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Digital map of iron sulfate minerals, other mineral groups, and vegetation of the western United States derived from automated analysis of Landsat 8 satellite data

Metadata Updated: October 7, 2025

Multispectral remote sensing data acquired by Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor were analyzed using an automated technique to generate surficial mineralogy and vegetation maps of the conterminous western United States. Six spectral indices (e.g. band-ratios), highlighting distinct spectral absorptions, were developed to aid in the identification of mineral groups in exposed rocks, soils, mine waste rock, and mill tailings across the landscape. The data are centered on the Western U.S. and cover portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, the Canada-U.S. border, and the Mexico-U.S. border during the summers of 2013 – 2014. Methods used to process the images and algorithms used to infer mineralogical composition of surficial materials are detailed in Rockwell and others (2021) and were similar to those developed by Rockwell (2012; 2013). Final maps are provided as ERDAS IMAGINE (.img) thematic raster images and contain pixel values representing mineral and vegetation group classifications. Rockwell, B.W., 2012, Description and validation of an automated methodology for mapping mineralogy, vegetation, and hydrothermal alteration type from ASTER satellite imagery with examples from the San Juan Mountains, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3190, 35 p. pamphlet, 5 map sheets, scale 1:100,000, http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.2769.9365. Rockwell, B.W., 2013, Automated mapping of mineral groups and green vegetation from Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery with an example from the San Juan Mountains, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3252, 25 p. pamphlet, 1 map sheet, scale 1:325,000, http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.2507.7925. Rockwell, B.W., Gnesda, W.R., and Hofstra, A.H., 2021, Improved automated identification and mapping of iron sulfate minerals, other mineral groups, and vegetation from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager Data: San Juan Mountains, Colorado, and Four Corners Region: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3466, scale 1:325,000, 51 p. pamphlet, https://doi.org/10.3133/sim3466/.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 7, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 7, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-5fd90505d34e30b9123cbbf3
Data Last Modified 2021-02-22T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 35652869-5197-4b2c-b3c9-60c0a3f57e04
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -126.8875, 27.7958, -94.8936, 49.9867
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 7e5a34a8a1052780d3921386aee436b66002e459280b30854d22c0edde697210
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -126.8875, 27.7958, -126.8875, 49.9867, -94.8936, 49.9867, -94.8936, 27.7958, -126.8875, 27.7958}

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