{"title":"Structural characteristics and tectonic division of the Zambezi Delta basin in the offshore East Africa: evidences from gravity and seismic data","authors":"Guozhang Fan, Wen Li, Liangbo Ding, Wanyin Wang, Hongping Wang, Dingding Wang, Lin Li, Hao Wang, Chaofeng Wang, Qingluan Wang, Ying Zhang","doi":"10.1007/s13131-024-2338-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Zambezi Delta basin is a passive marginal basin located on the East African coast that has good oil and gas exploration potential. Due to the special geological evolutionary background of the Beira High in the Zambezi Delta basin, it has a low gravity anomaly, and the existing seismic survey lines do not cover the whole basin; therefore, it is difficult to interpret the structural characteristics of the whole basin based solely on gravity or seismic data. Based on satellite altimetry gravity anomaly data, this study infers the distribution characteristics of faults in the Zambezi Delta basin by using the normalized vertical derivative of the total horizontal derivative (NVDR-THDR) technique. Then, constrained by seismic data, the gravity anomaly at the Moho interface is extracted by using the fast forward method of the double-interface model of the gravity anomaly, and this anomaly is then removed from the Bouguer gravity anomaly to obtain the sedimentary layer gravity anomaly. The thickness of the sedimentary strata is obtained by inversing the sedimentary basement depth of the whole basin. Then, uplifts and depressions are divided based on a sedimentary layer thickness of 3 km. This research demonstrates that the Zambezi Delta basin mainly features nearly SN-trending and NE-trending faults and that these faults exhibit east-west partitioning. The nearly SN-trending strike-slip faults controlled the sedimentary development of the basin, and the NE-trending tensile faults may have acted as migration channels for oil, gas and magma. The “overcompensation” effect of the Moho interface gravity anomaly on the gravity anomaly of the sedimentary layer is caused by the depression of the Moho interface beneath the Beira High, which results in a low gravity anomaly value for the Beira High. The pattern of uplifts and depressions trends NE and has the structural characteristics of east-west blocks.</p>","PeriodicalId":6922,"journal":{"name":"Acta Oceanologica Sinica","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Acta Oceanologica Sinica","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-024-2338-3","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"OCEANOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Zambezi Delta basin is a passive marginal basin located on the East African coast that has good oil and gas exploration potential. Due to the special geological evolutionary background of the Beira High in the Zambezi Delta basin, it has a low gravity anomaly, and the existing seismic survey lines do not cover the whole basin; therefore, it is difficult to interpret the structural characteristics of the whole basin based solely on gravity or seismic data. Based on satellite altimetry gravity anomaly data, this study infers the distribution characteristics of faults in the Zambezi Delta basin by using the normalized vertical derivative of the total horizontal derivative (NVDR-THDR) technique. Then, constrained by seismic data, the gravity anomaly at the Moho interface is extracted by using the fast forward method of the double-interface model of the gravity anomaly, and this anomaly is then removed from the Bouguer gravity anomaly to obtain the sedimentary layer gravity anomaly. The thickness of the sedimentary strata is obtained by inversing the sedimentary basement depth of the whole basin. Then, uplifts and depressions are divided based on a sedimentary layer thickness of 3 km. This research demonstrates that the Zambezi Delta basin mainly features nearly SN-trending and NE-trending faults and that these faults exhibit east-west partitioning. The nearly SN-trending strike-slip faults controlled the sedimentary development of the basin, and the NE-trending tensile faults may have acted as migration channels for oil, gas and magma. The “overcompensation” effect of the Moho interface gravity anomaly on the gravity anomaly of the sedimentary layer is caused by the depression of the Moho interface beneath the Beira High, which results in a low gravity anomaly value for the Beira High. The pattern of uplifts and depressions trends NE and has the structural characteristics of east-west blocks.
期刊介绍:
Founded in 1982, Acta Oceanologica Sinica is the official bi-monthly journal of the Chinese Society of Oceanography. It seeks to provide a forum for research papers in the field of oceanography from all over the world. In working to advance scholarly communication it has made the fast publication of high-quality research papers within this field its primary goal.
The journal encourages submissions from all branches of oceanography, including marine physics, marine chemistry, marine geology, marine biology, marine hydrology, marine meteorology, ocean engineering, marine remote sensing and marine environment sciences.
It publishes original research papers, review articles as well as research notes covering the whole spectrum of oceanography. Special issues emanating from related conferences and meetings are also considered. All papers are subject to peer review and are published online at SpringerLink.