Application of representative elementary area (REA) to lineament density analysis for groundwater implications

Abstract

Lineament density maps can be used for the quantitative evaluation of relationships between lineaments and the occurrence of groundwater. This paper reports the usefulness of the representative elementary area (REA) concept for lineament analysis. This concept refers to the area of the unit circle needed to calculate the lineament density factors distributed within the circle: length, counts and cross-points counts. The circle is a unit circle where one calculates the sum of the lineament length, lineament counts and the number of cross-points within it. The REA is needed to obtain the best representative lineament and ground-water well yield or other groundwater characteristics. A lineament map for the Yongsangang-Seomjingang watershed of Korea was used for demonstrating the concept. It is shown that the REA concept can be efficiently applied to lineament density analysis and mapping. In the demonstration case, the lineament densities are inversely proportional to the size of the REA and the REA can be calculated with this inversely linear regression model. If the average lineament density values for the whole study area are known, the most accurate density maps can be drawn using the REAs obtained from each linear regression model.