ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 64 (2009) 522528

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ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

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Discrimination between marls and limestones using intensity data from

terrestrial laser scanner
Marco Franceschi a, , Giordano Teza a , Nereo Preto a,b , Arianna Pesci c , Antonio Galgaro a , Stefano Girardi d
a

Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Universit di Padova, via Giotto, 1, I-35137 Padova, Italy

Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, CNR, corso Garibaldi, 37, I-35137 Padova, Italy

Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, via Creti, 12, I-40128 Bologna, Italy

Fondazione Bruno Kessler, via Sommarive, 18, I-38050 Povo (TN), Italy

article

info

Article history:
Received 29 July 2008
Received in revised form
27 February 2009
Accepted 17 March 2009
Available online 26 April 2009
Keywords:
Geology
Laser scanning
TLS
Radiometric
Recognition

abstract
Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) is an active instrument widely used for physical surface acquisition
and data modeling. TLS provides both the geometry and the intensity information of scanned objects
depending on their physical and chemical properties. The intensity data can be used to discriminate
different materials, since intensity is proportional, among other parameters, to the reflectance of the
target at the specific wavelength of the laser beam. This article focuses on the TLS-based recognition of
rocks in simple sedimentary successions mainly constituted by limestones and marls. In particular, a series
of experiments with an Optech ILRIS 3D TLS was carried out to verify the feasibility of this application,
as well as to solve problems in data acquisition protocol and data processing. Results indicate that a TLS
intensity-based discrimination can provide reliable information about the clay content of rocks in clean
outcrop conditions if the geometrical aspects of the acquisition (i.e. distance) are taken into account.
Reflectance values of limestones, marls and clays show, both in controlled conditions and in the field,
clear differences due to the interaction of the laser beam (having a 1535 nm wavelength) with H2 Obearing minerals and materials. Information about lithology can be therefore obtained also from real
outcrops, at least if simple alternation of limestones and marls are considered. Comparison between
reflectance values derived from TLS acquisition of an outcrop and the clay abundance curves obtained by
gas chromatography on rock samples taken from the same stratigraphic section shows that reflectance
is linked by an inverse linear relationship (correlation coefficient r = 0.85) to the abundance of clay
minerals in the rocks. Reflectance series obtained from TLS data are proposed as a tool to evaluate the
variation of clay content along a stratigraphic section. The possibility of linking reflectance values to
lithological parameters (i.e. clay content) could provide a tool for lithological mapping of outcrops, with
possible applications in various fields, ranging from petroleum geology to environmental engineering,
stratigraphy and sedimentology.
2009 International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Inc. (ISPRS). Published by
Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
A terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) acquisition provides the measurement of a large number of physical points distributed on the
observed surface. The result of a TLS session is the so-called point
cloud, i.e. the set of spatial coordinates and measured intensities,
where the intensity of a point is the power of the backscattered
component of the laser pulse. The redundant number of acquired
points, together with their density, leads to a very accurate and

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 049 8272067; fax: +39 049 8272010.
E-mail addresses: geo.marco@tin.it, marco.franceschi@unipd.it (M. Franceschi).

high resolution reconstruction of the observed surfaces in terms of

a 3D representation, since the typical laser beam has a 0.100.20
mrad width. For example, if an Optech ILRIS 3D scanner is used
(Optech, 2008; POB, 2008), the standard deviation (STD) in single
point acquisition from a 50 m distance is 7 mm, and the actual
resolution is 17.7 mm (Lichti and Jamtsho, 2006).
The typical application of TLS involves the acquisition of the
three-dimensional geometry of an object of interest, which is also
the aim of laser scanning in geology. TLS is used, for example,
to estimate the volume of rock constituting a landslide body,
or can be used for the recognition of fractures on inaccessible
rock walls (Slob and Hack, 2004; Slob et al., 2005). However,
the discrimination of different rock properties, including rock

0924-2716/$ see front matter 2009 International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Inc. (ISPRS). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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M. Franceschi et al. / ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 64 (2009) 522528

composition (lithology), would also be very useful in geological

applications. Lithological differences can, for example, influence
the mechanical behavior of rock masses or drive the flow of
any fluids (water, oil) possibly contained in them by means of
their spatial distribution. In addition to its capability to render
geometries accurately and three dimensionally, TLS works, unlike
other scanning techniques (e.g. optical scanners), with an active
sensor that makes the intensity data independent from the
illumination conditions of the target. For these reasons a study
of the link between lithology and intensity appears desirable and
could significantly improve the efficiency and the usefulness of TLS
in Earth Sciences.
Differences in intensity values are clearly visible and easily
detected in point clouds and are often seen when rocks are
scanned. Bellian et al. (2005) demonstrate how the application
of unsupervised classification algorithms to the intensities of
a TLS generated point cloud allows channelized bodies in a
toe-of-slope debrite (a type of lithified mass-flow deposit) and
turbidite complex to be detected. This detection is possible due
to the different intensity response given by different rock types.
This application of intensity to a geological problem remains,
however, an isolated case. Differences in intensity depend on the
composition of the observed target (as also shown in Kurazume
et al. (2002)), but are also related to other factors, including the
roughness of the surface, laser wavelength (Lu et al., 2005) and
geometry of acquisition (e.g. distance and angle of incidence, Feng
et al., 2001; Kemeny and Post, 2003; Reshetyuk, 2006). These
factors have to be taken into account when studying the TLS
intensity.
In the SWIR (Short Wave InfraRed) band the reflectance is
highly influenced by absorption phenomena induced by the
presence of H2 O-bearing clay minerals. Very sharp absorption
bands appear in reflectance spectra, due to the combination of
the tones and overtones of the water vibrational fundamental
modes (Hunt and Salisbury, 1970; Clark, 1999). This seems to
be also confirmed in infrared ( = 1535 nm) TLS acquisitions of
outcrops constituted by limestones and marls, since the later
systematically show lower intensity values.
These facts suggest that an efficient discrimination of different
rocks can be attempted with TLS surveying, providing a remote
sensing technique to retrieve lithological data even from inaccessible outcrops. In principle, the recognition process could be highly
automated.
In this work, the results of a series of experiments are shown,
aimed at the recognition of lithology directly within the 3D
geometrical dataset acquired via TLS. The study investigates
the influence of geometrical (in particular, acquisition distance),
environmental (e.g. temperature, moisture conditions) and lithological (clay content) parameters on the reflectance values in a TLS
acquisition.
2. Intensity data processing
2.1. TLS intensity data
Suitable parsing software transforms the raw data provided
by the instrument into a format that can be easily managed by
the TLS data inspection and processing software, i.e. Innovmetric
PolyWorksTM , Maptek I-Site StudioTM , Leica CycloneTM , and others;
see POB (2008) for a survey. After the data parsing, the point cloud
is the set {(xi , yi , zi , IN (xi , yi , zi )), i = 1, . . . , N }, where IN (xi , yi , zi )
is an 8-bit digital number (DN) representing the distance-corrected
intensity normalized to the range 0255 and N is the number of
points backscattering a useful component of the signal returned
(in particular, the points where saturation of the receiver occurred
are excluded by the parsing software). In this way, two targets

523

Fig. 1. Principle of the time-of-flight terrestrial laser scanner. The angular

coordinates and of the laser beam are defined by the scanning sub-system
(mechanism based on rotating/tilting mirrors), and the distance d is computed by
the travel time of the nanosecond laser pulse. The surface is scanned by changing
the angles in discrete steps and , i.e. m = 0 + m and m = 0 + m ,
where 0 and 0 are the longitude and latitude of the starting point. The particular
case of a vertical wall is shown, in order to explain the effect of angle between the
line-of-sight and the normal direction to the surface. Good instrumental practice
requires that this angle must be not too high.

acquired at different distances but having the same reflectance at

the laser wavelength return similar IN .
Generally, the parsing algorithms provided by TLS manufacturers are not open source software. Therefore, despite the fact that
data inspection is very simple and the 3D view pleasing, the intensity information could be altered and uncontrolled artifacts could
arise in reflectance reconstruction or in intensity-based computations. The raw intensity, as directly provided by the instrument and
expressed by a 16-bit DN, is used here instead of the 8-bit DN provided by the parsing software.
Fig. 1 shows an example of acquisition geometry for a time-offlight TLS. In a spherical coordinate frame, if (d, , ) is the position
of an acquired target, the corresponding raw intensity is given by:
I (d, , ) = R D(d) G(, ),

(1)

where R is the material reflectance at the specific wavelength and

humidity level, D(d) is the distance factor for a perfectly reflective
Lambertian material (i.e. a diffuse reflector) illuminated and seen
on normal incidence and G(, ) takes into account both the
observation geometry and the macro-roughness (that is surface
irregularities). The influence of the air mass is not considered
here, since scans were realized from very short distances, with
good visibility and in good atmospheric conditions. The aim
is to evaluate R from: the intensity I (d, , ) provided by the
instrument, the function D(d) which can be easily obtained
from the detector response at distance S (d) provided by the
manufacturer, and the function G(, ) defined on the basis of
acquisition geometry and the nature of the surface.
In the case of the Optech ILRIS 3D TLS, the receiver output signal
vs. distance map is:
log10 S (d) = log10 S0 + m log10 (d/d0 ),

(2)

where S is the signal, m = 2, d0 = 15 m and log10 S0 = 1.74.

Such a relationship, which holds only if d > 15 m (Dario Conforti
Andreoni, Optech Inc., Personal Communication), implies that
S (d) 1/d2 , as expected because the area illuminated by a laser

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M. Franceschi et al. / ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 64 (2009) 522528

beam increases with the squared distance. If d < 15 m, the

relationship between S and d is strongly non-linear and the data
provided by an ILRIS instrument cannot be used for the intensitybased stratigraphic recognition described in this paper.
The reflected power from an extended Lambertian surface is
constant with the angle between the normal to the surface and
the line-of-sight (LOS); obviously, for a TLS the LOS direction
coincides with that of incidence. Therefore, if the observed material
is Lambertian, it is simply G(, ) = 1. Different behaviors need
to be treated with different G(, ) functions, which can be very
complex. If a rough surface is illuminated by a source, since many
randomizing events can occur before the light leaves the surface,
the scattered light is diffused and the behavior of the surface is
Lambertian (Carrascosa et al., 1985). Pesci and Teza (2008) showed
that a surface characterized by a macro-roughness of the order of
magnitude of the spot size (i.e. the size of the irregularities is in
the range between some mm and 10 mm if the spot diameter
is 2030 mm) has a Lambertian-like behavior, meaning that the
intensity does not depend on the incidence angle of the laser beam.
On the contrary, if the observed surface is smooth compared to
the spot size, the incidence angle strongly influences the measured
intensity and a correction is necessary for reflectance computation.
Since natural extended surfaces (e.g., rocks in outcrops) are
usually characterized by macro-roughness, the intensity is almost
independent of the incidence angle of the laser beam. This is true
if no large exposed discontinuity planes are acquired, since they
could appear to be smooth at the scale of spots of the order of
a centimeter. Possible large discontinuity surfaces must therefore
be recognized by point cloud inspection or, if a large outcrop is
studied, by automated procedures (see e.g. Slob et al. (2005)).
The results presented in this article are based on the assumption
that the acquired surfaces have Lambertian-like behavior. In other
words, if the raw intensities (16-bit DN) of two targets observed at
distances d1 and d2 are I1 and I2 respectively, the ratio between the
corresponding reflectances is
R1
R2

I1
I2

d2
d1

2

(3)

with both d1 and d2 exceeding 15 m, regardless of the surface

orientation. If the observed surface asperities were smaller than
the size of the footprint, another intensity correction would be
necessary.
The laser source of ILRIS 3D has a 1535 nm wavelength in
the SWIR band. Thus, the measured intensity is strongly sensitive
to water content and therefore depends on weather conditions
(Lu et al., 2005). This means that if two or more point clouds
are obtained under similar conditions and are registered on a
common reference frame, similar intensities are provided, while
the intensities from two point clouds acquired under different
environmental conditions cannot be directly compared. This
results in a limitation of the present study.
2.2. Generation of reflectance series
One of the aims of this study is to understand the variation of
reflectance along a stratigraphic section. Thus, reflectance series
were obtained from the TLS generated point clouds. A reflectance
series can be considered a stratigraphic log in which the distancecorrected intensity values I are associated with the corresponding
stratigraphic heights z, i.e. a map where I = I (z ).
The next steps are followed in order to obtain reflectance series.
First, the average dip of the layering is calculated and then a
rotation is applied to the point cloud in order to orient the layers
horizontally. In the new configuration, the z-axis coincides with
the stratigraphic height. Let zR be the desired resolution of the

reflectance series. In order to optimize the available information,

this resolution should be similar to the sampling step applied in
the TLS acquisition. Let zL and zH be the minimum and maximum
elevation of the rotated point cloud with respect to the point cloud
reference frame. For each positive integer k such that zL + k zR zH ,
the points whose elevation z satisfies the condition z [zL +
(k 1)zR , zL + kzR ] are searched and the corresponding distancecorrected reflectances are considered. If an outcrop having 12 m
width is acquired with 8 mm sampling step and zR = 10 mm
is considered, each interval corresponds to 1800 points. The
reflectance distribution is then analyzed and the corresponding
mode is considered as the characteristic value for the elevation
interval. In this way the couple (zk , Ik ) is obtained, where zk =
zL + kzR /2 and Ik is the mode. Tails in such a distribution may
appear, but they cannot be considered as significant because they
are related to boundary effects between different layers as well
as to local peculiarities in moisture and other surface conditions.
For this reason the use of the mode of the distribution instead of
the mean is required. If a distribution is monomodal, the mode
(as well as the median) is generally unaffected by large tails; this
is the case for the distributions considered here. The mode can
be easily computed by means of non-parametric estimation of
the corresponding probability distribution function (Bowman and
Azzalini, 1997). The reflectance series of a 12 m 7 m size outcrop
acquired with an 8 mm sampling step is considered (the point
cloud therefore has 1.3 million points) and was computed in 78
min using an IntelTM PremiumTM 4 521 Dual Core CPU with a 2.8
GHz clock speed (supported by 2 GB RAM).
The re-orientation phase is crucial, since it permits the
consideration of a layer over its entire length, averaging out any
local variability in intensity. Moreover, if the re-orientation were
poor, points belonging to different layers would be computed in
the averaging process, decreasing the reliability of the results. For
the same reasons it is important to choose outcrops with plane
parallel layering, avoiding areas where folds or faults are present.
In conclusion, the complete procedure of data processing is
given as follows:
(1) Pre-processing of the point clouds (Remondino, 2003), including the registration on a common reference frame of the partial point clouds, if two or more viewpoints are considered, and
data cleaning (for example, disturbing elements such as grass
and trees must be deleted). Moreover, extended discontinuity
surfaces must be recognized.
(2) Computation of the distance-corrected intensity as a 16-bit DN
for each point.
(3) Re-orientation of the stratigraphic succession, to obtain a
vertical wall whose layers are horizontal, meaning that in the
new configuration the bedding dip plane is parallel to the xy
plane of the point clouds reference system.
(4) Generation of the reflectance series.
The pre-processing of TLS, in particular the registration of
partial point clouds by means of interactive surface matching
algorithms, and the re-orientation phase were performed using
Innovmetric PolyWorksTM (Innovmetric, 2008; POB, 2008), whereas
the calculation of intensity data, as well as the realization of the
reflectance series, were made via original MatlabTM scripts developed by the authors and freely available to other users.
3. Indoor and in-field experiments
3.1. Case study and data acquisition
An efficient protocol for data acquisition is an unavoidable
requirement for any TLS survey, especially if the main objective of
the analysis is the discrimination between layers of a stratigraphic

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525

Table 1
Main technical specification of the Optech ILRIS 3D laser scanner. If not otherwise
indicated, the data are from Optech (2008).
Parameter

Unit

Wavelength
Laser class
Range (20% target reflectivity)
Minimum acquisition distance
Validity range of square inverse intensity-distance law
Laser beam divergence
Laser beam divergence at 50 m
Resolution at 50 m distance
Single point acquisition accuracy at 50 m
Modeling accuracy at 50 m
Minimum spot spacing at 50 m distance
Scan velocity

nm

a
b

m
m
m
mrad
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
pts/s

1535 (infrared)
1 (eyesafe)
800
3
151150a
0.17
21
17.7b
7
3
1.3
2000

Personal communication from Optech Inc.

From Lichti and Jamtsho (2006).

succession having thicknesses of the order of centimeters. If the

accuracy at a reference distance dref is ref , and the required
accuracy is = fd ref , the requirement on the distance between
instrument and target is d fd dref . On the other hand, the
viewpoint should allow a quasi-normal incidence on largest part
of the investigated surface. If a vertical wall, parallel to x-axis,
is observed from the origin of the reference frame (Fig. 1), the
footprint of a point along the normal direction ( = = 0)
consists of a circle. If another point on this plane with angular
coordinates (, 0) is considered, the footprint is an ellipse whose
major axis is parallel to x-axis and which has a ratio between
the half-axes of 1/ cos , diverging as 90 (e.g., Pesci et al.
(2007)). To maintain the accuracy within reasonable limits, angles
between the instrument line-of-sight and the observed surface
larger than 75 80 should be avoided. If necessary, more than one
viewpoint must be considered, providing a series of partial point
clouds that can be easily registered into a common reference frame
by means of an alignment algorithm.
In this work the Optech ILRIS 3D TLS was used and its main
technical data are summarized in Table 1. Although this instrument allows geometric modeling at any distance larger than 3 m
(the lower limit range), the acquired intensity data shows a behavior diverging from the expected I (d) 1/d2 if the distance is
lower than 15 m. In order to perform a correct intensity analysis,
the requirement d > 15 m on the acquisition distance is therefore
necessary (Section 2.1). Note that an intensity-based analysis
requires the knowledge of some technical specifications that are
not given by manufacturers. For example, Optech does not declare the fact that the relationship I (d) 1/d2 holds only if
d > 15 m, and the minimum acquisition distance of 3 m declared
in the technical specifications is deceptive when intensity is
considered. The motivation of the anomalous behavior is considered confidential by Optech. For this reason, information about the
minimum distance for a valid intensity evaluation and interpretation is necessary, and this must either be explicitly requested from
the manufacturer or obtained via preliminary tests on calibrated
targets.
The experiments were carried out both on artificial targets,
and in the field on a real section. In order to verify the effects
of humidity on the TLS-based intensity values, two rectangular
targets (50 40 cm) composed respectively of limestone and clay
were acquired from a distance of 20 m. The targets were acquired
in dry and wet conditions. The targets were dried in an oven at 50
for 3 h before scanning, while the acquisition in wet conditions was
executed immediately after target moistening.
The in-field case study was the Nomi section (Southern Alps,
Trento, Italy) which encompasses part of the Lower Jurassic Rotzo
Formation (Avanzini et al., 2006, 2007). The outcrop appears as a

Fig. 2. Rotzo formation at Nomi and location (star) of the studied section.

nearly vertical wall with planar layers of nearly constant thickness

(Fig. 2).
A series of point clouds was obtained from different distances,
in order to evaluate the influence of various parameters on the
intensity. Scans have been acquired at 20 m and 30 m, with a mean
sampling step at the surface of 8 mm; therefore, the angular step
was consequently defined. The chosen sampling step is close to the
spatial resolution of the instrument, which is 17.7 mm at 50 m and
linearly increases with the distance. Temperature variations were
monitored during acquisition by means of a FLIR ThermaCAMTM
SC640 thermo-camera (FLIR, 2009), which is a high-performance
instrument characterized by 0.65 mrad spatial resolution (about
1 cm at 30 m distance), 0.1 C thermal resolution and equipped by a
640 480 pixel array. The thermograms were taken at regular time
intervals during the day in order to evaluate temperature changes
due to the varying amount of incident solar radiation on the surface
when the TLS observations were carried out. Finally, rock samples
were collected at progressive stratigraphic heights within the area
of TLS acquisition. A series of CHNS (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen
and sulfur analyzer) analyses were carried on the samples order
to obtain an estimate of the clay content in different layers. In this
technique gas chromatography is used for an elemental analysis in
order to estimate the amount of hydrogen contained in a rock from
dried and crushed samples (510 mg).
3.2. Data analysis. Influence of environmental and lithological
parameters
As expected, the comparison of intensity values belonging to
TLS scans performed in different temperature conditions shows
that that the intensity is not sensitive to temperature variations
in the range between 10 C and 40 C. This fact is also confirmed
when comparing the intensity data belonging to the same target
acquired from the same station at different times during a day, that
is under varying incident solar radiation.
Fig. 3 shows the statistical distribution of intensity values
obtained scanning two artificial targets (50 cm 40 cm rectangles),
composed of clay and limestone material respectively, in both
dry and wet conditions. The different intensity results related to
different material is clear. Moreover, dry clay shows an intensity
approximately 30% lower than that of dry limestone. Moistening,
in addition to causing a shift towards lower values of the intensity
on the targets, increases the difference in intensity between clay
and limestone. The intensity response of the two materials remains
clearly distinguishable in all cases, with clay always darker than
limestone.
An attempt was made to estimate the influence of clay minerals
in determining the TLS intensity of sedimentary rocks in the
in-field case study. In Fig. 4 the results of the CHNS analyses

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M. Franceschi et al. / ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 64 (2009) 522528

Fig. 3. Distributions of intensity values on clay and limestone targets in dry and
wet conditions.

to provide the reflectance series. Fig. 6 shows the intensity image

obtained by the TLS acquisition, the area enclosed by the white line
is the one considered in the generation of the reflectance series.
In the reflectance series local maxima and minima are evident.
The high spatial resolution highlights the correlation between
high amplitude variations of intensity and lithological changes;
in fact rock layers are clearly recognizable in the curve. Typically,
maxima and minima correspond to limestones and to marls or
clays, respectively.
In Fig. 7 the reflectance series of the Nomi section is plotted on
a photographic image of the studied stratigraphic interval of the
outcrop. The correspondence between limestone and clayey layers
with local maxima and minima respectively is evident. Comparing
the intensities at local maxima and minima of the curve with the
clay abundance of the correspondent layers, obtained from the
collected samples, the correlation coefficient is r = 0.72.
The slight decrease of the correlation coefficient, with respect
to the value of 0.85 obtained by comparing hydrogen content
with the characteristic intensities of the sampled layers, may be
explained by boundary effects at bed joints that can be enhanced
if beds are not perfectly planar. Furthermore, intensity values
of the reflectance series account for a vertical interval which
is a function of the series resolution zR . This vertical interval
might be significantly different from the total layer thickness. The
correlation coefficient, however, remains significantly high, and
this fact demonstrates that reflectance series are able to record
variations in clay content along a stratigraphic section.
4. Discussion and conclusion

Fig. 4. Relationship between percentage in weight of H (expressed as H2 O) and

C (expressed as CaCO3 ) obtained from CHNS analyses on samples collected at the
Nomi section. A linear fitting of all the data is shown (black solid line), together with
the band of points within the corresponding standard deviation (black dotted lines).
The points outside this band are represented by white squares and are considered
to be outliers. The grey solid line is obtained by linear fitting of the points after
removal of the outliers.

performed on the rock samples are displayed. The percentage in

weight of H (expressed as H2 O) is plotted versus the percentage in
weight of C (expressed as CaCO3 ). The linear relationship between
the two variables is clear and the correlation coefficient (0.87)
rises near to 1 when two easily recognizable outliers are rejected.
The anomalous response of the outliers may be explained by
significant organic matter and hydrocarbon content. This result
implies that, in the case of the Nomi section, the rock can be
considered as constituted by two phases: one containing the
carbon (i.e., the calcium carbonate) and another one containing the
hydrogen (i.e., the clay minerals). For this reason, the H content
can be considered directly proportional to the clay abundance in
the rocks. It is assumed here that clays contained in the rocks
have constant composition. This assumption is reasonable, since
the depositional environment do not vary significantly throughout
the section.
On the basis of TLS data related to the Nomi section, the
distributions of the intensities were computed for each sampled
layer and the modes of the probability distribution functions were
considered as characteristic intensities for each layer.
The comparison between H content (i.e. clay abundance) and
C content obtained from samples via CHNS and the characteristic
intensity of the corresponding layers is shown in Fig. 5. The
relationship between H content (expressed as H2 O and interpreted
to be proportional to clay content) and intensity is clear and the
correlation coefficient r = 0.85 is obtained if a linear fitting is
applied.
The intensity data obtained at Nomi were analyzed, applying
the procedure described in Section 2 to the point cloud, in order

A new method was developed in order to evaluate and correct

the intensity values as a function of the geometry of the acquisition
(in particular, distance-corrected intensities were considered) and
obtain an estimate of the reflectance of the materials at a given
wavelength and reference distance. The results prove that intensity
values of a TLS acquisition can be used to detect and separate
rock types in a sedimentary section constituted by limestones and
marls.
The recognition of clay can be hampered by other factors. For
example the presence of debris or vegetation (e.g. moss, grass) on
the outcrops can influence the intensity recorded by TLS. Outcrops
should therefore be carefully chosen to be as clean as possible, and
areas characterized by debris coverage should be avoided. In the
pre-processing phase, areas of the point cloud corresponding to
streaming water, soaked vegetation (e.g. moss) or debris must be
deleted.
Alteration coatings, if extensively developed, can severely affect
the intensities, however they do not have significant extension in
the case study considered. The effect of alteration was not studied
in this paper and will be the subject of future works.
Humidity greatly influences the intensity particularly in
the case of ILRIS instrument, whose wavelength (1535 nm)
corresponds to a strong water-related absorption peak. If some
wet areas are present, the strong water absorption of the near IR
wavelengths causes a severe fall in the reflectance values.
For this reason, the effects of surface and interstitial humidity
on the intensity of the considered lithotypes (limestones, marls
and marly limestones) were studied in both indoor and outdoor
experiments. Results indicated that it is not possible to associate
an absolute value of clay abundance to a certain value of intensity
because of the many factors that influence reflectance in outcrop
conditions. Thus, a calibration of the reflectance values with
the clay abundance is not proposed here. However, experiments
carried on so far show that the presence of humidity decreases
the intensity, but does not eliminate the differences of reflectance
between limestones and marls. The fact that the effect of humidity
is stronger in a clay than in a limestone target is due to the different
physical properties of clays and limestones. Clays are able to absorb

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527

Fig. 5. Relationship between characteristic intensities of the sampled layers calculated from intensity values of the TLS point cloud of the Nomi section and, respectively,
percentage in weight of H (expressed as H2 O) and of C (expressed as CaCO3 ) obtained from CHNS analysis on collected samples. The correlation coefficient is r = 0.85 in
the first case and r = 0.82 in the second case if a least square linear fitting is applied. Moreover, 95% prediction bounds are shown.

Fig. 6. Intensity image of the Nomi section obtained by TLS. The white line
comprises the area of the point cloud whose intensity values were used in the
generation of the reflectance series. Scale bar 1 m.

Fig. 7. Reflectance series obtained by TLS of the Rotzo Formation at Nomi plotted
on a photographic image of the corresponding stratigraphic interval of the section.
Relative maxima correspond to limestones, while relative minima correspond
to marls and clayey layers. The slight discrepancy between the curve and the
represented layers is due to perspective deformation of the picture.

and retain on their surface a huge amount of water, because

they are characterized by high porosity and have mineralogical
properties which allow them to retain a large number of water
molecules. Limestones have lower porosity than clays and cannot
retain moisture in their crystal lattice. Although it is not possible in
general to associate a reflectance value to a clay abundance value,
it is always possible to distinguish between those lithotypes and
appreciate relative differences calibrating the intensity on a case by
case basis. Finally, the fact that no significant effects related to solar
heating occurred in the considered range of temperature should
be noted. This means that a series of acquisitions performed in the
same day, with constant general humidity conditions but different
temperatures of the observed surface, can provide similar intensity
data on similar materials. If a wall is observed from several
viewpoints, the partial point clouds can therefore be registered
together on a common reference frame without the risk of mixing
of inhomogeneous data.
The TLS allows the acquisition of entire large-scale outcrops.
From this point of view the approach presented here is substantially different from classical spectroscopic logging of cores aimed
at lithologic characterization (Mix et al., 1992). Moreover, areas
characterized by hard or difficult access can also be considered.
In situ validation is necessary, but could be limited to easy-access
zones, with an appreciable reduction in operation time and improved safety issues.
TLS typically needs a relatively short time to collect large
dataset. For example less than 15 minutes were necessary to
acquire a 12 m 7 m surface with a 8 mm sampling step generating
1.3 million points.
Reflectance series are proposed as a tool to study the
variability of clay content along a stratigraphic section. The
generation algorithm can, however, introduce some bias in the
reflectance values. This is highlighted by the lowered correlation
of hydrogen content with intensities recorded in the reflectance
series with respect to that obtained from the comparison with
characteristic intensities of sampled layers. This is probably due
to border effects. As an example, irregularities of the boundary
can cause points belonging to different layers to be averaged
together into the same point of a reflectance series. Despite this
limitation, reflectance series record variations in a lithological
parameter (clay abundance) that is linked to the sedimentological
characteristics of the rocks. TLS-based intensity therefore have
a more straightforward geological meaning and can be applied
to the study of cyclicities in reflectance series by means of time
series analysis. Limestone-marl alternations are a widespread
facies association in the geological record, often studied for their
sedimentary cyclicity. Clay content analysis by TLS may emerge as
a powerful instrument in such paleoclimate studies.

528

M. Franceschi et al. / ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 64 (2009) 522528

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Stefano Castelli for his assistance in
operating the TLS; Aurelio Giaretta for chemical analyses and
their interpretation; Matteo Massironi, George Vosselman and
two anonymous reviewers for suggestions and observations which
have significantly improved the manuscript. Marco Franceschi was
funded by Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali.
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