Remote sensing interpretation and extraction of structural information about active faults at Hangzhou, China, and their surroundings

Abstract

It is important to explore active faults in urban areas and their surroundings for earthquake disaster mitigation. Satellite remote sensing techniques can play an important role in such active fault exploration. It can not only reveal the pattern of active faults and active tectonics on a macroscopic scale, but also monitor the occurrence, development and rules of temporal-spatial evolution of active faults. In this paper, we use the Hangzhou area as an example to introduce methods of extracting detailed active fault information when covered by thick unconsolidated Quaternary sediment, using image enhancement and image fusion etc. to improve the definition and precision of satellite images and presenting a three-dimensional (3D) image to illustrate tectono-geomorphic features along the relevant faults. We have also collected aeromagnetic anomaly data, shallow seismic exploration data and dating data, and carried out field surveys to validate the characteristics of active faults based on remote sensing images. The results revealed about the faults showed a high consistency with traditional geological knowledge, and demonstrate that it is feasible to explore active faults in a weakly active tectonic area by using satellite remote sensing techniques and contribute to large engineering projects and research on neotectonics.

Keywords

remote sensing / active faults exploration / Quaternary / image fusion / Hangzhou / Neotectonics

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