Geothermal area detection using Landsat 8 operational land imager and thermal infrared sensor data in Ardabil province, Iran

GIS and remote sensing technique with using Landsat 8 images data are very important methods for detection of geothermal resources. In this study, Land Surface Temperature (LST) for Ardabil province in northwest of Iran, was derived with the use of Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) of 30 m spatial resolution and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) data of 100 m spatial resolution. We consider the six LST anomalous areas as the potential geothermal areas in Ardabil province including west of Khalkhal Township, Kosar Township, north and northwest of Ardabil Township, southwest of Namin Township, north and northeast of Meshkin Shahr Township and north of Germi Township. The research reveals that distribution of geothermal areas is related with the major, active and thrust faults in Ardabil province for instance East Ardabil fault, Sangavar fault, Bozqush fault, West Talesh fault and dasht-e Moghan fault, these faults are mainly very steep, and they continued until deep, so they have an important effect on transferring heat related with magmatic from interior earth to land surface. Finally we conclude that however use of remote sensing, GIS technique and TIRS data can only discover the surface thermal and are susceptible to the subsurface and superficial buried geothermal resources. Therefore geochemical and geophysical surveys, geological studies and field survey measurements in this area are required to help and promote the detection of geothermal regions accompanied by remote sensing, GIS technique and TIRS data from Landsat 8 images.

Keywords:

Geothermal , Landsat 8 image , Operational Land Imager , Thermal Infrared Sensor , Ardabil province , Iran