To examine the application potential of hyperspectral remote sensing techniques in classifying very low-grade metamorphic belts, the composition of clay minerals and the cyrstallinity of illite from mudstones were measured using XRD and VIS-SWIR (400—2500 nm) reflectance spectroscopy. Based on the illite cyrstallinity, Kbler Index (KI), the Early Triassic LuoLou Group and the Middle Triassic lower Baifeng Formation were classified as the lower Epizone with KID2q° ranging from 0.22 to 0.25, the upper Baifeng Formation as upper anchizone with KID2q° ranging from 0.26 to 0.33, and the Hekou Formation as lower anchizone with KID2q° ranging from 0.38 to 0.40. According to a KID2q° value of 0.43, it is possible that there may exist a local diagenetic zone in the upper strata. The illite cyrstallinity Kbler index and the metamorphic grade increase from the bottom to the top of the stratigraphic sequence. The metamorphic grade boundaries nearly match the stratigraphic boundaries, indicating a burial metamorphism nature for the stratigraphic sequence. From the bottom to the top of the sequence, the spectral absorption band center of clay minerals from fresh rocks is around 2200 nm. The absorption band centers change towards shorter wavelengths: the Luolou Group being at 2220 nm, the Baifeng Formation at 2217—2213 nm, the lower member of the Hekou Formation at 2214—2206 nm, and the upper member of the Hekou Formation at 2205—2197 nm. The spectral absorption band center of illite shows the same change pattern. These results indicate that very low-grade metamorphic belts can be subdivided using spectral indices of clay minerals, which are measured by using field portable spectroradiometers. However, it may not work well with satellite and airborne sensors.
