Automatic Mapping of Lineaments Using Shaded Relief Images Derived from Digital Elevation Model (DEM) in Kirkuk Northeast Iraq

The area of this study is one of the important places in Iraq, which contains many important oil fields. Shaded relief images created from digital elevation models (DEMs) are helpful in identifying lineaments in different distinct relief and topography. Combining four shaded relief images into a final image leads to enhancing lineaments within the four sun azimuth directions (Anwar Abdullah, 2010) the method can enhance lineaments at different orientations by simulating topographic illumination under varied light directions. Combining four shaded relief images into a final image leads to enhancing lineaments within the four sun azimuth directions. Two shaded relief images with multi-directional light were created, the first image with the four azimuth angles of the light sources that are 0, 45, 90 and 135, and the second image with the four azimuth angles of the light sources that are 180, 225, 270, and 315. Both images have been used for automatic lineament extraction using PCI Geomatica2013 software. The extracted lineaments of the first image show that the most automatic lineaments represent positive lineaments, and the automatic lineaments of second image represent negative lineaments of the study area. The term -lineament- is one of the most commonly used terms in geology. A lineament is Any extensive linear surface on a planet, as a fault line or fracture line. Hobbs (1904) first Used the term lineament to define a significant line of landscape of Basement rocks. O-Leary et al. (1976) described the term lineament as a mappable, simple or composite linear feature of a surface whose parts are aligned in a rectilinear or slightly curvilinear relationship and which differs from the pattern of adjacent features and presumably reflects some sub-surface phenomenon