Geothermal area detection using Landsat 8 operational land imager and thermal infrared sensor data in Ardabil province, Iran

GIS and remote sensing technique with using Landsat 8 images data are very important methods for detection of geothermal resources. In this study, Land Surface Temperature (LST) for Ardabil province in northwest of Iran, was derived with the use of Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) of 30 m spatial resolution and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) data of 100 m spatial resolution. We consider the six LST anomalous areas as the potential geothermal areas in Ardabil province including west of Khalkhal Township, Kosar Township, north and northwest of Ardabil Township, southwest of Namin Township, north and northeast of Meshkin Shahr Township and north of Germi Township. The research reveals that distribution of geothermal areas is related with the major, active and thrust faults in Ardabil province for instance East Ardabil fault, Sangavar fault, Bozqush fault, West Talesh fault and dasht-e Moghan fault, these faults are mainly very steep, and they continued until deep, so they have an important effect on transferring heat related with magmatic from interior earth to land surface.