Integration of Potential Geophysical Field Methods to Locate Shallow Subsurface Geological Structures in Al Jaww Plain

A geophysical investigation of Al Jaww Plain was carried out by a group of students from the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. Al Jaww Plain is located to the southeast of Al Ain city in the eastern side of the U.A.E. near the border with the Sultanate of Oman (Refer to figure 1). It is approximately 15 km wide and is delimited by Jabal Hafit to the West and Oman mountains east. Several outcrops are visible in the area such as the late Eocene Malaqat-Mundassa Anticline. Moreover, the Plain is sloping westward and the elevations are in the range of 300-400 m above the sea level. It is covered by Quaternary low relief alluvial deposits which are mainly gravel derived from nearby mountains and transported by several Wadis such as Wadi Shik and Al Ain Wadi. The Plain is also underlain by several folds and fault systems. There are two main compression stress events that the area suffered from, which are the formation of the Oman Ophiolites Mountains in the late Cretaceous and the collision of the Arabian and Eurasian plates in the late Eocene-Miocene. The intention behind the investigation is that previous seismic studies in the same area did not prove the exact location of a reverse thrust fault due to the poor quality of the acquired data. With the help of cheaper methods like gravity and magnetic, it was doable to determine the exact location of the fault. The objectives of this investigation can be divided into two categories. The main objectives include the localization of a reverse thrust fault, identifying the extension of the Oman Ophiolites and estimating bed rock depths. The secondary objectives include performing a seismic noise test and an instrumental drift study of the gravimeter and magnetometer used.