Crustal configuration in the northern Levant basin based on seismic interpretation and numerical modeling

Abstract

Abstract The interpretation of five 2D PSTM seismic reflection sections (14 s TWT) covering the northern Levant Basin revealed a total of 10 horizons, among which, one is interpreted as an interface that may represent the Moho. The interpretation of seismic packages and their bounding surfaces as well as the seismic facies analysis were constrained by published 2D seismic interpretations of the northern Lebanese offshore. A total of nine seismic packages are identified in the basin with ages varying from the Mid Jurassic to the Quaternary. The filling of the basin is made up of thick Cenozoic and Mesozoic strata deposited above rifted Triassic – Early Jurassic interval. The sediments are deposited in deep water mixed-settings resulting from high-stand systems (various types of carbonate platforms) and low-stand systems (siliciclastic and carbonate deep-water turbidite complexes). Carbonate and siliciclastic systems are sealed by 1–1.5 km of evaporites, and underlie Plio-Quaternary hemipelagic and pelagic sediments intercalated by turbiditic sheets. The time horizons were converted into depth using two methods; the first one is based on stacking velocities and the second one on velocities resulting from refraction data. 2D crustal modeling was achieved by integrating free-air gravity anomaly, geoid heights and topography data on the five interpreted PSTM seismic lines. The models representing five sections across the northern Levant Basin, show a progressively attenuated crystalline crust in an EW direction (away from the basin's eastern margin). The crystalline crust is best interpreted as a strongly thinned continental crust under the Levant Basin, represented by two distinct components, an upper and a lower continental crust. The Moho appears to be situated between 20 and 23 km in the central and southern Lebanese offshore. Estimated surface heatflow in the basin is around 40 mW/m2, which is lower than reported values for the onshore and the margin. These differences in heatflow values between the offshore, the margin and the onshore have an important impact on hydrocarbon maturation and assessment of potential petroleum systems.