Comparative study between the structural and tectonic situation of the Southern Sinai and the Red Sea, Egypt, as deduced from magnetic, gravity and seismic data

Mohamed EL-BOHOTY; Ladislav BRIMICH; Ahmed SALEH; Salah SALEH

Mohamed EL-BOHOTY National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Egypt
Ladislav BRIMICH Geophysical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Ahmed SALEH National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Egypt
Salah SALEH National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Egypt

Keywords: geomagnetic measurements, interpretation of the gravimetric measurements, filtering, the Southern Sinai, the Red Sea

Abstract

The present study is concerned with the analysis of magnetic gravity and
seismic data for the regions of the South Sinai and the Red Sea areas aiming to evaluate
the subsurface geologic active structures. The magnetic method of prospecting gives an
effective presentation of the subsurface structures. Moreover, the wavenumber filtering is
carried out utilizing three types of filters with varying wavelengths. The application of
these tools on the magnetic and gravity data discriminated the variable sources of specific
depth ranges for the residual and regional anomalies, as well as those limited to a certain
depth interval. Also it was found that the main tectonic trends have taken the NE–SW
and NW–SE directions. A three-dimensional (3D) interpretation of the Bouguer anomaly
and aeromagnetic maps of the Gulf of Suez rift and the northern part of the Red Sea rift
are presented. A high-resolution 3D model constrained with the seismic results reveals a
possible crustal thickness and density distribution of the north Red Sea rift between the
sedimentary cover and the mantle.