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(1973) 
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1975. 
ty, 1976). 
nal and 
ple, is 
ations, to 
| in the 
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area of 
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stant flow 
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of the 
rs, 1975). 
ncluding the 
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vhen coupled 
are also 
>ctiveness 
j, such as 
ng as a 
3) use of the MSS band 7 (outside the spectral sensitivity range 
of film) is essential; and 
4) successive images can be overlaid, without special processing 
to rapidly assess temporal change (Deutsch and Ruggles, 1974; Weisnet 
and others, 1974; Williamson, 1974; Rango and Anderson, 1974; and Moore 
and North, 1974). 
Landsat imagery shows promise as a tool to monitor energy-related 
development in Alaska. Examination of the vegetative cover, on a 
false-color Landsat image of the Umiat oilfield, revealed only one 
indication of scarring of the delicate tundra as a result of the 
intense oil exploration in thís area in the late 1940's and early 1950's. 
This suggested that the environmental effects of oil exploration were 
not spreading but rather were healing. This conclusion was largely 
substantiated by low-level helicopter surveys undertaken by 
R.L. Detterman in the summer of 1973 and reported by Lathram (1973). 
One short, clear-dozed, and repeatedly used trail near Umiat still 
formed a marked scar, which upon close examination is visible on Landsat 
images. 
In 1975, George C. Taylor. Jr. (written communication) studied five 
adjoining Landsat frames of bands 6 and 7 at a scale of 1:1,000,000. 
These images were mosaicked and used with available geologic maps, 
hydrologic data and lines of instrumentally determined benchmarks in a 
geohydrologic reconnaissance for the Organization of American States of 
the Pantanal region in the Alto Rio Paraguai basin, Brazil. The 
Landsat imagery used in conjunction with hydrologic and geologic infor- 
mation obtained during a recent UNESCO/UNDP project with the Government 
of Brazil made possible a regional synthesis of information that had not 
been feasible at an earlier stage. 
The Landsat imagery showed that the surface configuration of the 
Pantanal is presently dominated by an alluvial fan of the Rio Taquari, 
which occupies and extends almost completely across the central Pantanal. 
The Taquari fan, which extends a maximum distance of about 225 km from 
north to south and 250 km from east to west, covers an area of about 
50,800 km?. Moreover, the imagery indicates that aggradation of the 
Taquari fan bas now locked the Rio Paraguai in its present channel con- 
trolled by bedrock thresholds along the western margin of the Pantanal 
depression. Using the drainage lines defined by the Landsat imagery 
together with available lines of benchmarks, it was possible to construct 
an approximate topographic map, scale 1:2,000,000, with 10-m contours on 
the surface of the Pantanal alluvial fill. This map indicates that the 
rapid aggradation of the Taquari fan has deflected and ponded drainage 
to the north, south, and west of the fan creating extensive swamps and 
shallow lakes. Ground-water reconnaissance indicates that the water 
table in the Pantanal alluvium is essentially a subdued replica of the 
land surface, hence the configuration of the water table is similar to 
that of the surface topography constructed with the use of Landsat 
imagery. 
17