A new method for evaluating the spatial correspondence between surface and subsurface geological lineaments: A case from the Potiguar Basin, NE Brazil

Abstract

This paper provides a new technique for evaluating lineaments that focuses on the spatial link between surface and subsurface elements in a single layer. We chose a test area in northeast Brazil's Borborema Province. We extracted magnetic and relief lineaments from aeromagnetic and SRTM data. We defined the lineaments that agree on both layers using GIS operations. To identify the concordance between lineaments, we constructed kernel density maps that combined the data from each layer. We detected NE-SW solid conditioning of the structures. Even when evaluating only the concordant lineaments in other directions, they are expressed in groupings in NE-SW, as with NW-SE features, that associates with transfer failures and are contained by large NE-SW structures. The Atlantic Ocean's opening and expansion phases were linked to the E-W direction, also truncated by NE-SW lower density sections. The N–S trend was inexpressive. Areas with a higher density of concordant lineaments were associated with regions more susceptible to the Neotectonics of landform inversion, forming domes and arches-oriented NE-SW, as in Serra do Mel, Macau High, and Ponta Grossa High. Lower lineament density areas indicated visual correspondence with the most significant number of production wells in the Potiguar Basin, indicating that these regions are more favorable for the accumulation and trapping of hydrocarbons.