scholarly journals Analysis of gravity and aeromagnetic data to determine structural trend and basement depth beneath the Ajdabiya Trough in northeastern Libya

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelhakim S. Eshanibli ◽  
Abel Uyimwen Osagie ◽  
Nur Azwin Ismail ◽  
Hussin B. Ghanush

AbstractIn this study, we analyse both ground gravity and aeromagnetic data in order to delineate structural trends, fault systems and deduce sedimentary thicknesses within the Ajdabiya Trough in Libya’s northeast. A high-pass filter and a reduced-to-the-pole (RTP) transformation are applied to the gravity and aeromagnetic data respectively. Different filters are used to enhance the structural signatures and fault trends within the study area. The Werner deconvolution and source parameter imaging (SPI) techniques are applied to the RTP magnetic data for source depth estimation. Four well-data within the area are used as constraints in the two-dimensional forward modelling process. The results show that the Ajdabiya Trough is characterised by gravity anomaly highs and magnetic anomaly lows. The analysis of gravity data shows predominant Northeast–Southwest structural trends, whereas the analysis of magnetic data shows predominant North–South magnetic lineaments within the Ajdabiya Trough. The Euler deconvolution depth estimates of faults depths range between 1500 and 9500 m. The SPI estimates of the magnetic basement range between 2500 and 11,500 m beneath the study area (deepest beneath the Ajdabiya Trough). Constrained by the well-data, six major layers characterize the four profiles that are taken within the area. One of the profiles shows a high-density intrusion (about 4 km from the surface) within the sedimentary sequence. The intrusion may be the result of the rifting Sirt Basin which caused a weakening of the crust to allow for mantle intrusion.

Geophysics ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 1704-1714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan Spector ◽  
Thomas L. Lawler

Aeromagnetic, ground magnetic, and gravity data, together with all available drillhole data and physical property measurements, were used to map the Precambrian geology of an area in Minnesota that is virtually devoid of outcrop. The work was done for purposes of land use planning and to encourage minerals exploration and mostly consisted of the analysis of profiles of aeromagnetic data to map magnetic/lithologic contacts, to infer structure, and to determine thickness of overburden cover. Two greenstone belts were resolved. They comprise higher density rocks separated by nonmagnetic metasedimentary intervals. The belts are deformed into synclinal structures that, according to modeling, range from 1 km to as much as 5 km in depth. Lithologic predictions were confirmed in five out of six holes drilled on completion of the magnetic interpretation. In over 40% of the area, Precambrian rocks are apparently mantled by less than 50 m of overburden, and in 50% of the area there is between 50 and 100 m of overburden cover. In the remaining 10%, the magnetic basement is overlain by a thick blanket of nonmagnetic Precambrian sedimentary rocks, over 200 m thick. Basement depth determinations were subsequently tested at six holes. Depth determinations at all drill sites were found to lie within the 20% error expectation of the method of depth determination. Thirty‐seven sites were resolved from the aeromagnetic data as targets for basemetal sulfide (copper, zinc) as well as precious metal (gold) mineralization. Thirteen magnetic anomalies were identified as possible kimberlite pipes.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-57
Author(s):  
Olatunbosun O. Olagundoye ◽  
Chiedu S. Okereke ◽  
Aniekan E. Edet ◽  
Dominic Obi ◽  
Aniediobong Ukpong

Data transformation, regional-residual separation, trend analysis, and Analytic Signal (AS) depth estimation were applied to aeromagnetic data covering the Anambra Basin, which is a major depocentre in the Benue Trough, southeast Nigeria with the primary objectives of accentuating attributes of magnetic sources and determining if sufficient sediment thickness exists for hydrocarbon generation, maturation, and expulsion. The application of data transformation techniques (such as map projection, merging, and reduction-to-pole) and regional-residual ensured the computation of a crustal magnetic field that would be suitable for magnetic analyses. Results indicate that the magnetic basement in the basin forms an undulating surface overlain by sediments with average thickness ranging between 4 km and 7.5 km, while maximum thickness reaches 8 km in some areas. This depth range suggests promising prospect for source-facies maturation and expulsion. We expect that areas in the study area with these appreciable sediment thicknesses, good preservation of graben-fill, and suitable areal closures or fault structures would be favorable for hydrocarbon prospectivity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 199-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwaseun T. Olurin ◽  
Saheed A. Ganiyu ◽  
Olaide S. Hammed ◽  
Taiwo J. Aluko

AbstractThis study presents the results of spectral analysis of magnetic data over Abeokuta area, Southwestern Nigeria, using fast Fourier transform (FFT) in Microsoft Excel. The study deals with the quantitative interpretation of airborne magnetic data (Sheet No. 260), which was conducted by the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency in 2009. In order to minimise aliasing error, the aeromagnetic data was gridded at spacing of 1 km. Spectral analysis technique was used to estimate the magnetic basement depth distributed at two levels. The result of the interpretation shows that the magnetic sources are mainly distributed at two levels. The shallow sources (minimum depth) range in depth from 0.103 to 0.278 km below ground level and are inferred to be due to intrusions within the region. The deeper sources (maximum depth) range in depth from 2.739 to 3.325 km below ground and are attributed to the underlying basement.


Geophysics ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-162
Author(s):  
G. Ramaswamy

Mr. Jacobsen’s article and the accompanying discussions on the scope and outlook for the current interpretational practices in aeromagnetic surveys are very timely and deserve the attention of all geophysicists as well as exploration management. Since World War II the aeromagnetic surveys have replaced the ground magnetic surveys as a reconnaissance exploration tool chiefly because of the former’s rapidity and cheapness in data‐gathering. In this process, however, the aerial technique has lost one advantage going with the ground surveys. In land surveys the practice has been to make simultaneous magnetic and gravity observations and the interpretations of basement features are made from these paired observations. I believe that the absence of concurrent information on gravity has been a real handicap with aeromagnetic interpretation in reliably locating basement features in the early stages of exploration. Perhaps the present aerial gravitymeter instrumentation can be soon improved to desired sensitivity for exploration so that simultaneous gravity‐magnetic observations from the air will be possible. In large unexplored sedimentary areas the gravity data are as valuable, sometimes more, to the interpretation of magnetic data as a knowledge of the magnetic properties of any out‐cropping rocks.


1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 205
Author(s):  
A. J. Mory ◽  
R. P. lasky

The southern Merlinleigh Sub-basin is a frontier area for petroleum exploration within the onshore Southern Carnarvon Basin, with limited seismic coverage and only two deep exploration wells. High resolution aeromag- netic and semi-detailed gravity data acquired in 1995 provide relatively low cost structural inf ormation"comple- mentary to the regional seismic coverage.Two-dimensional seismic data can be mapped with confidence if the lines are closely spaced. By identifying lineaments on potential-field images, orientations for structures within the sedimentary succession, and at basement or intra-basement levels, can assist in the interpretation of faults and structures in areas of limited seismic coverage, and to extrapolate them outside areas of seismic control. Consequently, by integrating seismic and potential-field data, a more rigorous interpretation of the structural geometry can be achieved and thereby assists in reconstructing the evolution of a sedimentary basin.The aeromagnetic data provided only limited information about the structure of the Merlinleigh Sub-basin because magnetic anomalies appear to be dominated either by near-surface or deep intra-basement sources. In contrast, the gravity data provide a more reliable definition of the structure at basement level and, to a lesser extent, within the sedimentary sequence.Seismic, gravity and magnetic data show that the region is a large north-trending Late Carboniferous to Permian depocentre and can be sub-divided into two main troughs east of the Wandagee and Kennedy Range Faults. These are en-echelon fault systems with syn- depositional growth during the main period of rifting in the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian.


2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Reid ◽  
Desmond FitzGerald ◽  
Guy Flanagan

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. T69-T78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Salem ◽  
Chris Green ◽  
Samuel Cheyney ◽  
J. Derek Fairhead ◽  
Essam Aboud ◽  
...  

Magnetic depth estimation methods are routinely used to map the depth of sedimentary basins by assuming that the sediments are nonmagnetic and underlain by magnetic basement rocks. Most of these methods generate basement depth estimates at discrete points. Converting these depth estimates into a grid or map form often requires the application of qualitative methods. The reason for this is twofold: first, in deeper parts of basins, there is generally a scarcity of depth estimates and those that have been determined tend to be biased toward the shallower basement structures close to the basin edge; and second, depth estimates intrinsically relate to magnetic anomalies that emanate from the top edges of basement faults/contacts resulting in a shallow depth bias. Thus, simple grid interpolation of these depth estimates often forms a shallower and structurally unrepresentative map when evaluated in detail. To overcome these problems of qualitative and/or simple grid interpolation of these point-depth estimates into a regular grid, we use the pseudogravity field transform response of the magnetic field to constrain this interpolation using inversion methods together with the relationship between the point-depth estimates and their pseudogravity values. The pseudogravity transformation converts a grid of magnetic data such that the resulting grid has the same simple relationship to magnetic susceptibility that a gravity grid has to density. The pseudogravity map is thus straightforward to visualize in terms of basement structure, but it only maps the magnetic properties of the subsurface and is not related to the gravity anomaly or the density. We describe a practical approach to invert pseudogravity grids using gravity inversion software to produce a 3D basin model assuming a constant susceptibility basement. The approach is initially tested on the Bishop 3D model and then applied to an example from the northern North Sea. This approach can be considered complementary to 3D gravity inversion and has the advantage that the pseudogravity response is not affected by structure within the sediments or effects such as sediment compaction, inversion, or isostatic compensation, all of which often complicate the gravity response of sedimentary basins.


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