Abstract
The study using the Landsat image, MSS and RBV pictures with the SAR data, aerial photograph and a topographical map of scale 1:500, 000 reveals that Kyushu island consists of several blocks like a mosaic, and the volcanism takes place along the fractures between these blocks resulting in the formation of ore deposits of gold and silver, geothermal field and hot springs.
Based on the interpretation of the lineaments of the Landsat image, the main lineaments are divided into three patterns by its direction and geological significance : NE-SW and N-S series, and NW-SE series which sometimes cut the others.
The analysis of the lineament patterns suggests that both the remarkable bent feature of the Plio-Pleistocene Miyazaki Group and the genesis of the Kagoshima graben, can be explained as the result of left-lateral movement along the NW-SE fracture with the opening of the Kagoshima bay since the PIio- Pleistocene.
