Awesome Mining Band Ratio

A curated list of materials, mineral spectral signature and published band ratios aiming the application of Remote Sensing to Mineral Exploration.

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Table of Contents

Aster Band Ratios
Landsat and Sentinel
Minerals Spectra Signature
Awesome List
References

Aster Band Ratios

IMPORTANT: the SWIR sensor (bands 4 to 9) are inoperable since 1st April 2008, and therefore only data acquired before this date will be suitable for mineral mapping

Feature	Aster Band Ratio	Ratio Description	References
Iron Minerals	B2/B1	Ferric Fe3	Rowan and Mars, 2003; Hewson et al., 2001, 2004a
Iron Minerals	(B5/B3)+(B1/B2)	Ferrous Fe2	Rowan and Mars, 2003
Iron Minerals	B4/B2	Gossan	Volesky et al., 2003
Iron Minerals	B5/B4	Ferrous Silicates (biotite, chl, amphibolite) Cu-Au Alteration	Hewson et al., 2001, 2004a
Iron Minerals	B4/B3	Ferric Oxides	Hewson et al., 2001, 2004a
Carbonates/Mafic Minerals	(B7+B9)/B8	Carbonate/Chlorite/Epidote	Rowan and Mars, 2003
Carbonates/Mafic Minerals	B13/B14	Carbonate Index (Exoskarn (cal/dolom) 92% cfd)	Bierwirth 2002, Nimoyima
Carbonates/Mafic Minerals	(B6+B9)/(B7+B8)	Epidote/Chlorite/Amphibole (Endoskarn)	Hewson et al., 2001, 2004a
Carbonates/Mafic Minerals	(B6+B9)/B8	Amphibole/MgOH (Can be other MgOH or carbonate*)	Hewson et al., 2001, 2004a
Carbonates/Mafic Minerals	B6/B8	Amphibole	Bierwirth, 2002
Carbonates/Mafic Minerals	(B6+B8)/B7	Dolomite	Rowan and Mars, 2003
Carbonates/Mafic Minerals	(B7/B6)*(B4/B6)	Hydroxyl Group (OHI) 92% cfd	Ninomiya, 2002
Carbonates/Mafic Minerals	(B4/B5)*(B8/B6)	Kaolinite (KLI) 92% cfd	Ninomiya, 2002
Carbonates/Mafic Minerals	(B7/B5)*(B7/B8)	Alunite (ALI) 92% cfd	Ninomiya, 2002
Carbonates/Mafic Minerals	(B6/B8)*(B9/B8)	Calcite (CLI)	Ninomiya, 2002
Silicates	(B5+B7)/B6	Sericite / Muscovite / Illite / Smectite (Phyllic alteration)	Rowan and Mars, 2003; Hewson et al., 2001, 2004a
Silicates	(B4+B6)/B5	Alunite / Kaolinite (Pyrophyllite) 92% cfd	Rowan and Mars, 2003
Silicates	B7/B6	Muscovite 92% cfd	Hewson et al., 2001, 2004a
Silicates	B7/B5	Kaolinite 92% cfd	Hewson et al., 2001, 2004a
Silicates	(B5B7)/(B6B6)	Clay 92% cfd	Bierwith, 2002
Silica Sio2	B14/B12	Quartz Rich Rocks Qz Index	Rowan and Mars, 2003
Silica Sio2	(B11/B10)*(B11/B12)	Quartz 92% cfd	Ninomya, 2003a
Silica Sio2	B12/B13	Silica (Basic Degree Index (gnt))	Ninomiya, 2002; Bierwirth, 2002; Hewson et al., 2001, 2004a
Silica Sio2	B13/B10	Silica	Hewson et al., 2001, 2004a
Silica Sio2	(B11xB11)(B10B12)	Silica Index 92% cfd	Ninoyima, 2002

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Landsat and Sentinel

Landsat and Sentinel don't have the same range as Aster. The ratios and RBG compositions below can be done with data from them and other plataforms. In order to make it comparable, let's use Awesome Spectral Indeces table of generic variables for spectral indices expressions and satellite equivalents.

Bands Comparison Among Plataforms

Description	Standard	Spectral Range (nm)	Sentinel-2	Landsat-89	Landsat-457
Aerosols	A	400 - 455	B1	B1
Blue	B	450 - 530	B2	B2	B1
Green	G	510 - 600	B3	B3	B2
Red	R	620 - 690	B4	B4	B3
Red Edge 1	RE1	695 - 715	B5
Red Edge 2	RE2	730 - 750	B6
Red Edge 3	RE3	765 - 795	B7
NIR	N	760 - 900	B8	B5	B4
NIR 2	N2	850 - 880	B8A
Water Vapour	WV	930 - 960	B9
SWIR 1	S1	1550 - 1750	B11	B6	B5
SWIR 2	S2	2080 - 2350	B12	B7	B7
Thermal	T	10400 - 12500			B6
Thermal 1	T1	10600 - 11190		B10
Thermal 2	T2	11500 - 12510		B11

RGB Composition and Band Ratio for Landsat 8-9 and Sentinel-2

Aster Bands 5 to 7 fall within band 12 of Sentinel-2.

Description	Ratio / Channel R	Channel G	Channel B	Comment
Natural Colour	R	G	B
Colour Infrared (vegetation)	N	R	G
False Colour (Urban)	S2	S1	R
Agriculture	S1	N	B
Vegetation Index	(N – R)/(N + R)
Moisture Index	(N2 – S1)/(N2 + S1)
Geology	S2	R	B
Bathymetric	R	G	A
Atmospheric Penetration	S2	S1	N2
SWIR	S2	N2	R
NDWI	(G – N)/(G + N)
SWIR-2	B	S1	S2
Ferric Iron "Redness"	R/B
Ferric Iron 2	(R/B)*((R+S1)/N)
Ferrous Iron	(G+S1)/(R+N)			coarse grained ferric iron
Clay, sulphate, mica, marble	(S1/S2)/(N/R)
Iron sulphate	(B/A)-(N/R)
Ross Smail/Getech	S1/R	R/B	S2/S1
Gad and Kusky 1	S1/R	S2/S1	S1/B
Gad and Kusky 2	S2/S1	S1/N	R/B	Serpentinites in dark brown-green
Zohair et al 2019	S1/S2	S1/N	R/B	Serpentinites in dark brown
Pour	R/B	R/S1	S1/S2	Serpentinites in yellow
Sultan 1986/Gomez 2005	S1/S2	S1/B	S1/N * R/N
Abrams 1983	S1/S2	N/S1	R/B	Ultramafic/Basic-Mafic/Felsic
Mineral map	S2/N	N/S2	S1/R

Minerals Spectra Signature

USGS Mineral Spectral Library

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Planetary Datasets

Revised CRISM spectral parameters and summary products based on the currently detected mineral diversity on Mars

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Other Awesome List

Awesome Spectral Indexes - Awesome list for spectral indices.
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