THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF LINEAMENTS MAPPED FROM SATELLITE AND AERIAL IMAGERY IN AN AREA OF SOUTH-CENTRAL COLORADO BOUNDED BY 105 DEGREES 00\u27 TO 105 DEGREES 30\u27 WEST LONGITUDE TO 38 DEGREES 15\u27 TO 38 DEGREES 52\u2730 NORTH LATITUDE (REMOTE SENSING)

Since W. A. Hobbs first described lineaments in the early part of this century, lineaments have proven to be provocative, yet fascinating. At present we possess a technology that allows the earth to be completely and repeatedly covered by various image product types. This technology has resurrected, encouraged, revamped, and maintained a high appeal level in lineament analysis. Yet, in spite of our technology and interest, the study of lineaments is looked upon by most geologists, and even would-be users, as a pagan sort of science. This attitude is the consequence of product over-sell and a great hoax played by a few unscrupulous entrepreneurs. Most real scientists, and few are without some doubts, are waiting before completely condemning the usefulness of lineament techniques. The negative attitude toward lineaments is the purpose for this research. Various types of remotely sensed data, including aerial photography and Landsat imagery, were used to map lineaments in south-central Colorado in order to ascertain just what can and cannot be learned from lineament analysis. Ground truth inspection and geophysics were used to validate the existence of lineaments in the field. A lineament classification scheme was not used in this work and is not advocated. Rather it is suggested that potential users rely, as did this author, on quantitative methods to describe lineament parameters and orientations. General descriptive statistics and cluster analysis demonstrated real differences in lineaments from area to area. The orientations of the mapped lineaments in southern Colorado did show a good correspondence to major structure and drainage patterns over wide areas. Lineaments and joint correspondence was limited only to local areas. Finally, lineaments did not have a significant relation to hydrocarbon sites in southern Colorado. Although usable information can be extracted from lineament analysis, it is clear that additional research needs to be conducted to further define the usefulness of this technique