CONTRIBUTION OF SPACE REMOTE SENSING AND NEW GIS TOOLS FOR MAPPING GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURES IN THE MEKKAM REGION OF NORTHEAST MOROCCO

Abstract

The Paleozoic buttonhole of Mekkam is located in the SE of the town of Taourirt, North Eastern Morocco.The geological framework of this buttonhole is characterized by the presence of terrains of different ages and lithologies.The oldest terrain forms a monotonous schistose bedrock with a flyshoid character of Devonian age unconformably underlain by volcanic and sedimentary formations of probable Upper Visean age, which have not been the subject of detailed structural studies.The objective of this work is to create a structural map based on satellite image processing techniques from space remote sensing.Our methodology uses remote sensing data composed of LANDSAT 8 Oli satellite imagery, taken under favorable weather conditions.Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and directional filtering were applied specifically.Thus, a map was produced using ArcGIS and Rockworks16 software.The application of these techniques allowed us to highlight the presence of lineaments with four main directions: N-S, NE-SW, E-W and NW-SE with a dominance of NW-SE and E-W directions.The interpretation of the obtained map was verified by field missions (measurements of faults, veins, and dykes).The NW-SE and E-W directions correspond in the field to mineralized quartz dykes and veins.The highlighted lineaments are concentrated in the Devonian-aged terrains where the geological material is represented by schists and volcanic rocks.The terrain is characterized by steep and rugged relief, sometimes difficult to access, such as the Sidi Lahcen massifs, the present study will initially help guide mining exploration by determining the geological lineaments in the region Thus, it confirms that remote sensing is an effective and less costly means of structural mapping in arid and semi-arid areas.