Integrating GEOBIA and multisource remote sensing images to lithological mapping: case study of Skhour Rehamna, Morocco

Abstract

Satellite-borne remote sensing images are considered as one of the most important data sources for lithological mapping due to their extensive geographical coverage at an efficient cost. Integration of optical along with microwave satellite datasets, are leading to increase the lithological mapping accuracy. In this study, Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) was applied, using data from the freely available European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel 1 SAR data and Sentinel 2 optical imagery, that were fused With a digital elevation model (DEM) of 13m spatial resolution, generated from two single look complex (SLC) sentinel 1 (C band) interferometry, in conjunction with slope and two geomorphic indices, Terrain Ruggedness (TRI) and Terrain Position Index (TPI) for mapping lithology in the southern of the Palaeozoic massif of Skhour Rehamna in Morocco. The statistical results of the fusion of Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 datasets have shown the highest accuracies, showing an overall accuracy (OA) of 92.80% and a kappa coefficient of and 0.89 compared to the layer stack of Sentinel 2 image bands with the first three Minimum noise fraction (MNF) and the Principal components bands (PC1, PC2 and PC6) that showed an OA of 91.50% and a kappa coefficient of and 0.87. With the achievable results in this study, the technique is useful in discriminating general rock type that outcrop in semiarid regions.