INVESTIGATION OF HEAVY-MINERAL DEPOSITS USING MULTISPECTRAL SATELLITE IMAGERY IN THE EASTERN COASTAL MARGIN OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Sea beaches are always a good source of heavy minerals around the world. Cox’s Bazar has 120 km of unbroken sandy sea beach. The study includes the sea beaches of 5 upazilas (Moheshkhali, Kolatoli, Ramu, Ukhia, Teknaf) in Cox’s bazaar district for studying the concentration, identification and investigation of heavy mineral deposits along the sandy beaches. This study has concentrated on the physical properties, identification, and abundance of the heavy minerals fraction in sediments collected from the study area. Satellite imagery Landsat-8 OLI was used for remote sensing verifications. The image processing and crucial analysis carried out using Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI), Arc GIS and Erdas Imagine software. Coastal areas adjacent to Teknaf upazila has a very significant amount of heavy mineral reserves, almost 16%. The study has identified around nineteen variety of heavy minerals from the collected samples in the study area. Ilmenite, Kyanite, Garnet, Rutile, Zircon, Magnetite, Augite, Hornblende, Enstatite, Epidote, Andalusite, Hypersthene, Diopside and Cassiterite have been found the most abundant in the entire study area. The Coastline of Bangladesh was surveyed completely to map the heavy minerals which are potential resources for our national economy.