Remote sensing of Damavand volcano (Iran) using Landsat imagery: Implications for the volcano dynamics

•Damavand volcano is investigated using both day and nighttime satellite imageries.•Surface thermal anomalies occur around the volcano based on TIR data.•The close spatial relationships exist between thermal anomalies and geothermal manifestations.•Relationship between thermal anomalies, hydrothermal alterations and volcano-induced deformation were explored quantitatively.•Arc-shaped pattern of thermal anomalies may explain with proposed tectonic setting.

Remote sensing techniques are applied to retrieve land surface temperature (LST), radiative heat flux (RHF), geothermal heat flux (GHF), and to map hydrothermal alteration zones around the Damavand stratovolcano (Iran). Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM +) day and nighttime images are used and merged to available geological data to identify thermal anomaly areas. RHF is determined using the Stefan–Boltzmann equation after preprocessing (geometric, radiometric and atmospheric correction) and processing (emissivity calculation and LST retrieval) of thermal infrared bands. In order to estimate GHF from daytime image, solar radiation and albedo maps are generated to minimize these effects. The GHF values are derived from nighttime image using the background subtraction technique. Using Boolean operation, only those pixels with the GHF values greater than 30 W/m2 obtained from daytime image and the GHF values greater than 10 W/m2 estimated from nighttime image are identified as thermal anomalies. The geothermal areas are identified by combining the thermal anomaly map and other geological information. Thermal anomalies have close spatial correlation to faults, thermal springs, and high heat flow measurements from subsurface data and lithology. Some of the thermal anomalies and hydrothermal alteration areas also overlap active deformation areas. This suggests role of heat and hydrothermal alteration on flank instability processes. The thermal anomaly areas show an arc-shaped pattern. This pattern and the concentration of higher GHF areas in the eastern sector of the volcano are consistent with a release of fluids in a transition zone between a transpressional and a transtensional tectonic regime. The combination of thermal infrared data with other geological information layers can be used to detect geothermal areas as well as to analyze the complex relationships among geothermal activity, active tectonics, and gravity instability processes on volcanoes.