--> Abstract: Applications of Gravity and Magnetic Data to Oil Exploration in Salt Provinces, by J. L. Lawton, I. W. Somerton, and C. T. Austin; #90928 (1999).

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LAWTON, J.L.1, I.W. SOMERTON1, and C.T. AUSTIN2
1 GETECH, Inc.
2 Austin Exploration, Inc.

Abstract: Applications of Gravity and Magnetic Data to Oil Exploration in Salt Provinces

Gravity and magnetic data are important exploration tools in salt provinces, due primarily to the very low density of salt and to the difficulty in imaging salt and sub-salt features using seismic data. Historically, identification of large salt domes has been a primary exploration objective in such areas and gravity lows are a good means of identifying these features. Gravity and magnetic data can also help provide detailed information about the shape of the salt features and the structure of the basin beneath the salt. Many historical data sets exist that are still of great value in addressing these exploration problems. The effort in bringing these data sets into digital form and reprocessing them using modern techniques is more than repaid by the benefit in geological understanding that they bring. Newer high-resolution data sets are also being collected that allow imaging of ever smaller features. We present several significant examples that demonstrate the value of such data sets.

^bull In the Zagros Belt in southwestern Iran, magnetic anomaly data have been recovered from published maps, re-processed and integrated into a digital data set. These data provide information about the structure of the basement beneath the salt.

^bull The Peri-Caspian Basin to the north of the Caspian Sea exhibits a major accumulation of sediments above a mobile salt layer. Re-processed gravity data give a clearer picture of the interaction between salt and sediments and re-processed magnetic data give valuable information about the structural configuration of the underlying basement.

^bull New high-resolution gravity data are currently being collected in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. This major data set provides new insights into some of the salt tectonic structures in the exciting deep water sub-salt play.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90928©1999 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas