Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 DOI 10.1007/s12517-017-2904-5

ORIGINAL PAPER

Utilizing Landsat-8 data in mapping of sabkha, , and land covers in Jizan coastal plain, southwestern

Ali A. Khawfany1 & Mahmoud A. Aref1,2 & Mohammad I. Matsah3 & Rushdi J. Taj1

Received: 18 January 2016 /Accepted: 13 February 2017 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2017

Abstract Digital image processing methods were applied on useful as a base reference for further studies by geologists, Landsat-8 data to differentiate different natural land covers engineering geologists, hydrogeologists, and governmental and urban areas in Jizan, Coast, Saudi Arabia. The decision leaders. computer-aided works were combined with field investigation to confirm the achieved results. The false-color image with Keywords Image processing . Field study . Jizan . Saudi bands 5, 4, and 3 in RGB, respectively, was found useful in Arabia . Geomorphic features delineating between sabkha and non-sabkha areas. The sabkha areas are characterized by hues of light brown color, and the non-sabkha areas have hues of light grey to light Introduction bluish color. A false-color image with bands 5, 6, and 4 clearly differentiates between mangroves in hues of red color and In the industrialized world, more than 50% of the population other vegetation in hues of orange color. The principal com- lives within 1 km of the sea coasts. As the population expands, ponent analysis (PCA) image clearly shows the drainage continued anthropogenic pressures are placed on coastal re- and estuary in several shades of green color; the coastal gions (NOAA 1995). Coastal resource management is becom- sabkha areas have hues of blue, which range from light blue ing increasingly important, and the ability to provide large- (denoting dry sabkha) to dark blue (denoting wet sabkha), and scale synoptic assessments of valued resources is vital (Toole sand are shown in fuchsia color. The results of this et al. 2000). As the population and urbanization expand, con- study identify features such as urban populated areas, land tinued strategic planning is required. This planning depends vegetation, moisture intensity in the sediments, shallow and on the study of many factors, one of them being the study of deep waters, reef islands, sabkha and non-sabkha areas, salt land covers. dome, shores, tidal flats, wadi drainage, habitat, the Many research works have been carried out concerning the width of shallow seawater, and land-seawater contacts. geomorphic features of the Red Sea coastal areas of Saudi Several maps are produced in this study showing the distribu- Arabia. These studies were based on the combination of re- tion of the abovementioned features. These maps will be mote sensing techniques and sedimentological characteristics of several environments (e.g., Al Saifi and Qari 1996; Bantan 1999; Al-Washmi et al. 2002; Qari and Basyoni 2003; Al- * Ali A. Khawfany Hazmi 2006;Rifaatetal.2010; Alharbi et al. 2011). Some [email protected] works are concerned with the application of remote sensing techniques to shed light on the large-time-scale environmental 1 Department of Petroleum Geology and Sedimentology, Faculty of changes (Awari and Mullah 2010; Youssef et al. 2012), the Earth Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia natural engineering geologic problems (Al-Modayan 2012), 2 Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, and the distribution of some bioaccumulation such as reefs Giza, Egypt and mangroves (Kumar et al. 2010; Rowlands et al. 2012; 3 Department of Structural Geology and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Elsebaie et al. 2013). The objective of this study is to apply Earth Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia different image processing techniques on the Landsat-8 image 103 Page 2 of 18 Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 to identify the natural and urban land covers and land uses and than it would be otherwise. The average annual precipitation to distinguish the morphologic features of the Jizan coastal is 11.6 mm (Elsebaie et al. 2013). The evaporation rate is plain along the Red Sea coast, in the southwestern part of relatively high (156 cm/year) (Abdelrahman and Ahmad Saudi Arabia. 1995). In the Jizan area, Blank et al. (1987) described three phys- iographic regions: the Red Sea shelf, the coastal plain, and the The study area foothills of the Tihama escarpment. The coastal plain of the Jizan area is represented by supratidal sabkha basins, offshore The study area, which is a part of Jazan province, is located bars, islands, mangrove swamps, and shallow . The between lat. 16° 34′ and 17° 16′ N and long. 42° 20′ and 42° plain is about 10 km wide and covered by Quaternary aeolian 52′ E; it represents the coastal plain of Jizan City (Fig. 1). Jizan sand, alluvial sand and gravel, loess, and flood plain silt de- City, the main town of Jazan province, is situated on the west- posits. The only relief on the plain is provided by a salt dome, ern coastal plain of Saudi Arabia. It has an arid tropical climate which may reach up to 70 m above mean sea level at Jizan with an average annual temperature of 30.4 °C and an average City. annual humidity of about 70% (PME 2015). High humidity Sabkha is an Arabic word meaning salt-enriched flat from coastal lagoons makes the climate even less bearable area(s). The sabkha salt may be clearly visible in the form of

Fig. 1 The study area is shown on a part of Landsat-8 satellite image Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 Page 3 of 18 103 hygroscopic crystals or as a crust on the surface. The presence interpretation of the phenomenon under study. Six enhance- of salts is generally manifested by appearance of moisture or ment techniques were used in this study including band com- darker tones that distinguishes a sabkha from other areas. bination, convolution filtering, histogram equalization, princi- Even when a sabkha becomes dry, the moist appearance is pal component analysis (PCA), decorrelation stretch, and retained (Bahafzullah et al. 1993). band ratioing. Each technique aimed at four-band combina- tions were used including a true-color composite (TCC) where band 4 was assigned to red, band 3 was assigned to green, and Methodology band 2 was assigned to blue (R4, G3, B2). A false-color com- posite (FCC) has band combinations (R5, G4, B3), (R5, G6, Landsat-8 data B4), and (R7, G6, B4). The convolution filtering technique is the process of averaging small sets of pixels across an image This work depends on the Landsat-8 scene of Path 167, Row by moving a window of coefficients. It is used to change the 048, which is an image that consists of 11 spectral bands spatial frequency characteristics of an image. Histogram (Table 1) and covers an area of about 170 × 189 km2.The equalization is a nonlinear stretch that redistributes pixel study area (Fig. 1) is a subset of the full scene that is approx- values so that there is approximately the same number of imately 6100 km2. pixels with each value within a range; this includes contrast stretching and brightness enhancement. PCA is used to com- Digital image processing press bands of redundant data that are similar, and produces new bands of data of high variance, whereas the decorrelation Digital image processing procedures were carried out using stretch applies a contrast stretch to the principal components ERDAS IMAGINE 8.4 software (Smith and Brown 1999). of an image. These methods usually produce colorful FCC The objective is to process and enhance the image as to produce images emphasizing the variations between surface materials a better image that can be visually interpreted (Lillesand and which leads to better way of discrimination between earth Kiefer 1994). These techniques have proven valuable for differ- materials (Smith and Brown 1999). ent geological applications such as mapping of lithological units, lineaments, structures, and coastal plain mapping and manage- ments (Mohammad et al. 2001; Yamaguchi and Naito 2003; Field study Ninomiya 2003;El-Badawi2006; Moufaddal and Rifaat 2006; Awari and Mullah 2010;Rifaatetal.2010; Alharbi et al. 2011; Many field visits were carried out to the study area in August Sagheer et al. 2011;PourandHashim2012; Van der Meer et al., 2013 and March 2015 to confirm the obtained digital image 2012; Elsebaie et al. 2013;Sagheer2013). processing results. The location of each feature was carefully Generally, the processing of digital image data can be recorded, visited, studied, and photographed. The combina- achieved using different techniques, one of which is image tion between Landsat image processing and field data was enhancement which involves techniques for increasing the done to investigate and identify accurately several geomor- visual distinction between features in a scene and aids in better phic features.

Table 1 The Landsat-8 bands used in the present study (Web Bands Wavelength Resolution reference 1) (μm) (m)

Operational Land Imager (OLI) Band 1—coastal aerosol 0.43–0.45 30 Band 2—blue 0.45–0.51 30 Band 3—green 0.53–0.59 30 Band 4—red 0.64–0.67 30 Band 5—near infrared (NIR) 0.85–0.88 30 Band 6—SWIR 1 1.57–1.65 30 Band 7—SWIR 2 2.11–2.29 30 Band 8—panchromatic 0.50–0.68 15 Band 9—cirrus 1.36–1.38 30 Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) Band 10—thermal infrared (TIRS) 1 10.60–11.19 100(30)a Band 11—thermal infrared (TIRS) 2 11.50–12.51 100(30)a

a TIR bands are acquired in 100 m resolution and they are re-sampled to 30 m 103 Page 4 of 18 Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103

Results and discussion and vegetation, and the distinguishing of different forest types can be derived from band 2 (Web reference 2). Results of digital image processing Figure 2 shows the study area in TCC image that shows several land covers in their natural colors, for ex- TCC image (R4, G3, B2) ample, the vegetation cover is in green color, the seawater is in blue color (light blue for shallow water and dark blue Landsat-8 band 4 detects reflectance in the red spectral range for deep water), the small scattered reef islands and reef (0.5–0.7 μm), band 3 detects the green reflectance from veg- fringes are in hues of white color, the coastal plain that etation (0.5–0.6 μm), and band 2 is more suitable for penetra- includes sabkhas are in light brown color, and the other tion in clear water because it detects reflectance in the blue dry coastal areas are shown in creamy to brown colors. spectral range (0.4–0.5 μm). Moreover, information about The shoreline morphology of the study area has been sediment suspension in seawater, differentiation between soil identified by studying its shape in TCC image. The

Fig. 2 TCC image of the study area (band combination is R4, G3, B2), showing major in the area according to Table 2 Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 Page 5 of 18 103

Table 2 Thedrainagebasinsof 2 the wadis in the Jizan area Wadi drainage basin no. Name of wadi Approximate area (km )

1 Baysh, Nakhlan, Sabya, Qissi, and Shahdan 385 2 Jizan, Damad, Malahah, and Iraqi 330 3 Amlah, Maqab, al Fuja, and Khums 248 4 Khulab 134

shoreline morphology is based on the coastal processes by coastal line of the study area as tortuous and characterized sea waves and currents that lead to formation of several by occurrence of coastal lagoons, sand spits, and a shal- morphological features. The TCC image showed the low bay. The image showed clearly four wadi drainage

Fig. 3 The radiometrically enhanced TCC image shows shallow shelf areas along the coastal line zone of the study area 103 Page 6 of 18 Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 basins from north to south, each basin composed of a be distinguished with their light blue color (Fig. 3). The light group of tributaries that are shown in Table 2. blue color can be also attributed to the high carbonate content Applying the histogram equalization stretch as a radiomet- of Jizan shelf sediments. Abou-Ouf and EI-Shater (1992) ric enhancement leads to the discrimination between the shal- pointed out that Jizan shelf sediments has a high carbonate low and deep shelf areas (Fig. 3). The shallow shelf area has a content. dusty light blue color whereas the deep shelf area has a dark blue color. The width of the shallow shelf area ranges between FCC images 3 and 6 km at the northern part and increases toward the south to reach a width of up to 8 km at the Jizan City coastal area, The FCC image with the band combination R5, G4, B3 and up to about 15 km in the southern part of the study area (Fig. 4) is very useful to differentiate between the sabkha (Fig. 3). The shallow submerged areas around the small and the non-sabkha areas. It is also useful in mapping some islands scattered in the vicinity of the Jizan shelf area can also other geomorphic features, such as barrier islands and coral

Fig. 4 FCC image of the study area (band combination is R5, G4, B3) shows the sabkha area with light brown color and the non- sabkha area with light grey to light bluish hues of white Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 Page 7 of 18 103 reefs (Qari and Basyoni 2003). There are many band com- with more moisture than the deeper water table. Qari and binations that can be used to form different FCC images, Basyouni (2003) pointed to a similar result from the Al- and many of them were tested. The band combination (R5, Majnona sabkha. They found variation in the tonal charac- G4, B3) clearly showed the visual difference between the teristic of the FCC image that related to the depth of the sabkha and the non-sabkha areas (Fig. 4). The FCC R5, G4, water table. Also, the greater moisture content of the soil in B3 image showed the sabkha areas in hues of light brown the study area gave a darker brown tone because water ab- whereas the non-sabkha areas were shown in light grey to sorbs more electromagnetic radiation (EMR) resulting in light bluish hues of white. These tonal variations were lowering of the reflectance of the soil. As a result, dry soil interpreted as a result of the moisture content that related has a bright tone (light brown tone). However, mangroves to the depth of the water table. The shallow water table, are seen as a red line or veneer bounding the coastal line through the capillarity mechanism or evaporative pumping especially in the gulf and areas northwest of Jizan (Hsu and Siegenthaler 1969), supplies the surface sediments City (Fig. 4).

Fig. 5 FCC image of the study area (band combination is R5, G6, B4); the white arrows indicate the mangroves in hues of red, while the dashed lines indicate the land vegetated areas in hues of orange 103 Page 8 of 18 Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103

The band combination R5, G6, B4 showed some important visible and near-infrared (VNIR, 0.4–1.4 μm) and higher in information such as the land/seawater interface, vegetation the SWIR. Non-vegetated soils and urban areas will appear in cover, and urban populations (Fig. 5). The shortwave infrared hues of blue to gray color (Fig. 5). band (band 6, 1.57–1.65 μm) is sensitive to variations in water Using this FCC R5, G6, B4, different vegetation types content, leafy vegetation, and soil moisture. This band fea- are more clearly defined. Furthermore, the differentiation tures a very high EMR absorption by water. In this combina- between mangroves, which appears along most of the tion, leafy vegetation appears in shades of red and orange. coastal plain, and the other vegetation is possible through When a crop has a relatively lower moisture content, the re- this band combination. The mangrove was shown in red flection in band 5 will be relatively high, meaning more con- color whereas other vegetation was shown in orange col- tribution of green color and thus resulting in a more darker or. Also, the land/seawater interface is very clear and var- orange color (Fig. 5). The color green will begin to dominate iation in moisture content is distinguished with this band in this combination when the vegetation reflects lower in the combination.

Fig. 6 FCC image with band combination R7, G6, B4 shows that the yellow polygons indicate the urbanization populated areas, e.g., Jizan City and Abu Arish village Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 Page 9 of 18 103

Using the FCC (R7, G6, B4) image, the urbanization areas Decorrelation stretch (DECOR) can be easily recognized and have been shown in light grey or silver color (Fig. 6). Figure 7b shows the enhanced image of the study area after applying the decorrelation stretch (DECOR) technique on the images with PC5 in red, PC4 in green, and PC3 in blue. The Principal component analysis (PCA) DECOR image clearly shows the tonal variation in the sabkha areas with hues of orange. Figure 7a shows the enhanced image of the study area after applying the PCA technique. The PCA image with PC7 in red, PC5 in green, and PC3 in blue clearly shows many distinctive Band ratios features such as wadi drainages, mangroves, salt dome, aeo- lian sand dunes, and sabkha. The wadi drainages are exhibited The band ratio technique has been applied to delineate some in several levels of green color; the salt dome is shown in dark features such as the existence of clay sediments, moisture green color, the mangroves are shown in hues of red to reddish content, and vegetation in the study area. Figure 8a shows orange color, the sabkha areas are shown in hues of light to the clay sediments that have a homogenous tonal distribution dark blue (the light blue hue indicates dry sabkha, whereas the in greyscale. The coastal sabkha areas show grey color hues dark blue hue indicates wet sabkha), and the aeolian sand that point to the presence of clay sediments, although the dark dunes and loess sediments are shown in hues of fuchsia grey color hues can be related to the high water content and (Fig. 7a). The tonal variation in the sabkha areas can be attrib- shallower water table with higher clay content. The vegetation uted to the variation of sabkha characteristics, such as sedi- (Fig. 8b) is represented by very light hues of white in the ment type, mineralogical composition, moisture content, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) image espe- salinity, and depth of the water table. cially the mangroves along the sea shoreline.

Fig. 7 The spectrally enhanced satellite images of Jizan area. a PCA mangroves (red color), SD sand dome (dark green color). b image with PC7 in red, PC5 in green, and PC3 in blue. S sabkha (blue Decorrelation stretched image with decorrelated stretched bands 5 in color), W wadi basin (green color), D sand dunes (fuchsia color), M red, 4 in green, and 3 in blue shows the sabkha areas with orange hue 103 Page 10 of 18 Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103

Fig. 8 The band ratios. a Clay sediment image shows the coastal sabkha areas in a light grey color and the dark grey color hues indicating the high water content and shallower water table with higher clay content. b NDVI image shows the vegetation in very light hues of white

Field study fine sand that range in color from light to dark brown based on the moisture and/or organic material content. The studied area covers an area of about 3461 km2 that The high evaporation rate leads to the formation of consists of the coastal plain of Jizan and the wadi ba- white colored, surficial, efflorescent salt (Fig. 9a). sins. The conducted combination of the digital image Halophyte plants are observed on slightly high ground processing and the fieldwork recognized a group of areas around small pans in the sabkha (Fig. 9b). The the geomorphic features of certain surficial sediments wet sabkha sediments show some characteristic surface that were summarized as follows: features such as adhesion ripples (Fig. 9c), petee structure (Fig. 9d) and embryonic tepee polygonal structures (Fig. 9e), whereas the dry sabkha shows Sabkha mature tepee structures (Fig. 9f).

The sabkha is one of the widespread geomorphic fea- tures at the Jizan coastal area (Fig. 9a). It extends Sand dunes and loess along the coastal zone as irregular patches from north to south with an area of about 317 km2. The Jizan Sand dunes were observed as barchan dunes at some sabkha is either wet or dry depending on the seasonal locations in the study area. The PCA image shows the variations in the water table level, tides, rainfall inten- distribution of sand dunes at the studied area with dis- sity, and evaporation rate. Figure 7a shows the distri- tinctive fuchsia colors (Fig. 7a). The barchan dunes bution of sabkha along the coastal line, where wet (Fig. 10a, b) were frequently recorded on dry sediment sabkha has a dark blue hue and dry sabkha has a light (Fig.10a)orwetsabkha(Fig.10b). They are formed blue hue. The sabkha sediments consist of silt and by accumulation of medium sand in crescent-shaped Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 Page 11 of 18 103

Fig. 9 Jizan coastal sabkha. a The white-colored crust on the surface of sabkha. b Halophyte growth on the sabkha. c Adhesion ripples on wet sabkha. d Petee structure on wet sabkha. e Embryonic tepee structure on wet sabkha. f Mature tepee structure on dry sabkha

mounds that are formed in three parts: windblown face, width ranging from 10 to 20 m, and length up to tens crest, and slip face, with height ranging from 5 to 10 m, of meters. Loess was observed in some locations of the 103 Page 12 of 18 Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103

Fig. 10 The aeolian deposits in Jizan area. a and b Barchan sand dunes. c Loess shows cliff forming compact silt and sand. d Loess covered with vegetation. e Sand sheets on wadi basins showing rippled surface. f Sand sheet in a wadi covered with scattered vegetations

study area (Fig. 10c, d). Loess is composed of homog- fine sand grains. They show some scattered vegetation enous, massive or thin laminated, highly porous silt and and rootlets (Fig. 10d). Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 Page 13 of 18 103

Fig. 11 Land vegetations. a Vegetations in the wadi basin. b Halophyte plants that are growing in sabkha areas

Fig. 12 Mangrove habitats. a and b Mangroves along the coastal line. c Mangroves at shallow bay. d Mangroves at shallow coastal lagoon 103 Page 14 of 18 Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103

Wadi basins They extend intermittently along the coastal line from north to south in several subenvironments such as wadi outlets, muddy Four wadi basins were detected and interpreted in the shallow bays, and coastal lagoons (Fig. 12a–d). The FCC (R5, PCA image (Fig. 7a) and Table 2. The wadis are ob- G6, B4) image shows the mangroves in hues of red. It is served in the PCA (R7, G5, B3) image in hues of green important to note that the applied band combination distin- color (Fig. 7a). These wadis run on the piedmont of the guished the mangroves by their red color, whereas the land mountains on the east toward the coastal zone to form a vegetation shows orange color (Fig. 5). fan-like geomorphic feature. They are formed during excessive rainfall periods and flash floods, when the Reef margins intermittent stream drainages are extremely active to supply a huge amount of sediments to the wadi mouths In general, the Jizan coastal line is characterized by the lack of and to the coast. The wadi basins are characterized by coral reefs with the exception of a few patch reefs and small the occurrence of sand sheets, sabkha, and vegetation. reef islands scattered off the shore. Some of them are sub- Sand sheets are recorded as a monotonous, flat, sedi- merged. The reefs are highly found at the northern parts of ment surface composed of sand-sized sediments the study area behind the mangrove belt. These mangroves (Fig. 10e). Sabkhas spread along the coastal line located trap sediments to help the growth of reefs and reef habitats. at the mouth wadi basins. Dense to sparse vegetation are scattered on the wadi basins (Fig. 10f), whereas mangroves are found along the coastal line of wadi Salt dome basin no. 1. The southern Red Sea coastal plain has generally low relief Land vegetation with the exception of the salt dome of the Jizan. The Jizan salt dome is located at the old Jizan City with an area of 4.2 km2 The observed vegetation can be divided into plants that and a height of 50 m above sea level (Fig. 13). It is surrounded are widespread on wadi basins (Figs. 10fand11a) and by the sabkha and aeolian deposits. The salt dome is shown in the halophytes that are found on sabkhas and marshes the PCA image in hues of dark green color of more or less which are widely spread on the coastal plain of the elliptical shape (Fig. 7a). study area (Fig. 11b). The density of the vegetation cover is varied from one site to another. FCC (R5, Urban population G4, B3 and R5, G6, B4) images (Figs. 4 and 5)show the land vegetation in hues of red color and orange The continued industrial and urban development of the Jizan color, respectively. province and the highly increasing population compared with that in the past lead to the building of several scattered villages Mangroves and towns near Jizan City. The digital processed FCC image with band combination (R7, G6, B4) shows the main city of The studied coastal area is characterized by the widespread Jizan and smaller towns and villages scattered along the coast- occurrence of mangroves that cover an area of about 16 km2. al plain in light grey or silver color (Fig. 6).

Fig. 13 Field panorama photo for Jizan salt dome that consists of halite at the center and and dolostones at the cap rocks Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 Page 15 of 18 103

Fig. 14 The shoreline geomorphic feature. a–c Sand spits and coastal lagoons. d Small bay. e Sandy shore. f Muddy tidal flat 103 Page 16 of 18 Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103

Sandy shores and tidal flat reliable maps. The Jizan coastal plain is characterized by sev- eral geomorphic features extending from north to south and The shoreline of the study area extends from north to south from east to west. The study area contains four wadi basins with a length of more than 100 km. Generally, it is character- that cover a huge area and have a tangible effluence on the ized by a tortuous and curved shape at many locations to form nature of the depositional processes. Land vegetation is a group of shallow lagoons and bays. It is also characterized scattered in a large area on the coastal plain and the eastern by elongated fissures to form narrow and shallow sharms (at parts of the study area. Mangroves have high intensity at the the north part of the study area) (Fig. 14a–d). The shoreline northern part of the study area relative to the middle and can be classified into sandy shore and muddy tidal flat southern parts. Sand dunes are recorded at the outskirts of (Fig. 14e, f). Jizan City. Sabkha areas are recorded along the coast and classified into wet and dry sabkhas based on the tonal varia- Outcome tions from remote sensing point of view and field investiga- tion. Non-sabkha areas include sand dunes, sand sheets, and The application of high-resolution Landsat-8 images that are wadi basins. Other features have been recognized such as the subjected to many digital processing techniques, coupled with shallow and deep waters, reef margins, islands, and salt dome. field investigation, led to the construction of accurate and Figure 15 represents a comprehensive constructed map

Fig. 15 Map showing several geomorphic features of Jizan coastal area which was constructed by combination of digital image processing and fieldwork Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103 Page 17 of 18 103 showing the distribution of several geomorphic features at Al-Washmi HA, Bantan R, Rifaat AE, Rasul N (2002) Study on the Jizan coastal plain. geomorphological changes, depositional environments and geo- chemical properties of sediment veneer in and around AI-Lith area Red Sea coast of Saudi area. Report No.251/421, Scientific Research Council, King abdulaziz University, Conclusions Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Awari EH, Mullah AM (2010) Analysis of spatial changes of coastal environments for the Shuaiba in the western region of Kingdom of Remote sensing technology is one of the most useful tech- Saudi Arabia using remote sensing technique. J King Abdulaziz niques for studying land features through processing and University Met Envi Sci Dry Zon Agri 21(2):171–195 analyzing of satellite images. In this study, some digital im- Bahafzullah A, Fayed LA, Kazi A, Al-Saify M (1993) Classification and age processing methods, such as band combinations, histo- distribution of the Red Sea coastal sabkhas near Jeddah Saudi Arabia. Carbonates 8(1):23–38 gram equalization, principal component analysis, Bantan RA (1999) Geology and sedimentary environments of Farasan Bank decorrelation stretching, and band ratios of the Landsat-8 (Saudi Arabia) southern Red Sea: a combined remote sensing and field data, were applied to discriminate between different natural study. PhD Dissertation, University of London, London, UK land covers and to distinguish urban areas in the vicinity of Blank HR, Johnson PR, Gettings ME, Simmons GC (1987) Jizan City. The identified features include urban populated Reconnaissance geologic map of Jizan quadrangle, Sheet 16F, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Deputy Ministry for areas (main city, towns, and villages), sand dunes and loess, Resources, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, geologic salt dome, land vegetations, shallow and deep shelves, reef map GM-104 C islands, sabkha and non-sabkha areas, wadi drainages, man- El-Badawi MM (2006) Application of remote sensing technology to- groves, shorelines, tidal flats, coastal lagoons and bays, and wards the identification at the existing soil units and their capability in some areas, south-east, Egypt. 2nd International Conf. on Water wet and dry sabkha sediments. The tonal variations are use- Resources & Arid Environment ful in the classification of the coastal sabkha areas into dry Elsebaie IH, Aguib ASH, Al Garni D (2013) The role of remote sensing and wet sabkhas based on their characteristics, compositions, and GIS for locating suitable mangrove plantation sites along the and moisture content. The resultant geomorphic features southern Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast. Int J Geosci 4:471–479 from Landsat images were further confirmed through de- Hsü KJ, Siegenthaler C (1969) Preliminary experiments on hydrodynam- ic movement induced by evaporation and their bearing on the dolo- tailed fieldwork. Several new Landsat image maps were mite problem. Sedimentology 12(1–2):11–25 produced in this study showing the distribution of the dif- Kumar A, Khan MA, Muqtadir A (2010) Distribution of mangroves ferent geomorphic features. These new image maps will be along the Red Sea coast of the Arabian peninsula: part-I: the north- useful as reference maps for the governorate of Jizan for ern coast of western Saudi Arabia. e-Journal Earth Science India 3(1):28–42 development of the areas and for geologists, engineering Lillesand TM, Kiefer RW (1994) Remote sensing and image interpreta- geologists, and soil scientists. tion. 3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc Mohammad MR, El-Sobky H, Sedeik K, El Raey M (2001) Application of band ratios identified by HHRR for recognition of surface units using Tm data in Siwa depression, western desert, Egypt. The 22nd Asian Conference on Remote Sensing, 5–9 November 2001, Singapore References Moufaddal W, Rifaat AE (2006) Identifying geomorphic features between Ras Gemsha and Safaga, Red Sea coast, Egypt, using remote sensing Abdelrahman SM, Ahmad F (1995) Red Sea surface heat fluxes and techniques. J King Abdulaziz University Mar Sci 17(1):105–128 advective heat transport through Bab EI Mandab. J King Ninomiya Y (2003) A stabilized vegetation index and several mineralogic Abdulaziz University Mar Sci 6:3–13 indices defined for ASTER VNIR and SWIR data. Conference Abou-Ouf M, El-Shater A (1992) Sedimentary and mineralogy of Jizan Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2003. IGARSS'03. shelf sediments, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. J King Abdulaziz Proceedings. 2003 I.E. International 3:1552–1554 University Mar Sci 3:39–54 NOAA Coastal Ocean Office, Silver Spring, Md., National Science and Alharbi OA, Phillips MR, Williams AT, and Bantan RA (2011) Landsat Technology Council, Committee on Environmental and Natural ETM applications: identifying geological and coastal landforms, SE Resources (1995) Setting a new course for U.S. coastal ocean science: Red Sea Coast, Saudi Arabia. Proceeding of the Tenth International final report of the Subcommittee on U.S. Coastal Ocean Science Conference on the Mediterranean Coastal Environment, PME (Presidency of Meteorology and Environment) (2015) Data of the MEDCOAST 11, E. Ozhan (Editor), 25–29 October 2011, climatic elements of Jizan through 1980–2015. Kingdom of Saudi Rhodes, Greece Arabia, Jeddah Al-Hazmi OA (2006) Use of remote sensing applications for coastal Pour AB, Hashim M (2012) The application of ASTER remote sensing data landforms identification of Ash Shuqayq area, southeastern of the to porphyry copper and epithermal gold deposits. Ore Geol Rev 44:1–9 Red Sea coast, Saudi Arabia. MSc Dissertation, King Abdulaziz Qari MHT, Basyoni MH (2003) Using Landsat-TM images in mapping University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia BAl-Majnonah^ sabkha distribution along the Red Sea coast, south- Al-Modayan AA (2012) Utilizing GIS in flash flooding risk assessment in east of Al-Lith, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. J King Abdulaziz urban environment with reference to Yanbu and Rabigh cities, western University Earth Sci 141:47–56 Saudi Arabia. J King Abdulaziz University Earth Sci 23(1):67–83 Rifaat AE, Hariri MS, Moufaddal WM (2010) Demarcation of the Red Al Saifi MM, Qari MYH (1996) Application of Landsat Thematic Sea coastal zone features between the towns of Jazan and Leith, Mapper data in sabkha studies at the Red Sea coast. Int J Remote Saudi Arabia, using some satellite imagery of the Landsat 7. J Sensing 17(3):527–536 King Abdulaziz University Mar Sci 21(2):147–230 103 Page 18 of 18 Arab J Geosci (2017) 10:103

Rowlands G, Purkis S, Riegl B, Metsamaa L, Bruckner A, Renaud P de Smeth J, Woldai T (2012) Multi- and hyperspectral geologic remote (2012) Satellite imaging resilience at regional scale. A sensing: a review. Int J Appl Earth Obs Geoinf 14:112–128 case-study from Saudi Arabia. Mar Pollut Bull 64:1222–1237 Yamaguchi Y, Naito C (2003) Spectral indices for lithologic discrimina- Sagheer AA (2013) Combined use of satellite remote sensing and GIS to tion and mapping by using the ASTER SWIR bands. INT J Remote support land-use planning and management of At-Tif AlFaza coastal Sensing 24(22):4311–4323 area, Red Sea, Yemen. J King Abdulaziz University Mar Sci 24(1): Youssef AM, Pradhan B, Sabtan AA, El-Harbi HM (2012) Coupling of 85–100 remote sensing data aided with field investigations for geological Sagheer AA, Humade A, Al-Jabali AMO (2011) Monitoring of coastline hazards assessment in Jazan area, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. changes along the Red Sea, Yemen based on remote sensing tech- Environ Earth Sci 65:119–130 nique. Global Geology 14(4):241–248 Smith C, Brown N (1999) Erdas field guide. Fifth edition, revised and expanded. ERDAS®, Inc, Atlanta Toole DA, Siegel DA, Menzies DW, Neumann MJ, Smith RC (2000) Web references Remote-sensing reflectance determinations in the coastal ocean en- vironment: impact of instrumental characteristics and environmental Web reference 1: https://www.landsat.usgs.gov – variability. Appl Opt 39(3):456 469 Web reference 2: https://www.gdsc.nlr.nl/gdsc/en/information/earth_ van der Meer FD, van der Werff HMA, van Ruitenbeek FJA, Hecker CA, observation/band_combinations Bakker WH, Noomen MF, van der Meijde M, Carranza EJ, Boudewijn