Construction of the Iraq National Gravity and Magnetic Database for the promotion of Hydrocarbon Exploration

Abstract

SUMMARY Iraq has a long history of hydrocarbon exploration which included the regional gravity surveying of Iraq using land gravity and aeromagnetic methods. These exploration data sets have now been fully compiled into digital products which provide a wealth of new structural and sub surface information for the shallow parts of the basins (main seen by the gravity data) and deep basement structures (mainly seen by the aeromagnetic data). These responses result from a strongly magnetised basement and weakly magnetised sediments that vary from 4-5 km to in excess of 13 km in thickness in eastern Iraq. Since sediments increase in density with depth due to compaction, the gravity anomalies will be associated with tectonic movements (faulting and folding) that have laterally offset the sediment layers and densities. Detailed integrated geological and geophysical studies over the basement areas of the Arabian Plate show the basement has been affected by three main structural trends from oldest to youngest