Subsurface structure investigation of the United Arab Emirates using gravity data

Abstract

The crustal structure beneath the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is still relatively unknown. Here, we use regional gravity data to constrain the subsurface density distribution and structure of the crust of the UAE by applying diverse gravity derivatives methods such as horizontal derivative (HDR), analytic signal (AS), and tilt angle (TA) to analyze the subsurface structure and perform three-dimensional (3D) gravity inversion for imaging crustal structure from the surface down to 35 km depth. The results are compared with known geological regional structures and the location of the petroleum fields.

Keywords

• gravity
• horizontal derivative
• analytic signal
• tilt angle
• structure
• inversion
• uae