Lineament Extraction and Analysis on Jarawa Complex, Northcentral Nigeria Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Abstract

This study was carried out to extract and analyze the lineaments within the Jarawa Complex of North Central Nigeria using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Nigeria SAT – X image and ASTER GDEM, where used for mapping, extraction and analyses of the lineaments. Linear stretching and edges enhancement filter were applied to enhance the contrast and edge of the linear features using ILWIS 3.4 software. The enhanced image was visually interpreted and lineaments were extracted using on – screen digitizing in ArcGIS 10.0 environment. A total of 108 lineaments were extracted from the study area. The extracted lineaments were analyzed to determine lengths, distribution, density and orientation in order to generate lineament map, lineament density map, typology map, hill shaded relief map, drainage pattern map and rose diagram. From the results obtained, the lineaments ranged from 0.52 – 7.18 km in length and are spatially distributed within the study area. The northwestern and northcentral parts of the study area are characterized by high lineament densities which serve as conduits for mineral deposits. GEOrient software was used to plot the rose diagram from which the directional frequencies where obtained. The dominant lineament trend is NW – SE, however, two secondary trends are obvious in NNW – SSE and N – S direction.