Structural characteristics and tectonic division of the Zambezi Delta basin in the offshore East Africa: evidences from gravity and seismic data

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

Volume 43 Issue 4

Apr. 2024

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Article Navigation > Acta Oceanologica Sinica > 2024 > 43(4): 105-118

Guozhang Fan, Wen Li, Liangbo Ding, Wanyin Wang, Hongping Wang, Dingding Wang, Lin Li, Hao Wang, Chaofeng Wang, Qingluan Wang, Ying Zhang. Structural characteristics and tectonic division of the Zambezi Delta basin in the offshore East Africa: evidences from gravity and seismic data[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2024, 43(4): 105-118. doi: 10.1007/s13131-024-2338-3

Citation:

Guozhang Fan, Wen Li, Liangbo Ding, Wanyin Wang, Hongping Wang, Dingding Wang, Lin Li, Hao Wang, Chaofeng Wang, Qingluan Wang, Ying Zhang. Structural characteristics and tectonic division of the Zambezi Delta basin in the offshore East Africa: evidences from gravity and seismic data[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2024, 43(4): 105-118. doi: 10.1007/s13131-024-2338-3

Citation:

Guozhang Fan, Wen Li, Liangbo Ding, Wanyin Wang, Hongping Wang, Dingding Wang, Lin Li, Hao Wang, Chaofeng Wang, Qingluan Wang, Ying Zhang. Structural characteristics and tectonic division of the Zambezi Delta basin in the offshore East Africa: evidences from gravity and seismic data[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2024, 43(4): 105-118. doi: 10.1007/s13131-024-2338-3

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Structural characteristics and tectonic division of the Zambezi Delta basin in the offshore East Africa: evidences from gravity and seismic data

doi: 10.1007/s13131-024-2338-3

Guozhang Fan^{1, T},
Wen Li^{2, T},
Liangbo Ding¹,
Wanyin Wang^{2, 3, 4
,
,},
Hongping Wang¹,
Dingding Wang^{2, 5},
Lin Li¹,
Hao Wang²,
Chaofeng Wang¹,
Qingluan Wang²,
Ying Zhang¹

1.
Hangzhou Research Institute of Petroleum Geology, PetroChina, Hangzhou 310023, China
2.
College of Geological Engineering and Geomatics, Chang’an university, Xi’an 710054, China
3.
Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
4.
National Engineering Research Center of Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Beijing 100028, China
5.
Department of Earth, Environment and Resources Sciences, University of Naples Federico Ⅱ, Naples 80138, Italy

Funds: The Petrochina Basic Prospective Science and Technology Research Project–Overseas deepwater ultra-deepwater oil and gas exploration technology research topic, under contract No. 2021DJ2403.

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail: wwy7902@chd.edu.cn
Received Date: 2023-08-01
Accepted Date: 2024-04-15

Available Online: 2024-05-11

Publish Date: 2024-04-01

Abstract

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.
- Zambezi Delta basin,
- satellite altimetry gravity anomaly,
- Beira High,
- fault division,
- uplift and depression pattern

These authors have contributed equally to this word.

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References(43)

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