Discrimination and Identification of Hydrothermal Alteration Types Related to Porphyry Copper Deposits, Using Hyperion Hyperspectral Data

The technological development in manufacturing and installation of new optical sensors for hyperspectral image acquisition، which collect images in order of hundreds of spectral bands، have been used for remote sensing of the rocks and minerals in recent years. The aim of this study is to evaluate Hyperion hyperspectral data for mapping of hydrothermally altered areas and iron oxides bearing areas related to porphyry copper ore deposits. The study area is located in Urumiyeh-Dokhtar magmatic belt that hosts many important porphyry copper deposits such as Darrehzar and Sar Cheshmeh، which are located southwest of Kerman city. The spectra are extracted from images using pixel Purity Index method. These spectra were used for recognition of different hydrothermal alteration zones، using spectral angle mapper. The hydrothermal alteration and iron oxide minerals were mapped and validated through field checking.