Applications of Landsat Imagery in the Great Plains

Abstract

Landsat MSS digital data and imagery are utilized to demonstrate applications in geology and hydrology for two regions of the Great Plains-Devils Lake, North Dakota and the Flint Hills, Kansas. Devils Lake occupies several, internally connected glacial basins that have no outlet at present. Consequently lake surface elevation, water volume, salinity, and biomass fluctuate significantly with climatic changes. During the period 1973-1988, the lake rose 3 m; Landsat images document an increase in surface area of more than 50%. Glacial landforms include large ice-shoved hills, ice-scooped depressions, spillway channels, and tunnel valleys. These features are interpreted as the results of glacier thrusting and melt-water erosion in connection with two converging ice lobes during a late phase of glacier advance. In the Flint Hills of east-central Kansas, stream valleys follow distinct lineaments oriented NW-SE, NNE-SSW, and NE-SW. These lineaments correspond to crustal fractures (joints and buried faults). Based on Landsat imagery, another significant lineament trend at NNW-SSE (about 350'-170') has been identified. This trend is named the Verdigris lineament, and it represents an important fracture system in east-central Kansas. The Verdigris lineament relates to bedrock joint trends in the Flint Hills region.