Lineament Mapping over Sir Creek Offshore and its Surroundings using High Resolution EGM2008 Gravity Data: An Integrated Derivative Approach

Abstract

The present study deals with the delineation of lineaments over Sir Creek offshore and its surroundings from EGM2008 gravity data using various derivative techniques owing to their costeffectiveness in prospective hydrocarbon exploration. Initially, 2-D and 3-D synthetic models have been generated with vertical prismatic objects at different depths. The effectiveness of total horizontal derivative (THD) technique has been established by comparing with E-W and N-S Horizontal derivatives and First Vertical derivative techniques. The residuals of Bouguer gravity data have been estimated with different cut-off wavelengths. Further, the residual anomaly map has been enhanced by the derivative techniques for the delineation of the structural features. Possible depths of the delineated lineaments have been estimated using Euler deconvolution of the Bouguer gravity data, which indicates maximum clustering over the delineated lineaments. It is observed that most of the lineaments are in the depth range of 1.0 km to 5.5km, which correlate well with the previous seismic studies. The present study reveals that the major lineament trends in the N-S, E-W and NNW-SSE directions followed by NE-SW, NW-SE and ENE-WSW directions. These major lineament trends are due to the tectonic activities occurred during Precambrian and Cretaceous period. Different small circular features, rectangular features and shorter wavelength features have also been identified, which could be the key parameter for mapping potential location for hydrocarbon exploration.