East Uweinat\Gilf Kebir Basin area is located in the Southwestern corner of the Western Desert of Egypt. All lithological and structural evidences reveal that it has an ideal Paleozoic intra-cratonic rift system configuration. The present work made use of the integrated analysis and interpretation of the available remote sensing, geophysical and geological information in order to elucidate and delineate the subsurface structural fabric of East Uweinat\Gilf Kebir Basin area.
Paleozoic intra-cratonic basins were developed within the African Shield after the Precambrian deformation and plutonism. Two main plutons have been identified at Uweinat area in the west and at Tarfawi area in the east. Between them, a thick clastic section of the Gilf Sandstone was deposited.
The data integration includes Remote Sensing, Aeromagnetic and satellite Gravity datasets. Remote sensing data interpretation for Landsat ETM+ were used to map the surface geological units and to delineate with the aeromagnetic and gravity data the depth configuration and structural framework of East Uweinat\Gilf Kebir Basin and studying overlying sedimentary section.
It was found that the main structural trends have the directions NE-SW/ENE-WSW, sub-E-W and NWSE/ NNW-SSE. A three-dimensional (3-D) depth inversion was conducted to determine the basin depths. Results indicate that the calculated depths to the basement (M. S. L) range from zero (exposed basement) to more than 3000 m depth.
This work is based on the analysis and interpretation of airborne magnetic data collected over the East Uweinat/Gilf Kebir area, Southwest Western Desert, Egypt. Figure 1-a shows the location of the area of interest.
In addition to providing a greater understanding of regional tectonic and structural history, the principal aim of this study was to provide detailed structural information within East Uweinat/Gilf Kebir Exploration area of interest to augment future seismic data, especially in those areas where seismic data could be sparse or intra-formational lithologies cannot be resolved below seismic resolution.
