Fracture detection by airborne microwave radiometry in parts of the Mississippi embayment, Missouri and Tennessee

Abstract

Airborne microwave radiometry is a promising remote sensing technique for detecting buried fractures in areas of low relief and uniform soil cover. The technique was applied to two areas in the alluvial part of the Mississippi embayment, near Blytheville, Missouri, and Ridgely, Tennessee, where faults and fractures have been reported. Microwave and infrared soil brightness temperatures were obtained from an aircraft flying along parallel lines. These data were digitized and the values mathematically converted to microwave emissivities. The complements of emissivity (absorptivity) along the flight lines were cross-correlated. Lines of high correlation represent lineaments on the ground defined by anomalously high moisture contents. In the Blytheville area, the orientation and positions of these lines correspond well to reported fracture patterns; in the Ridgely area, the major anomaly corresponds generally to the known trend of the Ridgely and Cottonwood Grove faults. Discrepancies in correspondence are, as yet, poorly understood.