Title: 2D gravity inversion technique in the study of Cheshire basin
Abstract: The gravity method involves measuring the Earth’s gravitational field at specific locations influenced by differences in density of sub-surface rocks. It has found numerous applications in engineering, environmental and geothermal studies especially in locating voids, faults, buried stream valleys, water tables and geothermal heat sources. A total of 753 gravity data acquired from the northwestern part of the United Kingdom by the British Geological Society were used in this study with the aims of studying the major structural patterns within the Cheshire basin. The data were processed and analysed with the aid of Oasis Montaj software to determine the fault trends within the entire sedimentary basin. The Bouguer gravity map shows positive anomaly in the northwestern part of the study area indicating the presence of high density sedimentary rocks while negative anomaly observed in the southern part corresponds to low density sediments. The regional and residual isostatic maps derived from different cut-off wavelengths reflect changes in anomalies corresponding to different types of sedimentary rocks such as mudstone, sandstone and limestone. The major faults patterns in Cheshire basin were clearly observed from the Bouguer gravity total horizontal derivative map. Most of the major faults observed in the south of study area are trending in NW-SE and NE-SW directions. The N-S trend minor faults are found in the west and east, while the E-W trends were dominant in the north and south of the study area. The limestone basement depth of about 3736m was estimated from the 2D-modeled cross section developed along the E-W border.
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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