Extraction and analysis of geological lineaments of Kolli hills, Tamil Nadu: a study using remote sensing and GIS

The aim of the present study is to investigate the lineaments of Kolli hills of Tamil Nadu State for which CARTOSAT-1 satellite’s DEM output has been made use of. The extracted lineaments were analysed using ArcGIS and Rockworks software. The total number and length of lineaments are 523 and 943.81 km, respectively. Shorter lineaments constitute about 3/4th of the total number of lineaments. The density of the lineaments varies from 0 to 7.41 km/km2, and areas of very high to high density are restricted to the south central, central and north eastern parts, and these areas reflect the high degree of rock fracturing and shearing which makes these areas unsuitable for the construction of dams and reservoirs. However, these areas could be targeted for groundwater exploitation as they possess higher groundwater potential. The lineaments are oriented in diverse directions. However, those orienting in ENEWSW, NE-SW and NW-SE are predominating followed by those oriented in sub E-W and sub N-S directions. These orientations corroborate with results of previous regional studies and with orientations of prominent geological structures and features of the study area. Distinct variation in the predominant orientations of lineaments of varied sizes is observed, while the shorter ones are oriented in either NW-SE or NNW-SSE directions, the longer ones are oriented in either NE-SW or ENE-WSW. A comparative analysis of lineament datasets of the eight azimuth angles and the final lineament map underlines the need to extract lineaments from various azimuth angles to get a reliable picture about the lineaments.