Integrated geological interpretation of remotely sensed data to support geological mapping in Mozambique

This paper presents the applied methodology and results of geological remote sensing interpretation in preparation of 1:250 000 and 1:50 000 scale geological field mapping of the LOT 2 / LOT 3 project areas and their extensions for the Mineral Resources Capacity Building Project (Republic of Mozambique) funded by the World Bank (IDA, AfDB, NDF). The data pre-processing, geometric registration, enhancement and integrated interpretation of remotely sensed and airborne geophysical data together with existing geological maps resulted in seamless provisional geological map coverage of the project areas that guided field mapping and complemented geological map compilation in areas where field data were sparse or lacking. The approach is knowledge-driven, since available geological map data from Mozambique and neighbouring countries were used, whenever possible, to establish relationships between image and geological map patterns that allowed calibration of the interpretation of contacts and units with respect to the previously known geological lithostratigraphy. Once these relationships were established, geologically significant discrepancies between map and image patterns highlighted features that provided follow-up targets to be tested in the subsequent field mapping campaigns.