Hyperspectral Fingerprinting of Dune Sediments Across the Arabian Peninsula: Insights Into Sediment Provenance and Transport Pathways From NASA's EMIT Data

Abstract

The Arabian Peninsula encompasses one of the world's most extensive aeolian systems, yet the provenance and transport history of its dune sediments are not well understood. Using hyperspectral data from NASA's Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), we mapped mineral compositions and abundance patterns across dune fields and adjacent source regions by analyzing diagnostic visible to shortwave infrared absorption features. Six diagnostic minerals (Calcite, Kaolinite, Muscovite–illite, Chlorite, Hematite, and Goethite) exhibit spatially coherent and elevated (>0.002 < 0.16) spectral mineral abundances (SMA: fractional area occupied by a mineral in a pixel) that distinguish 10 dune fields. Mineralogical concordance, SMA attenuation along transport pathways, prevailing wind regimes, and relict fluvial pathways reveal three provenance domains: (a) intracontinental inputs from the Arabian Shield and overlying Paleozoic siliciclastics; (b) marginal contributions from carbonate and ophiolitic terrains; and (c) extra‐basinal inputs from marine carbonate aeolianites and Bitlis–Zagros orogenic detritus.