Tom 3 (2019): Zeszyt 2 (December 2019)

West Wadi El-Rayan is located in the Western Desert at about 140 km SE of Cairo. Also, it lies between Gindi basin to the east and Abu Gharadig basin to the west. In order to construct a 3D structural model and to delineate the subsurface structure styles of the area, seismic structural interpretation and structural restoration are used. The structural geometry within the area is inverted half-graben, since the area was controlled by reactivation of older faults. The magnitude of the inversion-related shortening in the study area was estimated and was suggested to be strong. The result of the strong inversion magnitude occurred toward northeast of the study area can be concluded that, the area suffered shortening and part of the Jurassic / Early Cretaceous normal faults are reactivated as reverse faults. Also the cap, the main reservoirs and the source rock sections are brought to the surface and thus breached, as well any previous mature source rock becoming non-generative where the dry wells are located. However, any less severe inversion structure in this case where producing wells are located that remain buried and will have a better chance or preserving the structure geometry and therefore top and lateral seal.

The underground city beneath the Nevşehir Castle located in the middle of Cappadocia region in Turkey with approximately cone shape is investigated by jointly utilizing the modern geophysical techniques of seismic surface waves and electrical resistivity. The systematic void structure under the Nevşehir Castle of Cappadocia, which is known to have widespread underground cities, is studied by the use of 33 separate two-dimensional profiles ~4-km long where electrical resistivities and seismic surface waves are concurrently measured. Seismic surface wave measurements are inverted to establish the shear-wave velocity distribution while resistivity measurements are inverted to resolve the resistivity distribution. Several high-resistivity anomalies with a depth range 8-20 m point to a systematic void structure beneath the Nevşehir Castle. We were able to effectively isolate the void structure from the embedding structure since the currently employed resistivity instrument has provided us high resolution quality measurements. Associated with the high resistivity anomalies there exist low-velocity depth zones acquired from the surface wave inversions also pointing to a systematic void structure where three-dimensional visualization techniques are used to show the extension of the void structure under the studied area.

The IGRF filtered Aeromagnetic data over Iwo, southwestern part of Nigeria within the basement complex was subjected to reduction to magnetic equator filtering, residual filtering, upward and downward continuation filtering, automatic gain control filtering, tilt angle derivative, second vertical derivative, analytical signal and Euler deconvolution. This reveals the geologic information such as structural trend. Based on the result of the total magnetic intensity map, reduction to equator map, analytical signal map and residual magnetic intensity map, it can be concluded that; The rocks in the study area have a trend of approximately northeast-southwest direction as seen on the upward continuation map. Most of the delineated lineaments found within the study area strike mostly in NNE-SSW, NE-SW and NW-SE with minor trend of E-W and ENE-WSW direction. Structural lineament orientation suggested that they were products of Pan-African orogeny (NE-SW, NW-SE and NNE-SSW trends) and pre-Pan-African orogeny (NNW-SSE and E-W trend). The interpretation of the aeromagnetic dataset gave an insight into the regional geology and structural trends of the area.

The early Cambrian Abbottabad Formation mainly comprises of dolomite, sandstone, shale and conglomerates at Khote-di-Qabar section, Hazara region, Pakistan. The formation makes lower contact with Hazara Formation and upper contact with Hazira Formation. The formation is comprehensively studied during the field and lab work to interpret its provenance. Five distinguishable sedimentary units including 1) Tanaki boulder bed; 2) Sanghargali siltstone/shale; 3) Mohammdagali Dolomite/quartzite; 4) Mirpur sandstone; 5) Sirban dolomite can be identified in the field that indicate variable depositional strata of the formation under various depositional setting. Additionally, petrographic analysis of Sanghargali siltstone/shale unit and Mirpur sandstone unit of the formation indicate the main lithologies of these units are litharenite and sublitharenite respectively. Moreover, the provenance of these sandstone units of the formation most probably belong to Aravali and Malani Ranges located in the South of the study area.

The present research describes a method of combining geostatistical analysis with geophysical inversion of electrical resistivity data conducted in Pakhli Plain, northwestern Himalayas, Pakistan. The raw data has been collected from the Technical Report VII-I on Ground Water Resources in Pakhli Plain, Mansehra District. Subsequently, the data has been deciphered and broadened from one dimensional resistivity data into a 2D model that can be entirely visualized and deduced in a spatial sense. Interpretation and calibration of the electrical resistivity curves with the lithologies and geophysical logs of boreholes suggests possible identification of distinctive sedimentary accumulations occurring within the Pakhli Plain. The 2D and 3D gridding and visualization is imperative to map the extents of the alluvial deposits within the Pakhli Plain formed during the periods of extreme tectonic activity. The coarser sediments are associated with lower levels of resistivity as measured in the electrical surveys, whereas the finer sediments exhibit characteristically lower resistivities. Therefore, the zones of low and high resistivity values are indicative of particles associated with coarser and finer sediments, respectively. It has been mentioned that the Pakhli Plain has remained a lacustrine zone during some time in the geological past as indicated by low resistivities representing finer sediments in the middle of the Plain. Consequently, the overall transmissivity of the sediments is low, which imply poor conditions for commercial groundwater production in the Pakhli Plain. Moreover, high resistivity zones of coarse material could be further investigated for groundwater potential areas. In particular, the prime objectives of the present study include 3D modeling of underground resistivity and its exploration in terms of groundwater potential on the basis of distribution of low resistivity zones.