Interpretation of seafloor topologies based on IKONOS satellite imagery of a shallow-marine carbonate platform

A benthic environments classification system is devised from digital interpretations of multi-spectral IKONOS satellite imagery for 1,360 km2 of the carbonate platform and presented in a comprehensive digitized map. The classification scheme is designed as a 7th order hierarchical structure that integrates 5 Physiographic Realms, 24 Morphodynamic Zones, 11 Geoforms, 39 Landforms, 6 dominant surface sediment types, 9 dominant biological covers and 3 densities of biological covers for the description of benthic environments. Digital analysis of the high-resolution (4 m) IKONOS imagery employed ESRI's ArcMap to manually digitize 412 mapping units at a scale of 1:6,000 differentiated by spectral reflectance, color tones, and textures of seafloor topologies. The context of each morphodynamic zone is characterized by the content and areal distribution (in km2) of geomorphic forms and biological covers. Over 58% of the mapping area is occupied by sediment flats, and seagrasses are colonized in almost 80% of the topologies.