Abstract
The Bentong-Raub Suture Zone (BRSZ) of Peninsular Malaysia is one of the significant structural zones in Sundaland, Southeast Asia. It forms the boundary between the Gondwana-derived Sibumasu terrane in the west and Sukhothai arc in the east. The BRSZ is also genetically related to the sediment-hosted/orogenic gold deposits associated with the major lineaments and form-lines in the central gold belt Central Gold Belt of Peninsular Malaysia. In tropical environments, heavy tropical rainforest and intense weathering makes it impossible to map geological structures over long distances. Advances in remote sensing technology allow the application of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data in geological structural analysis for tropical environments. In this investigation, the Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) satellite remote sensing data were used to analyse major geological structures in Peninsular Malaysia and provide detailed characterization of lineaments and form-lines in the BRSZ, as well as its implication for sediment-hosted/orogenic gold exploration in tropical environments. The major geological structure directions of the BRSZ are N-S, NNE-SSW, NE-SW and NW-SE, which derived from directional filtering analysis to PALSAR data. The pervasive array of N-S faults in the study area and surrounding terrain is mainly linked to the N-S trending of the Suture Zone. N-S striking lineaments are often cut by younger NE-SW and NW-SE-trending lineaments. Gold mineralized trends lineaments are associated with the intersection of N-S, NE-SW, NNW-SSE and ESE-WNW faults and curvilinear features in shearing and alteration zones. Lineament analysis on PALSAR satellite remote sensing data is a useful tool for detecting the boundary between the Gondwana-derived terranes and major geological features associated with suture zone especially for large inaccessible regions in tropical environments.
Highlights
Numerous structural geology studies have been conducted in arid and semi-arid regions using optical and radar satellite data (Raharimahefa, and Kusky, 2007, 2009)
Many gold mines and prospects in the Peninsular Malaysia are associated with the major lineaments along the Bentong-Raub Suture Zone (BRSZ)
Four principal Directional filters: N-S, E-W, NE-SW, and NW-SE with 5*5 and 7*7 kernel sizes were applied to ScanSAR, Fine and polarimetric scenes. 5*5 kernel matrix was selected for ScanSAR scenes to enhance rough/smooth and semi-rough features in Peninsular Malaysia at regional scale. 7*7 kernel matrix was applied to Fine and polarimetric scenes for enhancing semi-smooth and smooth/rough features in the BRSZ at district scale (Table 3) (Chavez and Bauer, 1982; Jensen, 2005)
Summary
Numerous structural geology studies have been conducted in arid and semi-arid regions using optical and radar satellite data (Raharimahefa, and Kusky, 2007, 2009). South-eastern part of the BRSZ was analyzed to detect major lineaments trend and tectonic structures of the region using PALSAR data (Pour and Hashim, 2014, 2015). The objective of this investigation is to characterize major geological structures in Peninsular Malaysia and especially delineate lineaments and form-lines in the BRSZ and Central Gold Belt using PALSAR satellite remote sensing data at regional scale.
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