Basement depth estimation of the Red Sea basin from gravity data and drilling data

Abstract The Red Sea basin has good prospects for hydrocarbon exploration from recent geological and geophysical research results. Traditionally, seismic reflection, especially reflection methods, can effectively characterized the structure details of different rock layers. However, salt deposition stages significantly impede the application of this technology, leading to poor imaging quality below the salt layers. To address the issues, we use reprocessed gravity data sets to recover the basement undulations beneath the salt layer. Based on the known control depth constraint of drilling data, we choose variable density interface inversion to estimate the basement depth of the Red Sea basin. The basement depth in the mid-ocean ridge varies within 1–2 km. The depth on both sides gradually increases to ∼6 km. According to the study results, the oceanic crust has formed in the central and southern regions of the basin, whereas the northern part remains in the embryonic stage of development.