Mineral Composite Assessment of Al-Hindiya in Iraq By Means of Remote Sensing

Remote sensing is the science of acquiring, processing, and interpreting images and related data, acquired from aircraftand satellites,that record the interaction between matter and electromagnetic energy.In geologic terms Landsatprovides data especially useful formineral exploration.It can be used to identify areas containing minerals useful in the search for mineral deposits,including iron oxides and/or hydroxides (hematite, goethite, and limonite); clays (kaolinite, dickite, and montmorillonite);and carbonates (calcite, and dolomite).Utilizing remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) tools, mineral composite characteristics (heavy minerals, light minerals, and clay minerals) of Al -Hindiya in Iraq were investigated and mapped. Mineral composite (MC) index maps were produced from one LANDSAT-ETM+satellite image taken in 2015 resulting by GIS. Employing bi-variety correlation analysis, relationships among index maps were investigated.According to the results, spatial distribution for heavy minerals maps indicated that the majority of the study area has Magnetite but poorAmphibole and Hematite.It is also observed that the sediments of the study area are composed essentially of Calcite and Gypsum; as dominant wi th Quartz. The results of spatial distribution for clay minerals maps showed that clay fraction is dominated by Kaolinite, mixed layer Illite_Montmorillonite, and Montmorillonite_Illite. Amphibole and Hematite index maps showed positive correlation.It is also observed that there was a positive correlation between Gypsum and Calcite indexmaps, while Quartz indexmap is negatively correlated with Gypsumindex map. There were no significant correlations among clay minerals indicatingthat the clay minerals may be transported by Euphrates river and deposited as fluvial deposits.