techniques such as
mineral mapping results using hyperspectral spaceborne data
and automated, expert-knowledge-based routines are shown.
This includes results from e.g. the United States Geological
Survey (USGS) Material Identification and Characterization
Algorithm (MICA) (Kokaly, 2012) or the EnMAP Geological
Mapper v1.0 (EnGeoMAP) (Rogass et al., 2013) with automated
absorption feature definition (Mielke et al., 2015) (EnGeoMAP
v1.5). These results complement and enhance the results that
have been retrieved from the multispectral data of the Landsat-
8 Operational Land Imager (Irons et al., 2012) and EO-1 ALI
(Middleton et al., 2013). Field verification from in-situ field
spectroscopy validates the results of the remote sensing
analysis and links it to data from geochemical and
mineralogical analysis via X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray
Fluorescene (XRF) techniques.
Regional geological setting
Aggeneys is located to the southeast of the major crustal
lineament, the Pofadder-Tantalite Valley Shear Zone, shown in
the Landsat-8 false color composite of Figure 1. The area belongs
to the Namaqualand Metamorphic Complex, which is part of the
larger Namaqua-Natal tectonic province of South Africa (Joubert,
1986). The larger Aggeneys area is also referred to as the
Bushmanland ore district (Cornell et al., 2009) as a reference
to the Bushmanland Subprovince of the Namaqualand
Metamorphic Complex. Colliston et al., (2012), further
subdivided this province into separate terranes to emphasize the
complex tectonic and metamorphic history of the area.
The Bushmanland Group comprises metaquartzites,
metapelitic schists and banded iron formations, which host the
massive sulfide mineralization (Ryan et al., 1986). The deposition
of this volcano-sedimentary sequence with a thickness of
<1500 m (Stalder and Rozendaal, 2005) occurred between
1.64 and ~1.2 Ga (Bailie and Reid, 2005). The youngest age
marks the onset of the Kibaran orogeny 1.21 Ga (Bailie et al.,
2007; Cornell et al., 2009). The Bushmanland rocks were
subjected to amphibolite facies metamorphic conditions with
temperatures from 615 to 670°C and pressures of 3.4 to 6 kbar
(Ryan et al., 1986). Four giant sulfide deposits of the Aggeneys
area are shown in Figure 2. The deposits are known as:

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MULTI- AND HYPERSPECTRAL SPACEBORNE REMOTE SENSING AGGENEYS, SOUTH AFRICA

iron bearing minerals such as jarosite, hematite and goethite

(Hunt and Ashley, 1979), causing local minima in the
reflectance spectrum at 430, 650, 850 and 930 nm (Hunt and
Ashley, 1979). Local minima in the reflectance spectrum from
1300 to 2500 nm are caused by vibrational transitions
(Hunt and Ashley, 1979), such as for example in the OH bonds
in clay minerals (Crowley and Vergo, 1988). These mineral and
material specific absorption features can be used to
characterize geological surfaces on the basis of their mineral
constituents (Hunt et al., 1973; Hunt et al., 1974). Figure 3
shows the characteristic absorption bands from field spectra
from Gamsberg and Big Syncline, collected with a contact
probe in the field, due to unfavorable atmospheric conditions
(dust and cirrus clouds). The field spectra were convolved
with the spectral response functions of the EnMAP sensor
to illustrate the potential of hyperspectral spaceborne sensors
Figure 3. Field spectroscopic measurements of the Gamsberg gossan
to detect the characteristic absorption bands of the rock units
and the Big Syncline schist as two prominent rock units next to the ore
that are used to produce a mineral map of the area.
bearing zone and an additional spectrum from the white quartzite at
The reflectance spectra are from the Gamsberg gossan, the Big
Gamsberg. Note the prominent iron absorption feature around 900 nm.
Syncline schist and the white quartzite from Gamsberg.
The white quartzite contains a major absorption feature in the
the Swartberg, Broken Hill, Big Syncline and Gamsberg ore
short wave infrared region beyond 2000 nm, due to an
deposits, all of which form distinct inselbergs in the relatively
appreciable muscovite content in the rock. The gossan
flat landscape of Namaqualand. The supracrustal host-rocks of
exhibits a shallow iron absorption feature around 900 nm
the Bushmanland deposits show a complex tectonostratigraphy,
due to a larger proportion of hematite in the gossan.
which is at the focus of an ongoing debate concerning the
The Big Syncline schist shows a large clay doublet feature
evolution of the Bushmanland Group (Bailie et al., 2007;
around 2250 nm due to the presence of kaolinite. In addition,
Cornell et al., 2009; Colliston et al., 2012).
the large iron absorption feature around 900 nm, is caused by
the presence of iron bearing minerals, such as hematite
Methods
and goethite.

Multispectral data from Landsat-8 OLI (Irons et al., 2012) and

Multispectral data and the IFD
the EO-1 Advanced Land Imager (ALI) (Ungar et al., 2003)
were preprocessed using the ATCOR atmospheric correction
Figure 3 also shows the spectral band coverage of Landsat-8
suite for spaceborne sensors (Richter and Schläpfer, 2005).
OLI and EO-1 ALI. Here we see that these multispectral sensors
This software calculates the at ground reflectance from
are only capable of characterizing the large iron absorption
the spaceborne multispectral sensor data to facilitate the
computation of indices that exploit characteristic absorption
features in the reflectance spectrum.
The calculation of ground reflectance from Hyperion
radiance was carried out using the modules of the
Hyperion preprocessing chain (Rogass et al., 2014a), which
includes the reduction of miscalibration effects such as striping
artifacts (Rogass et al., 2014b) prior to the atmospheric
correction (Guanter et al., 2009).
Correct preprocessing of remote sensing data is the
prerequisite to facilitate any further analysis of the data
through expert system algorithms for reflectance spectroscopic
data (Clark et al., 2003; Kokaly, 2012; Rogass et al., 2013).
These algorithms use the characteristic absorption features of
e.g. minerals and vegetation for the characterization of surface
cover types from hyperspectral data.

Characteristic absorption features

Figure 4. Field spectroscopic measurements of the Gamsberg gossan the
Big Syncline schist resampled to the spectral resolution of EO-1 ALI and
Characteristic absorption bands of minerals have been
Landsat-8 OLI. The Iron Feature Depth (IFD) index is calculated using
described in detail in the literature (Hunt, 1977; Hunt and
a linear interpolation between the left and right shoulder points
Ashley, 1979; Townsend, 1987). They are caused in the Visible
(points closest to 750 and 1250 nm) adjacent to the absorption
and Near Infrared (VNIR) due to electronic transitions e.g. in
maximum near 900 nm.

66 SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY

 C. MIELKE, T. MUEDI, A. PAPENFUSS, N.K. BOESCHE, C. ROGASS, C.D.K. GAUER T, U. ALTENBERGER AND M.J. DE WIT
feature at 900 nm, due to their spectral band layout.
This absorption feature is prominent especially in the Big
Syncline schist, that is also partially covered by gossans. It is
also present in the Gamsberg gossans. Therefore, this iron
absorption feature may be used to outline areas of prominent
iron oxide enrichment via EO-1 ALI and Landsat-8 OLI, which
can be accomplished through a three-point band depth index,
as shown in Figure 4. This index was originally developed to
map tailings material with iron bearing minerals from
multispectral data (Mielke et al., 2014a):
 ൌ ௜௡௧  െ  
(1)
Where rint (NIR) is the linear interpolated near infrared
reflectance value near 900 nm and r (NIR) the measured
reflectance value of the sensor near 900 nm (red dot in
Figure 4). The value of rint (NIR) is calculated according to (2)
after (Mielke et al., 2014a):
(2)
The most important part of the algorithms is the
identification of characteristic absorption features, as shown in
Figure 3. These features are isolated by defining the left and right
shoulders of the absorption band, which are local maxima to a
local minimum. This concave part between the two shoulder
points represents the absorption band and contains the
maximum absorption of this characteristic absorption feature.
This is shown in Figure 4 where the absorption band is
represented by a three-point band-depth index due to the
discontinuous nature of multispectral data in contrast to
hyperspectral data. Linear interpolation is carried out
to approximate the albedo over the absorption feature.
This interpolated line represents an upper continuum of the
absorption band and is used to extract the characteristic
absorption feature from the spectrum either by normalizing the
absorption band by its continuum (relative continuum removal),
or by subtracting the absorption band from its continuum line
(absolute continuum removal). Additional characteristic
absorption features are treated in a similar manner. This process
(Clark et al., 1987) now facilitates further qualitative and
quantitative analysis because only the material characteristic
absorption features (Hunt and Ashley, 1979; Townsend, 1987)
௜௡௧ ͻͲͲ  ൌ ͹ͷͲ  ൅
ͳʹͷͲ  െ ͹ͷͲ   ‫כ‬ are used in the analysis of the data (Clark et al., 2014).
This preprocessing step is carried out on a spectral
ͻͲͲ  െ ሺ͹ͷͲ ሻ
 reference database, such as the USGS digital spectral library
ͳʹͷͲ  െ ሺ͹ͷͲ ሻ
Where r (750 nm) and r (1250 nm) are the reflectance values
of the sensor channels closest to 750 nm (yellow dot in
Figure 4) and 1250 nm (blue dot in Figure 4) without
information from sensor channels placed in water vapor
absorption bands. With λ(750 nm) being the center
wavelength of the sensor channel closest to 750 nm and
λ(1250 nm) being the center wavelength of the sensor channel
closest to 1250 nm. Thus for Landsat 8 OLI equation (2) can be
written in the following form:
(3)
(Clark et al., 2007), which contains mineralogical well-
characterized reference spectra that serve as reference
standards for a later comparison of the reference spectrum to
an unknown spectrum (e.g.) from imaging spectroscopy
(Kokaly, 2012).
The characteristic absorption features in the reference
database were determined manually by a team of experts
working in imaging spectroscopy and geosciences (Clark et al.,
2003) for the USGS Tetracorder and MICA algorithms (Kokaly,
2012). The definition of the continuum to the unknown image
spectrum is carried out on the basis of these reference features,
defined by expert knowledge in the USGS Tetracorder and MICA
spectral reference libraries. In contrast to that EnGeoMAP v1.5
defines the characteristic absorption features in the reference
௜௡௧ை௅ூ ͺ͸ͷ  ൌ ͸ͷͲ  ൅
ͳ͸ͲͲ  െ ͸ͷͲ   ‫כ‬ library and in the unknown image spectra automatically, without
ͺ͸ͷ  െ ሺ͸ͷͲ ሻ any a priori knowledge using the geometric hull (Mielke et al.,
 2015). This technique ensures an automated extraction of
ͳ͸ͲͲ  െ ሺ͸ͷͲ ሻ
The IFD may also be used to map gossans in mineral deposit
areas, which may highlight zones of high exploration potential
(Mielke et al., 2014b).
Expert systems in imaging spectroscopy
The preprocessed hyperspectral spaceborne data from
EO-1 Hyperion is analyzed with specialized expert systems that
have been developed for the analysis of imaging spectroscopy
data such as the USGS Tetracorder (Clark et al., 2003) and its
successor USGS MICA (Kokaly, 2012). EnGeoMAP v1.0 (Rogass
et al., 2013) and v1.5 were developed as mineral mapping tools
to the German hyperspectral, satellite mission EnMAP.
Figure 5 outlines the four major processing steps of the above
named algorithms.
characteristic absorption features from the unknown image
spectra without any a priori knowledge in contrast to the expert
defined feature approach where features in fixed pre-defined
ranges are compared, between unknown image spectra and the
corresponding reference spectra. Therefore, no additional
feature database is needed in EnGeoMAP v1.5. As a final result
in EnGeoMAP a mineral and material map is produced based on
the best weighted fit results of each pixel together with other
ancillary information as shown in Figure 5. The analysis results
in the USGS algorithms also display the best weighted fit
results and are divided into an analysis for materials and
minerals that are dominated by absorption bands in the visible
and near infrared (VNIR group 1) and analysis results for
minerals with dominant absorption bands in the short
wave infrared beyond 2000 nm (SWIR group 2) (Kokaly,
2012). This grouping is not necessary in the EnGeoMAP
algorithms.
SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY 67
MULTI- AND HYPERSPECTRAL SPACEBORNE REMOTE SENSING AGGENEYS, SOUTH AFRICA
Results
Figure 6 shows IFD results for the Aggeneys area calculated
from Landsat-8 OLI data, according to equations 1 and 3.
Here linear interpolation between the red channel at 650 nm
and the SWIR channel at 1600 nm gives the interpolated value
of the NIR channel at 865 nm for the calculation of the IFD, as
shown in Figure 4. Only positive IFD values are considered.
They represent the absorption due to the 900 nm iron feature
(Mielke et al., 2014a). The areas with higher IFD show a close
spatial relation with iron mineral bearing areas. These areas are
the red gossan at Gamsberg that marks parts of the Gamsberg
ore formation, and the Big Syncline Schist, which partially
shows gossan cover in weathered parts. This appearance has
been noted during fieldwork and was also appreciated by
Colliston and Schoch (2002).
The results in Figure 7 show a greater spatial extent of the
IFD, calculated from ALI data. Such a result can be expected as
ALI is better suited to characterize the iron absorption band
around 900 nm as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4. These
differences in the IFD calculated from Landsat-8 OLI and EO-1
ALI have been noted in previous work where the ability of the
IFD for gossan detection was tested (Mielke et al., 2014 b).
Further mineralogical characterization of these areas with
high IFD values is not possible with the ALI and OLI
instruments. Mineralogical information from the spectral
characterization of the surface cover can only be extracted with
hyperspectral instruments.
Figure 8 shows a result from the MICA group 1 analysis
illustrating the spatial abundance of iron bearing minerals such
Figure 5. Processing workflow of the algorithms for mineral and material analysis. Note that results from EnGeoMAP v1.5 and MICA, which represent
successor algorithms to EnGeoMAP v1.0 and Tetracorder are shown and discussed in the following.
68 SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY
as for example goethite, hematite and jarosite, which are
important constituents of gossan material (Townsend, 1987;
Chavez, 2000). From Figure 8 an increased level of geological
detail can be observed that cannot be provided by the IFD
analysis of the EO-1 ALI data or the Landsat-8 OLI data alone.
For example, discrimination between hematite, goethite and
jarosite is now possible using the Hyperion data. This is also
shown in the close-up view in Figure 9, showing a distinct
gossan area in the western part of the Gamsberg area.
In addition to that a smaller gossanous area can be observed in
the eastern central area of Gamsberg, mainly dominated by
goethite and jarosite. Close-up views of the Big Syncline area
show distinct but scarce spots of the three minerals that usually
dominate gossans in areas with sulfide oxidation (hematite,
goethite and jarosite) (Taylor, 2011).
The analysis results of EnGeoMAP v1.5 in Figure 10 and
11 differ from those of the MICA group 1 analysis because in
addition to the reference spectra from the USGS digital spectral
library (Clark et al., 2007), GFZ reference spectra were used in
the spectral comparison. EnGeoMAP v1.5 also does not
subdivide the analysis into two separate groups, as
implemented in MICA. Therefore, mica, clay minerals
and carbonates are also present in the analysis results of
EnGeoMAP v1.5 in addition to the iron bearing minerals.
Fieldwork and verification
Fieldwork was carried out for spectroscopic field reference
measurements for validation and sample collection. Field
spectroscopic measurements were conducted with an
 C. MIELKE, T. MUEDI, A. PAPENFUSS, N.K. BOESCHE, C. ROGASS, C.D.K. GAUER T, U. ALTENBERGER AND M.J. DE WIT

Figure 6. Iron feature depth calculated from Landsat-8 OLI Data (Scene Id: LC81760802013311), covering OLI channel 5 (865 nm) data. Note that
Gamsberg and the Big Syncline gossan areas are highlighted by the IFD, although the sensors potential to map the iron absorption feature at 900 nm
is limited, compared to other sensors (ALI), as shown in figure 4.

ASD field spectrometer and a contact probe with an internal Field spectra that have been collected during the
light source, due to partial cirrus cloud cover that prevented verification work can now be used as reference spectra in
good signal to noise ratio data in the short wave infrared EnGeoMAP v1.5 to produce a best weighted fit material map
beyond 2000 nm. Sample surfaces with homogenous surface based on spectra from in-situ measurements that represent the
cover types were selected that represent the main lithologies of different rock units of the area. This map (Figure 12) is similar
the Gamsberg, Swartberg and Big-Syncline area, shown in to the EnGeoMAP v1.5 results that were produced using pure
Figures 2, 6 and 7. Sampling and field spectroscopy was mineral reference spectra from a hybrid library (Figure 11) that
conducted in a regular pattern, that was already established included reference spectra from the USGS digital spectral
during previous field campaigns (Mielke et al., 2012). The test library (Clark et al., 2007) and the GFZ spectral library.
surface is divided into nine sampling plots that characterize the This result is less noisy than the mineral maps, as shown in
central pixel of the sensor together with 8 sample plots that Figure 12. The reference spectra for this EnGeoMAP v1.5 result
surround this pixel, and represent the centers of the were manually selected from the field reference database.
neighbor pixels to this central pixel. The collected field spectra
from the schist lithologies show prominent clay absorption Table 1. XRD results from rock samples collected during the field
features and especially at Big Syncline partial gossan cover spectroscopic validation campaign.
causing additional broad iron absorption features as shown in Rock type Mineral composition
Figure 3. The gossan areas show a wide iron absorption feature Big Syncline Gossan Quartz, Muscovite, Goethite, Illite
around 900 nm. The quartzite has a dominant mica absorption Big Syncline Schist Quartz, Muscovite, Microcline,
feature due to its muscovite content shown in Figure 3. After Sanidine
the field spectroscopic measurements representative rock and Swartberg Schist Quartz, Muscovite, Hematite
surface cover samples were collected. Table 1 shows the Swartberg Garnet Quartzite Quartz, Magnetite, Hematite, Goethite,
mineral composition of gossans and schists from the Swartberg, (gossanous) Almandine, Maghemite
Big Syncline and Gamsberg sample areas determined by Swartberg Quartz Magnetite Quartz, Goethtie, Magnetite, Hematite
XRD analysis. Characteristic gossan minerals are hematite and (gossanous)
goethite at the sample locations. Pink Gneiss Microcline, Albite, Quartz, Biotite,
Trace element results from XRF analysis are given in Hematite
Table 2. The gossans at Big Syncline and Gamsberg show Swartberg Rock Dump Magnetite, Pyrite, Jarosite, Muscovite,
elevated lead and zinc contents, compared to local background Almandine, Pyrope
values given for example by the pink gneiss. Gamsberg Gossan Hematite, Magnetite, Kaolinite

SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY 69

MULTI- AND HYPERSPECTRAL SPACEBORNE REMOTE SENSING AGGENEYS, SOUTH AFRICA

Figure 7. Iron feature depth calculated from EO-1 ALI Data (Scene Id: EO1A1760802013309110KF), covering OLI channel 5 (865 nm) data.
Note the greater spatial extent of the IFD, due to a better spectral resolution of ALI in the near infrared. The most prominent gossan zones on the
inselbergs (largest IFD values) are spatially similar to those calculated from OLI data.

Figure 8. USGS MICA Group 1 Analysis of iron bearing minerals, overlain over OLI channel 5 (865 nm). The areas on the inselbergs with gossans
show hematite, jarosite and minor goethite.

70 SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY

SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY
Figure 9. Detailed USGS MICA Group 1 Analysis, overlain over OLI channel 5 (865 nm), showing a close-up view of the Gamsberg and the Big Syncline areas, from figure 8. The gossan bearing areas on the inselbergs

71
C. MIELKE, T. MUEDI, A. PAPENFUSS, N.K. BOESCHE, C. ROGASS, C.D.K. GAUER T, U. ALTENBERGER AND M.J. DE WIT

show distinct spots of coarse grained hematite, together with jarosite and minor goethite.
MULTI- AND HYPERSPECTRAL SPACEBORNE REMOTE SENSING AGGENEYS, SOUTH AFRICA

Figure 10. EnGeoMAP result from Hyperion data acquired over Gamsberg (EO1H1760802013317110PF), Big Syncline
(EO1H1760802013283110KF) and Swartberg (EO1H1760802013309110KF) in early summer (November), overlain over OLI channel 5 (865 nm).
Using entries of the USGS digital spectral library and mineral reference spectra from the GFZ database.

Figure 13 shows analysis results similar to those of Figure 12 spectra for the mapping process, show similar results.
using data from the southern hemisphere winter. It is obvious However, they are not shown here to preserve the
that the mineral and material mapping result is very compactness and readability of the article. The view angles of
heterogeneous in the southern hemisphere winter data, Hyperion for the Gamsberg and Swartberg winter scenes are
compared to the summer data, with data over Big Syncline, 15.4 and 15.7 degrees. Hyperion view angles for the summer
showing the least successful mapping result. scenes are 2.4 degrees for Gamsberg and 9.1 degrees for
Swartberg. The Big Syncline Scene has a look angle of
Discussion 20.8 degrees. The sun elevation angles of all summer scenes
are between 50 and 54 degrees. This shows that the mapping
The distinct difference in the mapping results from in-situ results from expert systems are highly dependent on the data
reference spectra with EnGeoMAP v1.5 in Figures 12 and 13 is quality and the signal to noise ratio (SNR), which is generally
due to the low sun elevation angle of 26.4 degrees together lower in the winter scenes due to the low sun elevation angle.
with a high instrument view angle of 21 degrees. Results from The large off-nadir viewing angles of Hyperion in the winter
EnGeoMAP v1.5 and MICA that use pure mineral reference scenes further degrade the mapping result as shown in
Figure 13. Figures 11 and 12 outlines prominent units of in the
Table 2. XRF results for the trace elements copper, lead zinc from western limb of Big Syncline and in the center of Gamsberg
rock samples collected during the field spectroscopic validation colored in orange. They are dominated by mica and clay
campaign. minerals. These are consistent with Colliston et al. (1986).
The Kouboom Formation, which consists of quartz-
Rock type Cu Pb Zn
muscovite-biotite schists and metaquartzites (Colliston et al.,
(ppm) (ppm) (ppm)
1986) fits to the orange colored material in Figures 11 and 12.
Big Syncline Gossan 91 567 556
At Gamsberg the Koeris Formation crops out in the central
Big Syncline Schist 84 680 566
part, consisting of quartz-muscovite-feldspar schists and
Swartberg Schist 55 766 256
metaquartzites (Colliston et al., 1986). This explains the best
Swartberg Garnet Quartzite
weighted fit mineral mapping results of EnGeoMAP v1.5 in
(gossanous) 1752 1212 280
Figures 10 to 13.
Swartberg Quartz Magnetite 1074 21186 1276
If the maps from the MICA and EnGeoMAP v1.5 analysis
Pink Gneiss 36 57 44
are compared to the IFD maps we see that the large sand area
Swartberg Rock Dump 5197 8123 1763
is classified as hematite. This is due to the presence of a
Gamsberg Gossan 128 3159 703
shallow iron absorption feature within the Hyperion data.

72 SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY

SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY
Figure 11. EnGeoMAP analysis result close-up from figure 10 with details for the Gamsberg and the Big Syncline areas, overlain over OLI channel 5 (865 nm). Note that the gossan areas in the Gamsberg and in the
Big Syncline show prominent abundances of hematite, goethite and jarosite. Also note the abundance of muscovite and the clay minerals illite, montmorillonite and buddingtonite, which outline areas with abundant

73
C. MIELKE, T. MUEDI, A. PAPENFUSS, N.K. BOESCHE, C. ROGASS, C.D.K. GAUER T, U. ALTENBERGER AND M.J. DE WIT

schist, such as in the south western part of Big Syncline and in the central part of Gamsberg.
MULTI- AND HYPERSPECTRAL SPACEBORNE REMOTE SENSING AGGENEYS, SOUTH AFRICA

Figure 12. EnGeoMAP result, overlain over OLI channel 5 (865 nm), from Hyperion data acquired over Gamsberg (EO1H1760802013317110PF),
Big Syncline (EO1H1760802013283110KF) and Swartberg (EO1H1760802013309110KF) in early summer using reference spectra from field
spectroscopic measurements.

Figure 13. EnGeoMAP result, overlain over OLI channel 5 (865 nm), from Hyperion data acquired over Gamsberg (EO1H1760802013198110KF),
Big Syncline (EO1H1760802013188110KF) and Swartberg EO1H1760802013275110KF) in winter/early spring using reference spectra from field
spectroscopic measurements. Note the denser vegetation cover at Big Syncline during winter.

74 SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY

 C. MIELKE, T. MUEDI, A. PAPENFUSS, N.K. BOESCHE, C. ROGASS, C.D.K. GAUER T, U. ALTENBERGER AND M.J. DE WIT
This shallow feature causes a best weighted fit match
between the sand pixels and the hematite reference spectrum.
This could be caused by the low signal to noise ratio of the
Hyperion sensor and unfavorable acquisition conditions as
already stated above. However, both USGS MICA (Figures 8
and 9), and EnGeoMAP v1.5 (Figures 10 and 11) show
comparable mapping results concerning the spatial distribution
of iron bearing minerals.
However, if the results from the hyperspectral mineral
analysis are compared to the multispectral IFD results in
Figures 6 and 7 we see that large areas of the sand cover
between the inselbergs show appreciably high IFD values.
This is especially the case for the ALI data in Figure 7.
This observation could argue against the fact that the shallow
iron feature in the Hyperion data is an artifact, as ALI and
Hyperion are independent sensors on the same platform.
The reason for the absence of higher IFD values in the OLI data
is the insufficient spectral resolution of the 900 nm iron
absorption feature, if compared to data from OLI
(see Figures 3 and 4). ALI has an accuracy of 97.5% for
characterizing the 900 nm iron absorption feature, compared to
the only 95% accuracy of OLI (Mielke et al., 2014 a). However,
this accuracy difference is large enough to explain the
differences in the IFD results (Mielke et al., 2014a; Mielke
et al., 2014b).
Conclusion and outlook
This study has shown that a synergetic usage of the
complementary characteristics of multispectral and hyperspectral
spaceborne data can significantly contribute to early stages of
exploration work. Potential gossan areas with anomalously
high levels of base metal content may be detected through
large-scale mapper missions, such as Landsat-8 OLI using
the IFD. These gossan targets that have been identified by the
multispectral data may now be further investigated using
hyperspectral spaceborne data from Hyperion or, after the
launch and commissioning phase, EnMAP. This can be done
through the use of expert systems in imaging spectroscopy.
These algorithms are able to reveal more detailed geological
information through best weighted fit mineral maps in areas of
interest. Should there be the need for a better spatial resolution
of the mineral mapping result, hyperspectral airborne surveys
may be used for a spatial refinement of the mineral maps
through airborne data acquisitions and analysis. These results
may then be used for field work directed at potentially
promising targets.
Future technological advances such as airborne thermal
infrared data input will improve these results even
further, especially at Aggeneys because several minerals shown
in Table 1 have no characteristic features in the solar
reflective wavelength region from 400 nm till 2500 nm, such as,
for example quartz.
Another important aspect, is the incorporation of spectral
unmixing into the analysis to identify the spectrally dominant
mineral or material in the imaging spectroscopy dataset.
This will be carried out in forthcoming versions of EnGeoMAP
making use of the geometric hull feature extraction.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Landsat-8 science team
and USGS for providing access to the Landsat-8 OLI data via
the USGS Earth Explorer web interface. Thanks to the EO-1
Hyperion and ALI science team in particular to Stuart Frye for
tasking of the Hyperion data takes used in this study. Thanks
to the USGS Speclab team for providing the USGS digital
spectral library as reference standard for expert system based
analysis. Thanks to Rudolf Naumann and Andrea Gottsche for
helping with the XRD analysis and providing the XRF analysis
data. Thanks to Raymond Kokaly for providing the USGS MICA
expert system for material analysis. Special thanks to Black
Mountain Mining and Vedanta (i.e. Pottie Potgieter, Peter Hall
and Pieter David Venter) for generously granting access to the
Gamsberg, Swartberg and Big Syncline areas for field
spectroscopy and sampling. The authors would like to thank
the two reviewers for their valuable comments that improved
this manuscript. This work was funded by AEON and by the
German National EnMAP framework program (Department of
Economics and Technology BMWi No. 50EE1256). This is
Inkaba ye Africa contribution number 133 and AEON
contribution number 145.
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