SPACE PHOTOGRAPHY: A NEW ANALYTICAL TOOL FOR THE SEDIMENTOLOGIST.

Geologists increasingly concerned with detailed laboratory analyses at times overlook space-age techniques that promise the collection of valuable sedimentological data. Orbital remote sensing, and particularly space photography, can provide synoptic environmental data for geoscientists including those familiar with applying aerial photography to the analysis of sedimentary environments. Color space photographs obtained incident to the Gemini Program provide unique tools for analyzing sedimentary environments and processes and provide data that cannot be duplicated by conventional aerial photographic techniques. The principal advantages of orbital geoscience data collection include frequency of coverage leading to environmental analysis within the full spectrum of seasonal contrasts, and opportunities for environmental syntheses by synoptic observations. Gemini space photography is an available source of semi-quantitative data concerning changing environmental phenomena and mechanisms of sediment distribution. It also enables the survey and inventory of global sedimentary landforms. With the application of advanced sensors, increased system resolution, and repetitious photographic coverage, speedier and more reliable quantitative sedimentological analyses can be performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]