Gravity analysis of the Precambrian basement topography associated with the northern boundary of Ghadames Basin (Southern Tunisia)
M., Dhaoui . 2014
Gravity datawere analyzed to determine the structural development of the northern boundary of the Ghadames
Basin in southern Tunisia. The Ghadames Basin which also occurs in eastern Algeria and northwestern Libya is
one of the most prolific hydrocarbon producers in North Africa with several of the largest oil fields occurring
along its northern boundary. The Ghadames Basin was formed during a series of tectonic events ranging from
the Early Paleozoic to the Early Cenozoic. These tectonic events produced a basin in southern Tunisia that has a
complex basement configuration which is not completely known. A residual gravity anomaly map constructed
using polynomial trend surfaces, and vertical and horizontal gravity derivative maps indicate that the northern
boundary contains a series of maxima and minima anomalies that trend in two prominent directions:
northeast–southwest and east–west. The horizontal and vertical derivative gravity anomaly maps indicate that
the width of the basement structures range between 10 and 20 km in width. Three-dimensional (3D) Euler
deconvolution and 3D forward modeling constrained by well data, one seismic reflection profile and
remote sensing data confirm the width of the basement structures and indicates that the depth of basin varies
between 1.5 and 5 km, with deeper sections in general more numerous in the southern sections of the boundary.
The gravity analysis constrained by the seismic reflection profile and well data implies that the basement topography
may have been formed during the Pan African and/or late Mesozoic rifting. However, additional seismic
reflection and well data are needed to confirm this conclusion. The discovery of the numerous basement
structures suggests that there may exist additional hydrocarbon traps within the northern boundary of the
Ghadames Basin.
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