Interpretation of satellite image data integrated within a Geographic Information System Toolkit (GIST) for regional geological mapping and mineral exploration in northern Xinjiang, China

As a response to the practical needs of geologists and other specialists concerned with resource development, a Geographic Information System Toolkit (GIST) has recently been designed which, by combining functions of digital image processing, image interpretation and a GIS, enables remotely sensed data to be fully integrated with other sources of survey mapping and associated information which may be held in a relational database. The facility has proved viable in both supporting and integrating all stages of a project requiring both quantitative and qualitative analysis of remotely sensed imagery and other mappable information. It can be used for the manipulation, registration and comparison of multiple data sets, for the analysis of imagery, including a capacity to undertake sophisticated visual interpretation on-screen, and for the editing and production of derivative GIS, topographical and thematic maps. This paper examines the development and use of GIST in a technical cooperation programme between scientists and engineers from the People’s Republic of China and the United Kingdom for regional geological mapping, gold mineral exploration and resource evaluation in a study area centred on the Altai Mountains piedmont of northern Xinjiang, China. The paper concludes with a review of the general value of GIST-type systems as a means of combining well-established and new techniques of applied environmental and geological remote sensing.