The distribution of different glacial landscapes on southern Jameson Land, East Greenland, according to Landsat Thematic Mapper Data

• Published in: Boreas
• Main Authors: RONNERT, LARS, NYBORG, MATS R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1994
• Subjects: Greenland; Jameson Land; Sund; East Greenland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.1994.tb00603.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1502-3885.1994.tb00603.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1502-3885.1994.tb00603.x

Four geologic units previously mapped in southern Jameson Land. E ast Greenland (Funder 1978, 1990) are identifiable on a false colour composite of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) spectral hands TM5. TM4 and TM1. The area covered by the Weichselian glaciations has a fresh glacial morphology and a less developed drainage system than the older landscape. The Weichselian glaciers reached more than 200 m a.s.l. in the west. but only about 100 m a.s.l. in the east. A contextual analysis (local frequency and local orientation) was included in a Maximum Likelihood classification (M‐L) to map the extent of the Weichselian glaciations. Deposits correlated with the Saalian Scoreshy Sund glaciation are found on the central plateaux of Jameson Land. Landsat TM geological mapping of the surficial distribution of deposits from the Scoreshy Sund glaciation and of weathered Jurassic sandstone or deposits with a high percentage of such sandstone was done using a supervised Maximum Likelihood procedure. Except for the mapping of thc extent of the Late Weichselian Flakkerhuk glaciation, the Maximum Likelihood boundaries between units are in general agrecnient with earlier mapping or with the visual interpretation of the false colour composite. A strong vegetational influence. and similar spectral reflectance lrom deposits of different age due to similarities in lithological composition reduced the possibility of an independent remote sensing approach. Taking already existing general geological knowledge and chronology into account allowed successful Landsat TM geological mapping.