Automatic Mapping of Lineaments

Using Shaded Relief Images Derived

from Digital Elevation Model (DEMs) in
the Maran Sungi Lembing Area,
Malaysia
Anwar Abdullah
School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and
Technology, Universiti Kebangssan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor,
Malaysia; e-mail: alhrani@[Link]

Juhari Mat Akhir

School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and
Technology, Universiti Kebangssan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor,
Malaysia; e-mail: jma@[Link]

Ibrahim Abdullah
School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and
Technology, Universiti Kebangssan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor,
Malaysia

ABSTRACT
The area of this study is one of the important places in Malaysia, which contains many
ore deposits, plantation fields, landslides, and villages. Because of this, study of
geological structures (lineaments) is one of the most important factors, which gives
indications about the locations of ore deposits, landslides, and groundwater movements.
Shaded relief images created from digital elevation models (DEMs) are helpful in
identifying lineaments in different distinct relief and topography. 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 Geomatica 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 directional analysis of the automatically extracted
lineament maps have been done with the reference of the fault map of the area. The
results verify the similarity in the directional behaviour of the lineaments, the fault lines
and the structures measured in the field. The main trends of the extracted lineaments of
both images are NW-SE, N-S, E-W and NE-SW.

KEYWORDS:

DEM; Shaded relief; PCI Geomatica software; Automatic

lineaments.

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INTRODUCTION
DEM data are digital elevation data set recording the topographic surface expression of
any area. Topographic attributes can be extracted from digital elevation data by applying
special computer algorithms. These include slope, aspect and shaded relief algorithms. The
most widely used is the shaded relief algorithm, because perception of elevation can be
attained and when combined with other type of images, new products can be produced. DEM,
unlike Landsat images, represent true reap projections with no distortion; tonal variations are
entirely identified with relief, the sun position can be placed anywhere above the terrain
surface, and in most cases, DEM has better resolution than satellite images (Batson et al.
1975; Schowengerdt and Glass, 1983).Techniques of shaded relief have been used in
cartography to produce the illusion of a 3- dimensional relief map (Yoeli, 1965). During the
last decades, digital image processing techniques have been developed to display DEMs as
shaded relief images (Yoeli, 1967 ; Batson et al. 1975).In the case of DEM's, shaded relief
images and terrain derivative maps (slope, aspect and curvatures) have largely demonstrated
their usefulness for lineaments and fault extraction (Ganas et al. 2005). Linear features that
can be extracted from DEMs often provide useful information for scientists.
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. OLeary
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. Lineaments can be defined as linear topographical or tonal features on the
terrain representing zones of structural weakness (Williams, 1983). Gupta (1991) summarized
the definition of lineament in different geological features, such as (1) shear zones/faults; (2)
rift valleys; (3) truncation of outcrops; (4) fold axial traces; (5) joint and fracture traces; (6)
topographic, vegetation, soil tonal changes alignment etc. Lineaments are natural crustal
structures that may represent a zone of structural weakness (Masoud and Koike, 2006).
Positive straight lineaments, interpreted as linear ridges, scarps, ridges, troughs and crater
(light toned lineaments) and negative straight lineaments, representing joints, faults, and shear
zones(dark toned lineaments).
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the ability of shaded relief images with multidirectional of the light sources (different sun azimuth angles) derived from digital elevation
module for lineament extraction (positive and negative lineament extraction).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study Area
The study area is situated in the eastern part of Pahang, Malaysia, about 2340 sq. km,
between 339'6" and 4 04' 1" N and longitudes 10240'5"and 10307'5" E (Fig.1).
According to Lees (1990) classification, the rocks in the study area divided into three
groups as follows:
1- Upper Paleozoic sediments ( Kambing beds and Seri Jaya beds)

2- Mesozoic sediments( Buluh sandstones and Hulu Lepar beds)

3- Granitoid intrusives and volcanic rocks.
The geological map of the study area (Fig. 2) has been digitized from six geological sheet
maps at 1:63,360 scales prepared by Minerals and Geoscience Department Malaysia (JMG).

Figure 1: Location of the study area

Figure 2: Geological map of the study area

Data Processing
The nature of elevation data is continuous, not discrete. However, due to the limitation of
recent technology, DEM data can be displayed in forms i.e. grid, contour, profile, and TIN
(Triangulated Irregular Network) which are not completely continuous. In this study, these
data are displayed in the form of grid. The DEM was acquired from contour map and was
originally generated by digitize the contour lines and give the contour lines the height value
they represent, then converted it into grid form. The DEM was geo-rectified using
topographic maps with points collected at road intersections and other landscape features
throughout the area. Shaded relief images were derived from a digital elevation model (DEM)
with a resolution of 30 meters are used for linear extractions.
In order to identify linear topographic features from the DEM, eight shaded relief images
were generated. The first step is the production of eight separate shaded relief images with
light sources coming from eight different directions. The first shaded relief image created had
a solar azimuth (sun angle) of 0, and a solar elevation of 30. An ambient light setting of
0.20 was used, which produces a good contrast. The ambient light setting is simply a scaling
factor in the imagine topographic program (Erdas, 1998). The other seven shaded relief
images were created with seven contrasting illumination directions 45, 90,135, 180, 225,
270 ,and 315 (Fig. 3). The second step is to combine four shaded relief image to produce
one shaded relief image, for this purpose, the combinations of the four shaded relief maps are
computed by using GIS overlay technique, where the first four shaded relief images are
overlaid to produce one image with multi - illumination directions (0,45,90,and135) and
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the second overlay is to produce one image with multi - illumination directions (180, 225,
270, and 315) ( Fig. 4-A and 4-B). Finally, those two images have been used for automatic
lineaments extraction over the study area.

Sun angle 0

Sun angle 135

Sun angle 270

Sun angle 45

Sun angle 180

Sun angle 90

Sun angle 225

Sun angle 315

Figure 3: Eight shaded relief images derived from DEM with illumination directions( sun
azimuth),0,45,90,135, 180,225, 270 ,and 315 and a solar elevation of 30. An ambient
light setting of 0.20

4-A

4-B

Figure 4: Two shaded relief images created by combining different shaded relief images. A:
Combining four shaded relief images with sun angle of 0,45,90 and [Link] B:
Combining four shaded relief images with sun angle of 180,225,270 and 315
Edge enhancement leads to image sharpening, in which the geometric details of an image
may be modified and enhanced (Richards, 1986). Features such as lineaments, drainages and
certain landforms are often characterized by abrupt changes in radiometric responses. Edge
enhancement is a useful and efficient technique to enhance these features. Edge enhancement
has been applied to the two shaded relief images to increase frequency and contrast in the
images.

Lineament Extraction
The lineament extraction algorithm of PCI Geomatica software consists of edge detection,
thresholding and curve extraction steps (PCI Geomatica, 2001). These steps were carried out
over two shaded relief images under the default parameters of the software as follows:
Name

Description

Values

RADI

Radius of filter in pixels

12

GTHR

Threshold for edge gradient

90

LTHR

Threshold for curve length

30

FTHR

Threshold for line fitting error

10

ATHR

Threshold for angular difference

30

DTHR

Threshold for linking distance

20

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of automatic lineament extractions are shown in Fig. 5-A and 5-B. A
comparison between fault map of the study area and the lineaments extracted from enhanced
shaded relief images in terms of number of lineaments and the total length of lineaments is
shown in Table 1. This technique identified the highest number of lineaments and the highest

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total length of lineaments compared with the number and the total length of faults in the study
area.

5-a
5-b
Figure 5: Automatic lineament maps of shaded relief images. A: Automatic lineament map of
combining four shaded relief images with sun angle of 0,45,90 and 135. And B:
Automatic lineament map of combining four shaded relief images with sun angle of 180,
225, 270 and 315
Table 1: Basic statistics of the automatic lineaments maps and fault map

Count

275

Automatic lineaments map

of Multi-directional light
(0, 45, 90, and135)
1516

Min. length (km)

0.313

0.010

0.80

Max. length (km)

25.922

8.956

9.979

Mean (km)

3.764

1.543

1.527

Total length (km)

1035.250

2340.422

2224.843

Fault map

Automatic lineaments map

of Multi-directional light
(180, 225, 270, and 315)
1458

The directional analysis of the automatically extracted lineament maps have been done
with the reference of fault map of the study area. The results verify the similarity in the
directional behaviour of the lineaments. The major trends of lineaments in the study area are
NW-SE, N-S, E-W and NE-SW (Fig. 6). The dominant lineaments tend to run in the NW-SE
direction. Lineament extracted from both images reveal the significance of NW-SE, N-S, EW and NE-SW oriented lineament sets which are interpreted as same orientations of fault
lines and field data orientations.
Based on the pattern of the lineament including the length, linking characteristics spatial
relationships, and visual interpretation of automatic lineament maps with topographic map,
drainage pattern map, three dimensions of DEM and aerial photos, the extracted lineaments of
shaded relief image with sun angle of 0, 45, 90, and 135 are mostly resemble a positive
system lines in the area. The most important feature in the area is the presence of topographic
relief pattern. It is clearly to issue that, there is good relationship between the lineament and
topographic relief pattern distribution. On the other hand, the extracted lineaments of shaded

relief image with sun angle of 180, 225, 270, and 315 are mostly resemble a negative
system lines in the area. The most important feature in the area is the presence of drainage
lines patterns and fault zones. It is clearly to issue that, there is good relationship between
these lineaments and drainage pattern system distribution especially with third and fourth
river orders. Moreover, Lineaments in other parts especially in the central part of the area
display a typical pattern of the faults as already reported in the literature.

Figure 6: (a) Rose diagram of automatic lineament map of combining four shaded relief
images with sun angle of 0, 45, 90 and 135. (b) Rose diagram of automatic lineament map
of combining four shaded relief images with sun angle of 180, 225, 270 and 315. (c) Rose
diagram of fault map. d: Rose diagram of positive field data. And (e) Rose diagram of
negative field data
Pattern of the lineament map (Fig. 5a) suggest that some faults that belong to the Lepar
Faults Zone (within Lepar granite body) are not properly identified particularly around Hulu
Lepar area. On the contrary, Pattern of the lineament map (Fig. 5b) suggest that some faults
that belong to the Lepar Faults Zone are slightly identified particularly around Hulu Lepar
area. Frequency of the lineaments is higher within granite bodies and Jurassic sandstones
rocks. South East, North Northeast, and North Northwest of area are the areas with the least
lineaments.
Generally the frequency of automatically extracted lineaments is greater more than
number of lineaments in the previous fault map of the study area. The most important factor
for this is that the lineaments in the automated one are shorter in length compared with the
length of fault lines. An automatic lineament extraction method is one of the methods to
extract negative and positive lineaments. The automatic lineament extraction method
approach does not discriminate man made features and non geological features during the
analysis. This is could lead to an increase the total number and total length of the lineaments.
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CONCLUSION
Variations of sun angle, azimuth and height exaggeration in DEM data and shaded relief
image assist in geological feature recognition. DEM data can be used as source data to
enhance some features for increasing interpretation accuracy. DEM-based hill shading has led
to the discovery of positive and negative lineaments in the study area, which had not been
found by other satellite data interpretation. Creation and interpretation of shaded-relief images
can contribute significantly to solving various problems in geomorphology and geology
researches.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The first author would like to give a special thanks to supervisors and staff of Geology
Department in UKM for their support in this work.

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