Image Processing Techniques as Applied over the Western Indian Offshore for Hydrocarbon Exploration

摘要

The high resolution satellite geoid/gravity data have been found to be quite useful for mapping the mega-structures in the poorly explored offshore region of India. Continental margin boundaries could be demarcated clearly in western offshore using satellite-derived geoid/gravity anomaly maps. Prominent trends in the area of the Arabian Sea are along N-S, NW-SE, and NNE-SSW. The present continental margin consists of numerous NW-SE trending structural features, viz. the Laccadive ridge, the Laxmi ridge, the Pratap ridge complex and the Panikkar ridge. However, the FFT approach becomes a useful image enhancement technique for a more structural delineation for the free-air gravity image. The presence of an elongated structure immediately west of the western continental shelf could also be identified. The overall image quality becomes improved. Different NE-SW structural trends could be identified. The isolated gravity low in the Bombay high and associated areas with the continental shelf may be helpful for further studies on hydrocarbon prospecting in this region. Few tectonic blocks e.g. the Bombay High block, the Diu block, the Panna block, the Ta-pi-Daman block, the Shelf Margin block and the Ratnagiri block could be identified distinctively and may be further explored for hydrocarbons. In this paper we attempted to show that the utility of satellite gravity images for rock- and surface-type discrimination can be increased through certain image processing techniques.