Open AccessElectrical imaging of deep crustal features of Kutch, India
Author(s) -
Sastry R. S.,
Nagarajan Nandini,
Sarma S. V. S.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical journal international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0956-540X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.2007.03658.x
Subject(s) - geology , horst , seismology , fault (geology) , magnetotellurics , saurashtra , tectonics , crust , feature (linguistics) , plate tectonics , geophysics , electrical resistivity and conductivity , linguistics , philosophy , engineering , electrical engineering
SUMMARY A regional Magnetotelluric (MT) study, was carried out with 55 MT soundings, distributed along five traverses, across the Kutch Mainland Unit (KMU), on the west coast of India, a region characterized by a series of successive uplifts and intervening depressions in the form of half graben, bounded by master faults. We obtain the deeper electrical structure of the crust beneath Kutch, from 2‐D modelling of MT data along the 5 traverses, in order to evaluate the geo‐electrical signatures, if any, of the known primary tectonic structures in this region. The results show that the deeper electrical structure in the Kutch region presents a mosaic of high resistive crustal blocks separated by deep‐rooted conductive features. Two such crustal conductive features spatially correlate with the known tectonic features, viz., the Kutch Mainland Fault (KMF), and the Katrol Hill Fault (KHF). An impressive feature of the geo‐electrical sections is an additional, well‐defined conductive feature, running between Jakhau and Mundra, located at the southern end of each of the five MT traverses and interpreted to be the electrical signature of yet another hidden fault at the southern margin of the KMU. This new feature is named as Jakhau–Mundra Fault (JMF). It is inferred that the presence of JMF together with the Kathiawar Fault (NKF), further south, located at the northern boundary of the Saurashtra Horst, would enhance the possibility of occurrence of a thick sedimentary column in the Gulf of Kutch. The region between the newly delineated fault (JMF) and the Kathiawar fault (NKF) could thus be significant for Hydrocarbon Exploration.