Differentiation of Coastal Sedimentary Environments Using Combination of Digital and Visual Analysis: Case Study in Coast of Khuzestan Province

Coastal zone of Khuzestan Province, which has an area of 1359832 hectare, is covered by various coastal (i.e. estuary, lagoon, delta) and continental (i.e. river and alluvial fan) environments. In this research, TM (1988) and ETM+ (2000) satellite images were used for recognition and differentiation of coastal environments. This study is based on combination of visual and digital image analysis in a GIS environment. The best images were formed by combination of 432 bands of TM and 431 bands of ETM+ sattelites. Polygon maps showed that most part (>70%) of region is covered by delta, lagoon and tidal flat environments.