Small-scale imagery: A useful tool for mapping geological features in the Texas Gulf Coastal plain

A sample of satellite imagery includes photographs and multispectral scanner imagery from the Apollo, LANDSAT, and Skylab spacecraft over an area west of Houston, Texas. Large circular features and lineaments can readily be mapped. One of the circular features identified by drainage, vegetation, and soil-tone anomalies, occurs in Fort Bend County, Texas, and covers an area about 25 miles in diameter. Another circular feature lies to the north, immediately west of Houston, and is about 15 miles in diameter. These features represent the surface expression of deeply-buried positive structures. It is recommended that regional geological studies begin with photointerpretations of high-altitude aircraft and synoptic space imagery, space imagery provides the synoptic view of rapid evaluation of large-scale features, and, at enlarged scales, the resolution required for detailed study of selected areas of structures.