An interactive image segmentation method for lithological boundary detection: A rapid mapping tool for geologists

An experiment was conducted using photographic rock surface images collected by a UAV and a handheld digital camera. The proposed technique was applied to detect lithology boundaries. It was found that the proposed method reduced the interpretation time by a factor of four relative to manual segmentation, while achieving more than 96% similarity in boundary detection. As a result the proposed method has the potential to provide practical support for interpreting large volume of complex geological images.