Study of Aster and Landsat Satellite Data in the Firuzabad Area and Their Consistency with the Hydrothermal Alteration Zones of the Region (Kowsar – Ardabil Province)

Karbalaei Alizadeh Eifa, Samin; Hosseinzadeh, Mohammadreza; Siahcheshm, Kamal; Sattari, Shadi

doi:10.22071/gsj.2026.582087.2253

Study of Aster and Landsat Satellite Data in the Firuzabad Area and Their Consistency with the Hydrothermal Alteration Zones of the Region (Kowsar – Ardabil Province)

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

Samin Karbalaei Alizadeh Eifa ¹

Mohammadreza Hosseinzadeh ²

kamal Siahcheshm ¹

Shadi Sattari ¹

¹ University of Tabriz, faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Earth Sciences.

² University of Tabriz, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Earth Sciences

10.22071/gsj.2026.582087.2253

Abstract

The Firuzabad area is located in the southwest of Kowsar County, in the southwestern part of Ardabil Province, and belongs to the Alborz-Azerbaijan structural-geological zone. In this study, the identification and delineation of hypogene alteration zones in the area were conducted using remote sensing data from ASTER and Landsat 9 sensors. To this end, following the necessary preprocessing of satellite imagery, common and effective methods—including False Color Composites (FCC), Band Ratio, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM)—were employed to differentiate and identify alteration zones. The results of the remote sensing analyses indicate the presence of argillic, silicic, carbonatic, and iron oxide alteration zones within the study area. Subsequently, to validate the results derived from the satellite imagery, targeted field controls and microscopic studies were performed on samples collected from the proposed zones. Furthermore, the correlation between the alteration zones extracted via different detection methods, along with the comparison of spectral curves from the delineated zones with standard spectral libraries from the USGS, confirms the accuracy and reliability of the study’s results.

Keywords

'Firuzabad'

'Kowsar'

'Alteration'

'Argillic'

'Sensor'

'ASTER'

'Landsat'

Subjects