Fractures system analysis of nukhaib area in western desert of iraq using landsat image data

الملخص EN

Landsat ETM+ image data and one scene of digital elevation model (DEM) are used in the Nukhaib area.

The image is geometrically corrected and has a resolution of 30 meter which can easily detect the lineaments in the study area.

Three different software packages are used in digital processing of Landsat image data, interpretation and drawing lineaments, calculating their lengths and numbers, and to contour them.

The image, which occupies bands 2, 3, and 4, has been stretched across the 0-255 range, in order to enhance the image contrast.

Two methods are used to interpret the lineaments ; filtering operations method which enhances the small scale features while maintains the large scale features, and color composites method which is used to enhance the image digitally and makes it easier to identify linear patterns of lineaments.

The final map for the study area is generated from these two techniques and showed that there are 89 lineaments, with lengths between 452.94 and 19193.39 meter.

The frequency rose diagram is extracted from the final map.

This diagram represents the statistical directional distribution of lineaments, and showed that the northwest direction is the primary direction in the Nukhaib area which is the same direction of the dominant forces in the western desert of Iraq.