The use of seismic interpretation for delineating the characteristic features of Messinian channels in the north Nile Delta, Egypt

Abstract

Abu Madi Messinian Formation occupied a prominent issue as the most exploratory target in the search for natural gas in the Nile Delta. Interpretation of the available onshore seismic reflection data of the northeastern part of the Nile Delta reveals that there is a series of troughs, depressions, and mounded structures within the Abu Madi Formation (Messinian time). Onlap, downlap, and truncation relationship of reflections were observed very close to fault locations in the Miocene time. Many channels have been imaged clearly and described on the seismic reflection data of the onshore Nile Delta. The depths to these channels range between 2.5 s in the southeast to 3.1 s (t.w.t.) while their width ranges from 1 km to more than 5 km. These channels were formed by two factors: (1) submarine erosion and redeposition, during the relative sea level falls and (2) tectonic effect. Many of these channels followed more or less the trends of the historic branches of the ancient Nile Delta. The classification of these channels is based on some factors: (1) channel morphology (depth and width), (2) channel shape, and (3) tectonic effect.