Structural Model of Kendeng Basin: A New Concept of Oil and Gas Exploration

Kendeng Basin stretches in an E-W direction from the Quaternary Merapi-Ungaran Volcano range in the West to the Madura Strait East of Jawa Timur Province, Indonesia. With Quaternary volcanic deposits covering this basin, its subsurface configuration has not been accurately identified. Several scholars suggest that its configuration forms an asymmetrical basin deepening to the south as a result of volcanic deposits and extending E-W direction. This paper answers what configuration Kendeng Basin has, including whether it consists of a simple asymmetrical shape as previous studies have interpreted or other patterns due to tectonic processes that took place during its formation. The research employed Gravity and Magnetic method, and the results were processed by spectral and gradient analyses. Both analyses revealed that Kendeng Basin formed Horst-Graben structures extending in an E-W direction based on a response to compression and strain forces during its formation. A structure with an E-W direction controls the shape of the Horst-Graben and is transected by a structural pattern extending in a NE-SW direction or known as the Meratus pattern. These findings provide an alternative to the concept of oil and gas exploration, which, until today, is merely known from the emergence of oil seepages in Kendeng Basin.