Satellite Gravity Interpretations of
Rifted Margins of the World
West Africa • E. South America • North Africa
India • Maritime Canada • Black Sea • Gulf of Mexico
West Africa • E. South America • North Africa
India • Maritime Canada • Black Sea • Gulf of Mexico
NEWEST PRODUCT (2002): NW Africa - Canary Islands to Liberia. Includes area of Chinguetti-1 oil discovery offshore Mauritania. If interested, contact Dave Schwartz at Fugro-LCT. Gibson Consulting is the interpreter, and Fugro-LCT is the owner of this product, not Marathon. Marathon owns the other products in this series, as described below.
Gibson Consulting, Marathon Oil, and Galileo Geophysics (Galileo is now part of Fugro-LCT, which is now marketing these studies) have entered into an agreement to market and support interpretations of satellite gravity data that Dick Gibson did for Marathon over the past several years. These projects were regional, tectonic framework studies that cover the areas listed above. Satellite gravity data are relatively low-resolution data sets that cannot take the place of proprietary surveys, but they do provide a wealth of information for basin-scale analysis or regional, strategic planning. The satellite-derived gravity data that were used for some of these studies were derived, in part, from Galileo Geophysics' Atlas of Regional
Gravity Fields products, which are a low-cost enhancement to public domain gravity data sets, available for license under separate agreement from Galileo Geophysics.
The spatial resolution of the satellite gravity data is around 15 to 20 km, worse in some areas near shorelines and occasionally slightly better. Accuracy of the gravity measurements is around 4-5 mGal.
These reports have been developed using detailed analysis of satellite-derived gravity data, topography, and published
geologic information including, in some cases, seismic and well control. The studies provide geologists with a convenient and rapid means
for studying major faults and fracture zones, basin geometry, and evaluating the overall petroleum system (kitchens, fairways, etc.). 
The maps
generally include information such as: large scale structures, sediment depocenters that may represent early rift-stage basins containing source
rock and/or serving as kitchens for hydrocarbon generation, possible sediment distribution pathways across and through the rifted margins,
continent-oceanic crustal boundary, and distributions of salt.
The reports are sold as digital packages, which include Geo-rectified TIFF images of the maps, cgm plot files of maps, digital copy of report, and ArcView shape files of the interpretation (all faults, lineaments, boundaries, etc. are included). The working scales for the studies were 1:500,000 or 1:1,000,000, and only offshore areas are covered.
These projects are owned by Marathon Oil. Through our joint agreement, Galileo Geophysics is the broker for the studies. Gibson Consulting's role is to provide support, in the form of two free days of consulting and/or presentations, to purchasers of the studies. (Note: Black Sea report gets only one free day of consulting; NW Africa 2002 is not included in this arrangement.) Marathon pays Gibson Consulting for this support; a purchaser pays any travel expenses related to such support. In addition, Gibson Consulting will provide a reasonable amount of follow-up and "service after the sale" via telephone and e-mail. To purchase these reports, you should contact Dave Schwartz at Fugro-LCT. For information about the data, information content, or philosophy of the interpretations, contact Dick Gibson.
