The Geological Survey in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and with the Raytheon Company has prepared a mosaic from photographs taken during the Gemini IX mission. The 1:1,000,000-scale photo-mosaic extends from the Sechura Desert in northern Peru to northern Chile and from the Pacific Ocean to the headwaters of the Amazon.
In addition to a wide variety of geological features, such things as landslides, roads, snow fields, irrigated lands, jungle agricultural sites, archeological sites, and smoke (brush burning) have been identified on the photo-mosaic. A lineation, interpreted here as a major fault, extends across several photographs and for several hundred miles. The magnitude of this lineation was not realized until the photographs were rectified and the mosaic constructed.
For many purposes this mosaic is superior to the best existing 1:1,000,000-scale conventional maps of the area.
This mosaic will supplement, not replace, existing conventional maps and aerial photographs. Mosaics of photographs taken from space should be of considerable interest to the scientific community and of immense practical use in the efficient management of natural resources.
