Journal o] A]ncan Earth Sciences, Vol 9 No 3/4, pp 455-459, 1989 0899-5362/89 $3 00 + 0 00

Printed m Great Britain © 1990 Pergamon Press plc

Nomograms for determining fault parameters from gravity

data application to the Mersa Matruh Basin, Egypt

E.M. ABDIR,RAHMANand A.I. BAYOUMI

Department of Geophysics, Faculty of ScLence, Cairo University, Cairo. Egypt.

Abstract - Rigorous calculation of gravity effects of faults for the mterpretation of subsurface structure
from exploration gravity surveys is ttme-consummg and tedious. Resort to electronic computers is
convenient but not always necessary. Simple hand calculations can be instructive and are often adequate and
useful. Thas paper confirms the basic ideas of some geophysicists on the usefulness of approximating most
fault structures by one semi-infinite horizontal slab, and presents two simple nomograms to determine the
slab parameters from gravity very rapidly.
A field example from the MersaMatruh Basin, Western Desert of Egypt, is presented in which the thickness
and depth of a fault are estimated from the nomograms and verified from drilhng data.

INTRODUCTION FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM

E s t i m a t i o n of fault p a r a m e t e r s from residual Following Nettleton (1942) a n d Telford et al.

a n o m a l i e s is a p r i m a r y c o n c e r n in gravity explora- (1976), the gravity effect in x-z plane for a vertical
tion a n d in o t h e r geophysical work. The formulae fault is given as:
for t h e gravitational effect of faults are lengthy a n d
t e d i o u s to calculate (see, for example, Geldart et g = 2 rl G a t ( 1 / 2 + I/TI t a n I x / z ) (1)
a t , 1966). In m a n y c a s e s r e s o r t to c o m p u t e r s is
c u s t o m a r y . However, high a c c u r a c y c a l c u l a t i o n s w h e r e G d e n o t e s t h e u n i v e r s a l gravitational
are n o t r e q u i r e d b e c a u s e gravity a n o m a l i e s are c o n s t a n t , a the d e n s i t y c o n t r a s t , t t h e t h i c k n e s s of
rarely k n o w n with p r e c i s i o n b e t t e r t h a n a few the fault, z t h e d e p t h to t h e central axis of t h e
percent. Therefore, interpretational model slab a n d x a coordinate. This e x p r e s s i o n is valid
c a l c u l a t i o n s with simplified a p p r o x i m a t i o n s are within 2 % if z > 2t. The g e o m e t r i e s are s h o w n
often a d e q u a t e . in Fig. 1.
H a m m e r (1977) verified n u m e r i c a l l y t h a t m o s t
fault s t r u c t u r e s c a n be a p p r o x i m a t e d b y a vertical F r o m e q u a t i o n (i) we c a n o b t a i n the following
fault (thin plate approximation). S u c h simple form relations:
s e l d o m m a t c h e s with t h e a c t u a l form of t h e gravity (dg/dx)x o o = 2 G a t / z = S m (2)
profile of geologic fault. In spite of this the slab and
p a r a m e t e r s are f o u n d to b e in a g r e e m e n t with t h e Ag = g - ~o = g + ~ = 2 r I G g t (3)
a c t u a l p a r a m e t e r (Gupta, 1983). This p a p e r
p r e s e n t s two simple n o m o g r a m s to d e t e r m i n e very w h e r e S m is the slope at the origin a n d Ag is the
rapidly t h e slab p a r a m e t e r s from t h e r e s i d u a l gravity relief.
anomaly. The a c c u r a c y of the r e s u l t s o b t a i n e d b y H e n c e we c a n calculate t a n d z a s follows:
t h e s e n o m o g r a m s d e p e n d s u p o n the a c c u r a c y to t = 2 3 . 8 6 Ag / ~ (meters) (4)
w h i c h t h e r e s i d u a l a n o m a l y c a n be s e p a r a t e d from
the B o u g u e r anomaly. z=0.318Ag/S m (meters) 15)
Finally, a field example from the W e s t e r n Desert w h e r e Ag is mgal a n d ~ in g / c m 3.
of Egypt is p r e s e n t e d to d e t e r m i n e t h e t h i c k n e s s
a n d d e p t h of a fault. The r e s u l t o b t a i n e d b y t h e It is evident from e q u a t i o n (4) t h a t a t h i c k n e s s of
p r e s e n t n o m o g r a m s is c o m p a r e d with the drilling m a t e r i a l (t) of d e n s i t y c o n t r a s t (a) required to have
information. a gravity effect of one mgal is a b o u t 2 4 / ~ meters.
455
45o E.M. ABDELRAHMANand A.I. BAYOUMI

P(x,z)

// t
iz _ X
: _t

h
%

[ : eco

/
Fig. I. P a r a m e t e r s of o n e semi-infinite slab. 070_:E
0
Also, from equation (5), it is clear that a depth to the
central axls of the fault required to have a gravity Fig. 2. N o m o g r a m s h o w i n g s l a b t h i c k n e s s e s t i m a t i o n
effect of one regal is about 0.32/S=.
{S) wells {Fig. 4}. The thickness of the fault is about
T H E NOMOGRAMS 610 meters and the depth to the fault is more t h a n
4000 meters (Barakat a n d Darwish, 1984). The age
Based on the above formulation, we have of faulting is Lower Cretaceous time (KSstandi,
constructed two simple n o m o g r a m s to be used for 1959; Said, 1962; Abdin and Deibis, 1972).
rapid determination of the fault p a r a m e t e r s (t and Before gravity anomalies are modeled, it is
z). The first n o m o g r a m is shown in Fig. 2 and is important to remove a regional field caused by
u s e d to determine the thickness of the slab from Ag deep seated s t r u c t u r e s from the Bouguer map
and the density contrast. On the other hand, the (Fig. 4a). When we exclude graphical m e t h o d s of
second n o m o g r a m which is shown in Fig. 3, is used deter-minlng regionals from our consideration, on
to determine the depth to the central axis of slab the ground of their being involved with personal
from Ag and S=. In both cases, a straight line prejudices and j u d g m e n t s , we are left with other
connecting the two k n o w n values is drawn, the methods such as those due to Griffin (I 949), Saxov
intersection of this straight line with the t-axis a n d Nygaard (1953), Swartz (1954), and
(Fig. 2) or with z-axls (Fig. 3) gives the value oft or Abdelrahman et al. (1985). In this study, the
z, respectively. regional field is obtained by applying the least-
We stress that the a c c u r a c y of the results squares m e t h o d (Abdelrahman e t al_, 1985) to the
obtained by these n o m o g r a m s depends upon the Bouguer values digitized from the original Bouguer
a c c u r a c y to which the residual anomaly, c a u s e d by anomaly map on an 19 x 16 square grid pattern
the fault alone, c a n be separated from the Bouguer with grid separation of 2.5 kin. Regional compo-
anomaly. nents ofilrst, second, third, and fourth orders were
fitted to the input data. The correlation factors
FIELD EXAMPLE between successive residual m a p s were computed
in order to determine the optimum order of the
To illustrate the practical application of the regional surface which, when subtraced from the
approach developed here, a field example from the observed gravity values p r o d u c e s o p t i m u m
n o r t h e m part of the Mersa Matruh basin, Northern residual component of the field {Abdelrahman et
Western Desert of Egypt is presented. In Fig. 4a, a/-, 1985). Here the correlation factors between
the Bouguer anomaly of Mersa Matruh area as successive residual m a p s were determined using a
being compiled in 1985 by the Egyptian General formula given by Davis (1973). Results were:
Petroleum Corp., using a Bouguer density of
2.3 g / c m 3, Is shown. A fault zone striking NE-SW r12 = 0.9064, r23 = 0.6667, and r34 = 06073,
is evidenced from Mersa Matruh (MM) and Siqueffa
 Nomograms for determining fault parameters from gravity data 457
@
-- G0

°° Computed j
_
0 0125 -- 35

e Sm ~
o /T o05e ed
_ O"'r"° i "4
0 0250 -- 50

0 0575 _

-- 25

c~
~o E

00500 - ~6-_'~ o -- 2O

s
O

o
o
= L
.J 0 0625 -- --15 (D

<3
o
(D
0 0750 --
10

tO x

0 087~ --
- zn
5

FormuLobon Sm: A g / r r Z

0 I000 --
0

Fig. 3. Nomogram showing slab depth estimation.

w h e r e r~2 r e p r e s e n t s t h e correlation factor bet- a n o m a l i e s are a p p r o x i m a t e l y parallel to e a c h other

w e e n t h e first a n d t h e s e c o n d o r d e r s l e a s t - s q u a r e s
r e s i d u a l a n o m a l y m a p s , a n d w h e r e rz, r e p r e s e n t s
t h e correlation factor b e t w e e n t h e s e c o n d a n d the
third o r d e r s l e a s t - s q u a r e s r e s i d u a l a n o m a l y m a p s ,
... etc.
The correlation factors s h o w n above are given to
c o m p a r e t h e degree of similarity b e t w e e n s u c c e s s -
ive r e s i d u a l m a p s . Similarity b e t w e e n r e s i d u a l
m a p s of t h e lowest o r d e r s verified b y good
correlation m a y generally b e c o n s i d e r e d a s a
criterion for d e t e r m i n i n g t h e o p t i m u m order of the
regional s u r f a c e a n d c o n s e q u e n t l y t h e least
distorted c o m p o n e n t of the field. The residual
m a p of t h e lower o r d e r in this well-correlated
d o u b l e t is c o n s i d e r e d t h e m o s t plausible for gravity
interpretation (Abdelrahman eta/., 1985 a n d 1987).
Using t h e criterion e s t a b l i s h e d above, the
regional field in M e r s a M a t r u h area c a n b e re-
p r e s e n t e d b y a first-order surface. The polynomial
u s e d is:
Z(x, y) = 3 4 . 8 6 6 5 + 0 . 3 3 5 1 9 X + 1.7826 Y (6)
The l e a s t - s q u a r e s first-order r e s i d u a l a n d
regional m a p s of the area, a s d e t e r m i n e d b y t h e
above a p p r o a c h , are s h o w n in Figs. 4b a n d 4c.
respectively. The c o n t o u r lines of the r e s i d u a l
a n d striking NE-SW. T h e y r e p r e s e n t residual
a n o m a l i e s over fault zones. The central fault zone,
which is located m i d w a y b e t w e e n t h e locations of
the gravity m a x i m u m a n d t h e gravity m i n i m u m , is
evidenced from drill hole information. Figure 5
s h o w s a r e s i d u a l gravity profile t a k e n a c r o s s t h e
M e r s a M a t r u h fault in a SE-NW direction, t o g e t h e r
with a geologic section. The d e n s i t y c o n t r a s t
b e t w e e n the b a s e m e n t r o c k s a n d t h e s e d i m e n t a r y
section is f o u n d to b e 0.2 g / c m 3 (Abdelrahman a n d
Riad, 1983).
The profile in Fig. 5 r e s e m b l e s t h e gravity
a n o m a l y over a two-dimensional vertical fault r a t h e r
t h a n a horizontal slab (the 2 - d i m e n s i o n a l i t y of t h e
s t r u c t u r e is valid b e c a u s e t h e length of the
s t r u c t u r e is m o r e t h a n 8 t i m e s t h e d e p t h to the
s t r u c t u r e , i.e., t h e c o n d i t i o n s p e r p e n d i c u l a r to t h e
profile are c o n s t a n t for d i s t a n c e s o n e a c h side of
t h e profile line of a b o u t 4 or 5 t i m e s t h e d e p t h of the
section calculated). However, it c o u l d b e appro-
x i m a t e d b y one semi-infinlte horizontal slab. The
u n i t s u s e d in t h e ordinate of t h e r e s i d u a l gravity
profile are g - ~ G a t in m g a l s b e c a u s e t h e c o n s t a n t
t e r m ~ G a t s h o w n in e q u a t i o n (1) c a n not be
m e a s u r e d in t h e field.
The fault trace point, w h i c h w a s t a k e n a s t h e
point m i d w a y b e t w e e n t h e locations of t h e gravity
458 E.M. ABDELRAHMANand A.I. BAYOUMI

(a)
3-- I
~LS
I

2
fault trace point / ! 2
c~ V7-] s s
E
v~J
b 0 5
(D Sh
51Ol5` i -I
4
-2 Dot
I I I I x(km) 5
5 10 15 20
Sh/LS

6
surface MM S
o .............!...,,i,,,,,,,,,,,, I LS/Do(

~ . - _ . -
7
[--1 Sh/SS
27000~ v • ,~~--:---ff - .~-, ...........
CI:lrngat 8
o~ [~-] s s
C)
| OoOooOO O o O f ~ ) [ ± t
- ,UI/I/////////VA ) L 9
J" 12"l~"\FauLt zone ~ DoL/LS

Fig. 5. Gravity profile and geologic section across Mersa

Matruh fault zone, Northern Western Desert of Egypt. (l-
q, ~M Quaternary and Tertiary; 2-Upper Cretaceous; 3-8-Lower
Cretaceous; 9-Juraslc sediments underlalned by precam-
3 1 " 1 5 " ~ brian b a s e m e n t rocks). L.S., S.S., Sh.. Dol.. represent
/ O aS 4~ limestone, sandstone, shale, and dolomite, respectively.
For profile location, see Fig. 4b

maximum and the gravity minimum, is shown in

Fig. 5. The fault trace point thus obtained is found
to be located between the locations of the projected
wells (MM and S) as shown in Fig. 5. The relief of
27o00~ the anomaly is about 4.8 mgal. The slope at the
CI--05mgaL origin is found to be about 0.00035 mgal/m. Using
such data together with the known density
contrast between the basement and the sediment-
ary section (0.2 g / c m 3) and by making use of the
(c) "~'~.......~ ~ 65_
given nomograms, it is found that thickness of the
fault is 560 meters whereas the depth of the fault
is found to be about 4 3 0 0 meters which are
generally in good agreement with the drill hole
information (Fig. 5). However, the error of the
solution in this case is related mainly to the fact
that faults very rarely show single clear-cut faces,
i.e., there is a faulted region of some width.
45
CONCLUSION

40 Properly chosen approximate methods in gravity

interpretation have a large range of usefulness.
27o00"
The use of the presented nomograms for de-
C I = 5mgaL
0 I0 km • WeLL termining the slab parameters is found to be
I I simple, rapid and consistent for practical purposes
and added important quantitative significance to
Fig. 4. a- Observed Bouguer gravity anomaly map. geologic interpretations of gravity data.
b. First-order residual gravity anomaly map.
c. First-order regional gravity m a p of Mersa
Matruh area, Northern Western Desert, Egypt.
 Nomograms for determining fault parameters from gravity dam
Acknow/edgements - The a u t h o r s acknowledge the
authorities of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. for
providing geological a n d geophysical d a t a of Mersa
M a t r u h area, Western Desert of Egypt, used in this
study.
REFERENCES
A b d e l r a h m a n , E. M. a n d Riad, S. 1983. Bouguer
a n o m a l i e s a n d s u b s u r f a c e s t r u c t u r e in the North
Western Desert of Egypt: Proceedings of the Fifth Int.
Conf. on B a s e m e n t Tectonics, Cairo, Egypt, Int.
Basement Tectonics Assoc. Publication No. 5. 136-141.
A b d e l r a h m a n , E. M., Riad, S., Refai, E. a n d Amin, Y.
1985. On the l e a s t - s q u a r e s residual a n o m a l y
determination: Geophysics, 50, 3, 473-480.
A b d e l r a h m a n , E. M., Bayoumi, A. I. and Amin, Y. 1987.
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s t r u c t u r e s : Thej. of the Univ. of Kuwait (Science). Paper
s u b m i t t e d for publication.
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Aptian sediments and their oilprospects in the Northern
Western Desert: The 8thArab Petroleum Cong., AlgericL
459
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372-397.
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360.
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