Miami University

Joel Robinson Honored for geological research

10/15/1997

OXFORD, Ohio -- Joel E. Robinson, a second year master's

degree student in geology at Miami University, is being honored by the

Geological Society of America for his research on a possible source of copper

in Northwest Pakistan.

Robinson's thesis pertains to using the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite

to map geologically the Waziristan region in Pakistan.

The Waziristan region is essentially an unexplored area for geologists.

Robinson will participate in a research expedition at the site for four weeks

in December.

TM data have proved to be effective in resolving a large number of rock types.

Statistically enhanced datasets, called false color principal component and

decorrelation stretched images, were the most effective in differentiating

igneous and sedimentary rocks, Robinson said.

The techniques required field work to determine the type of rock being

resolved. The field work that has made Robinson's project possible was done by

Dr. Edwin Gnos of Stanford University and Dr. Richard Beck of Miami University.

The research was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the

Hampton Fund for International Initiatives.

Gossans, decomposed rock, associated with economically important massive

sulphide copper deposits were identified by spectral ratio images, Robinson

said.

Robinson was born and raised in Akron, where he graduated from James A.

Garfield High School in 1992. He received a bachelor's degree in geology from

Miami in 1996.