Mapping stony rise landforms using a novel remote sensing, geophysical, and machine learning approach

A basalt lava plain covers much of central and western Victoria in Australia. Many of the younger flows (<1 Ma) have hummocky surfaces with abundant tumuli and lava rises, known locally as stony rises due to the protruding basalt boulders. Stony rises are noteworthy geologically but have ecological importance and are culturally significant to Aboriginal Australians. Ecologically, stony rises host many native plant species. Culturally, stony rises provide evidence of Aboriginal land use and occupation through the presence of artefact deposits. Currently, mapping of stony rises is carried out by conducting field surveys on a study-by-study basis. This could be performed more rapidly using remote sensing datasets such as LiDAR, satellite and aerial imagery, and geophysical data. This research mapped stony rises in an area that is experiencing rapid urban development using a combination of remotely sensed datasets that characterise the morphology of stony rises through a Machine Learning approach that utilises Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) segmentation and Random Forests (RF) classification techniques. The research successfully identified stony rises in the landscape to an accuracy of 89.97 %, with 314 potential new stony rise sites identified. The research identified the most important predictor variables were slope, local elevation, the concentrations of thorium and uranium (obtained from airborne radiometric data), aeromagnetic data (total magnetic intensity), the Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI), and the Clay Mineral Ratio. The results from this study lay a foundation for standardising the definition of a stony rise within Australia. Furthermore, by utilising various predictor variables, this study highlights the success of a multifaceted approach into detecting a specific landform at a landscape level.