Remote sensing is considered to be one of the advanced
techniques used in hazards identification. Although using
satellite imagery, a certain proportion of soil coverage
response would be masked (i.e. in or near urban areas, or
under thick and dense vegetation conditions); this would open
the door for low – cost, large – scale mapping of clay mineralogy
leading to swelling of soil. Chabrillat et al., 2002 found
that it is possible to distinguish between the spectral response
of three indicator clay minerals; smectite, illite, and kaolinite
based on airborne sensor data. The use of satellite images
during the early stages of mineral exploration has been very
successful in pointing out the presence of minerals such as
smectites and kaolinite, important in the identification of
hydrothermal alterations (Chabrillat et al., 2002). These minerals
are key to the soil properties (swelling or non swelling) and
their identification from space makes remote sensing a good
tool in the characterization of soils in terms of swelling potential.
It is possible to distinguish between the spectral response
of three swelling potential indicator clay minerals i.e. smectites,
illites and kaolinites based on airborne sensor data (Kariuki
et al., 2004).