Spatial relationships between surface sedimentary facies distribution and topography using remotely sensed data: Example from the Ganghwa tidal flat, Korea

Abstract Spatial relationships between surface sedimentary facies distribution and topography, including channel networks and an intertidal digital elevation model (DEM), were estimated for the Ganghwa tidal flat, Korea. Tidal channels were extracted from high spatial resolution satellite data and used to derive maps of channel density and distance from channels. The intertidal DEM was generated by a waterline method using Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images, and the map of surface sedimentary facies distribution was produced from grain-size data on sediment samples. A GIS-based frequency ratio model was applied to quantify the relationships between the surface sediment facies and topographic factors. The result indicated that the fine-grained mud flat facies occurs mainly in areas of complex tidal channels and in elevated areas that have a high spectral reflectance in the Landsat ETM+ image. The coarse-grained sand flat facies is concentrated in areas of sparse tidal channels, and the mixed flat facies is distributed where tidal channels have an intermediate level of complexity. The results demonstrate a significant spatial relationship between the distribution of surface sediment in a tidal flat and topographic features. We conclude that tidal channels should be considered an important factor in mapping surface sedimentary facies in tidal flat environments, and that patterns of tidal topography are a useful adjunct to spectral reflectance in classifying sedimentary facies from remotely sensed data with high spatial resolution.