This GIS dataset depicts the surficial geology of the Buffalo River area (NTS 84F/NE) (discontinuous permafrost features). The data were created in geodatabase format and output for public distribution in shapefile format.
These data comprise the permafrost polygon features of Alberta Geological Survey Map 583, Surficial Geology of the Buffalo River Area (NTS 84F/NE).
Our processes included:
1. making a LiDAR imagery mosaic for complete coverage of NTS 84F/NE and relief shading the LiDAR bare-earth digital elevation model (DEM);
2. clipping Landsat-8 scenes LT50450202007193PAC01 and LT50460202007152PAC01 (courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey) to the map area boundary;
3. performing image classification on the Landsat data, collecting training objects, and classifying peatlands using Landsat spectral properties and LiDAR topographic indices;
4. delineating non-peatland polygons from object-based analysis of a slope image derived from the LiDAR imagery
5. augmenting the classified landforms with digitization of polygons and line features across the LiDAR image of NTS 84F/NE using ArcGIS;
6. labelling spatial features;
7. checking the quality of the digital file; and
8. proofreading the text.