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WSN 109 (2018) 26-42 EISSN 2392-219

Spectral Analysis and Euler Deconvolution

of Regional Aeromagnetic Data to Delineate
Sedimentary Thickness in Mmaku Area, South
Eastern Nigeria

Daniel C. Umeanoh1, Chimezie C. Ofoha2,*, S. A. Ugwu1

1
Department of Geology, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
2
Department of Physics, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
*E-mail address: williamscharles333@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
Quantitative analysis/interpretation was undetaken on an aeromagnetic data covering latitude
6°00’-6°30’N and longitude 7°00’-7°30’E of Mmaku area, South Eastern, Nigeria by means of
spectral depth analysis and Euler Deconvolution. To determine the sedimentary thickness or the depth
to basement peculiar within the area, regional-residual separation was applied on the total
aeromagnetic data. The resulting residual was divided into overlapping sixteen (16) spectral grids
using Ms Excel. This was saved in Comma Separated Variable (CSV) format and thus imported into
Origin Pro software where Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) or spectral analysis was performed on the
windowed or gridded residual. The residual data was also imported into Oasis Montaj software for
Standard 3D Euler Deconvolution. The result of the spectral analysis shows that the depth to various
causative sources vary from 3.472 km to 6.972 km for the deeper sources, with average thickness of
5.010 km and 1.177 km to 1.834 km for the shallower sources, with average value of 1.047 km. From
the Euler depth solutions, depth values ranging from 1525.74 km to 2919.21 km was revealed using
structural index (SI) of 1 while depth values of 2290.49 km to 4447.62 km and 925. 93 km to 5790.49
km was observed when SI of 2 and 3 respectively were chosen. This study presents, therefore, suitable
sedimentary thickness for hydrocarbon exploration to exist within the area.

Keywords: Mmaku area, Euler Deconvolution, aeromagnetic data, Sedimentary Thickness

( Received 15 August 2018; Accepted 29 August 2018; Date of Publication 30 August 2018 )
 World Scientific News 109 (2018) 26-42

1. INTRODUCTION

The study area spans latitude 6°00’-6°30’N and longitude 7°00’ 7°30’E. and it falls
within the Lower Benue Trough. According to [1], stated that gravity measurements are used
in determining the earth gravity field at any point on the surface of the earth. Similarly,
measurements involving the use of magnetic survey method are used in estimating the
geomagnetic field at any point on the earths surface. The magnetic technique which has been
a non destructive technique measures the susceptibility contrast of subsurface rocks. By
delineating subsurface structures due to difference in susceptibility, geological inferences/
interpretations which include delineation of faults, fonds, lithology and depth can be made.
Determination of depth to causative magnetic sources or the sedimentary thickness is
primarily a topic of research by geoscientists within the study area and environs. Amongst the
methods used in determining the depth are the Euler Deconvolution, spectral analysis, local
wavenumber, Werner Deconvolution and tilt angle. [2] reported that there are some published
works in the lower Benue Trough on the basis of aeromagnetic technique. Some of the
scholars according to [2] include: [3-10]. [3] interpreted the aeromagnetic anomalies covering
lower and middle Benue trough. He obtained depths of anomalous body to range from 0.5 km
to 7 km and also interpreted the cause of the magnetic anomalies to be intrusive bodies of
basic composition which could either be em-placed within the sedimentary or basement rocks
or both.
The sedimentary thickness of parts of Anambra basin which lower Benue trough falls in
was evaluated by [5] and it was asserted that depths values ranging from 0.9 to 5.6 are
peculiar within the region. Spectral depth analysis was quantitatively used by [10] to
determine the depth of causative magnetic sources in some parts of lower Benue Trough. It
was observed that deeper magnetic source ranging from 1.16 to 6.13 km with average of 3.03
km existed within the area while shallower magnetic source ranging from 0.016 to 0.37 km
with average of 0.22 km prevail in the region. [7] evaluated that deeper source bodies have
depth values within value range of 0.518 to 8.65 km but with a mean value of 3.513 km
whereas the depths to the shallow magnetic sources range from 0.235 to 3.91 km with a mean
depth of 1.389 km. In the work by [8] within Okigwe which is part of lower Benue Trough,
they established two depth models varying from 2.18 to 4.91 km for deeper sources while the
shallower sources vary from 0.55 to 1.82 km.
In view of the several researches/quantitative contributions made by researchers within
the study area, this study will therefore evaluate the sedimentary thickness of the area using a
combined approach of spectral analysis and Euler Deconvolution

1. 1. Geology of the study area

The Benue Trough generally has been subdivided into three: the Upper Benue Trough at
the NE Nigeria, the Middle Benue Trough and the Lower Benue Trough. The Lower Benue
Trough has somewhat developed different tectonic history resulting in the formation of the
Anambra Basin to the west and Abakaliki Anticlinorium to the east. According to [11]
reconstruction model, the Anambra Basin remained a stable platform supplying sediments to
the Abakaliki depression during a period of spasmodic phase of platform subsidence [12] in
the Turonian. Following the flextural inversion of the Abakaliki area during the Santonian
uplift and folding, then the Anambra Basin was initiated.

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Four Cretaceous depositional cycles where recognized by [11] in the Lower Benue and
each of these was associated with the transgression and regression of the sea. The opening of
the Atlantic Ocean in the Middle Albian to Upper Albian gave rise to the transgression of the
first sedimentary cycle. The Asu River group which consist predominantly sandstone and
shale was deposited at this time. Between the Upper Cenomanian and Middle Turonian, the
second sedimentary deposition of the Ezeaku Shale occurred. The third sedimentary circle
occurred from Upper Turonian to the Lower Santonian leading to deposition of the Awgu
Shale and Agbani Sandstone. The fourth and final depositional phase took place during the
Campanian-Maastrichtian transgression. It was at this time that the Nkporo Shale, Owelli
Sandstones, Afikpo Sandstone, Enugu Shale as well as the coal measures including the Mamu
Formation, Ajali Sandstone and Nsukka Formation were deposited. Figure. 1. shows the
regional geology of the Lower Benue trough.

Fig. 1. Regional Geology of the Lower Benue Trough showing the study area
(adapted from [13] and Modified by [14]).

The geology of the map sheet 301 (Fig 2) was extracted from the regional geologic map
and redigitized for enhanced interpretation of the aeromagnetic map. The five main

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formations within the study map area are Nkporo Shale Formation, Mamu Formation, Ajali
Formation, Nsukka Formation and Ameki Formation. The ages of the formations range from
Maastrichtian to Campanian and to Eocene (Ameki formation).

Fig. 2. A Geologic Map of the Study Area (Modified Sheet 301and Re-digitized
NGSA geologic map of Nigeria)

1. 2. Theory of spectral analysis

A very good use of spectral depth analysis is the determination of depths to buried
magnetic rocks. [15] developed a depth determination method which matches two
dimensional power spectral calculated from gridded total magnetic intensity field data with
corresponding spectral obtained from a theoretical model. In an attempt to analyze
aeromagnetic data, number of independent ensembles of rectangular, vertical sided
parallelepiped is assumed to exist on the ground and each ensemble is characterized by a joint
frequency distribution for the depth (h) and length (b) and depth extent (t). In spectral
analysis, the residual is transformed from space to the frequency or wavenumber domain via
Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm application. This art generates the spectral energy
curve from which the depth values relating the deeply seated and shallow related magnetic
features can be calculated by fitting lines on the high and low frequency components [15].

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Thus the logarithmic plot of the radial spectrum would give a straight line whose slope
is -2z. The mean depth of the burial ensemble in radian per kimeter is thus given as

m
z 1
2

where:
z is the depth to magnetic layers
m is the slope of the radial average spectrum.

1. 3. Theory of Euler Deconvolution

The Euler deconvolution depth technique is basically based on the Eulers homogeneity
equation. The magnetic field and its gradient is related to the location of the source of an
anomaly, with the degree of homogeneity expressed as a "structural index". The structural
index (SI) entails the degree of fall off of the field with distance from the causative source.
Euler’s homogeneity relationship for magnetic data is expressed as:

where:

is the position of the magnetic source whose total field (T) is detected at (x, y, z,).
B is the regional magnetic field.
N is the measure of the fall-off rate of the magnetic field and may be interpreted as the
structural index (SI).

The Euler deconvolution depth technique is applied at each solution/location. The

method involves setting an appropriate SI value and using least-squares inversion to solve the
equation for an optimum xo,yo,zo and B. Also, appropriate window size must be specified
which consists of the number of cells in the gridded dataset to use in the inversion at each
selected solution location. The window is centered on each of the solution locations. All
points in the window are used to solve Euler’s equation for solution depth, inversely weighted
by distance from the center of the window.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study made use of a high resolution aeromagnetic data acquired by Fugro Airborne
Service between 2003 and 2007 on behalf of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency
(NGSA), Abuja, as part of nation wide airborn survey necessitated at fostering the exploration
of earth resources like hydrocarbon and water. The high resolution survey was carried out at
flight line direction NW-SE and at flight line spacing of 500 meters.

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The terrain clearance was at low altitude of 80 meters while the tie line spacing was 2
km at flight line direction of NE-SW. Spectral analysis was carried out using the WingLink,
Ms Excel and Origin Pro softwares while the Euler Deconvolution was undertaken using
Oasis Montaj software.
The raw data was pre-processed using Oasis montaj software by the NGSA and was
transmitted as IGFR corrected TMI and was saved in geosoft dataset as geosoft grid file
format. Neverrtheless, International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGFR) and diurnal
corrections were carried out by NGSA. The International Geomagnetic Reference Field
(IGFR) provides the means of subtracting on a rational basis the expected variation in the
main field to leave anomalies that may be compared from one survey to another, even when
surveys are conducted several decades apart and the diurnal correction takes care of daily
variation of the geomagnetic field.
Spectral analysis and Euler deconvolution quantitative methods of data analysis and
interpretation were adopted for this research. The process of mapping the depth to basement
via spectral analysis of magnetic data involves sectioning the residual data into 16
overlapping windows and then calculating the average radial power spectrum of the sectioned
rectangular window. Depending on the resolution of the data any window size can be
appropriate.
This study found that a 10x10 kilometer window (cells or grids) size was useful for
basement depths encountered. After the average radial (Energy) power spectrum is calculated
using Fast Fourier Transform, it is plotted in MS Excel using Excel chart wizard as Log of
Energy (FFT magnitude) versus radial frequency in Cycles/sec. A straight line is then visually
fit to the energy spectrum, usually in the higher frequency of the figure. The negative slope of
this line is equal to twice the depth to the center of mass of the bodies producing the magnetic
field. After the depth has been calculated over one window a new calculation is made over a
new window. This continues over the grid until all windows have had their radial spectra
calculated and the depths picked.
The Euler deconvolution method involves the application of 3D Euler Deconvolution
algorithm emplaced on the menu tool box of oasis montaj software. This was done in order to
model a sill/dyke, cylinder/pipe and a sphere, thus the choice of 1,2 and 3 as the structural
indices. While attempting to locate the sources as well as estimate their depths, the changes of
the geomagnetic field in the X, Y and Z directions were determined and maximum depth
tolerance of 15 % and square window size of 10 by 10 chosen.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The residual and regional maps (Fig 3 and Fig 4) were obtained by applying regional-
residual separation on the total magnetic intensity map (Fig 5) of the study area.

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Fig. 3. Residual aeromagnetic map of the study area (nT)

Fig. 4. Residual aeromagnetic map of the study area (nT)

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Fig. 5. Total magnetic intensity aeromagnetic map of the study area (nT)

The total magnetic intensity aeromagnetic map of the study area consist of different
colour and contour variations signifying regions of magnetic high, low as well as basement
surface. The magnetic low zones are represented with blue and green colours and the
magnetic intensity values of such region varies from -40 nT to 60 nT . The magnetic high
zones designated with red and yellow colours are characterized with anomalies whose
magnetic intensity values ranges from 70 nT to 110 nT.
Contours of different characteristics are evident on the residual and total magnetic
intensity aeromagnetic maps. Linear, circular, elliptical and broadened contours are obvious
on both the total magnetic intensity aeromagnetic and residual maps. The linear and circular
contour represent faults zones and seal like structure within the area while the eliptical and
broadened contours are associated with dykes and zone of high magmatic intrusion.
The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) or the spectral analysis applied on the windowed
residual map (Fig. 6) generates the spectral energy curves plots for each of the windows.
Some of the spectral energy curves are shown in Fig. 7a.

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Fig. 6. Windowed residual aeromagnetic map of the area (nT)

Fig. 7a. FFT/ Spectral analysis on the residual data (Rad/km)

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From the spectral energy curves expressed via the application of FFT on the windowed,
Table 1 was generated.

Table 1. Spectral analysis on the residual aeromagnetic data

Cell Maximum Slope Minimum slope Maximum Depth Minimum Depth

plots (S1) (S2) dmax = S1/2 dmin = S2/2

C1 -15613.33 -2865.59 -7806.66 -1432.80

C2 -18307.65 -3651.09 -9153.82 -1825.55
C3 -25639.18 -4268.83 -12819.59 -2134.42
C4 -20853.35 -1850.51 -10426.68 -925.25
C5 -14405.64 -3466.69 -7202.82 -1733.34
C6 -24219.00 -5123.00 -12110.00 -2562.00
C7 -21641.93 -10820.97 -7942.54 -3971.27
C8 -22056.25 -3449.65 -11028.12 -1724.83
C9 -24636.83 -4754.78 -12318.42 -2377.39
C10 -24484.02 -4161.12 -12242.01 -2080.56
C11 -22055.01 -4275.49 -11027.51 -2137.74
C12 -27149.00 -6025.66 -13574.50 -3012.83
C13 -23670.11 -3939.58 -11835.06 -1969.79
C14 -20661.20 -4341.69 -10330.60 -2170.85
C15 -22433.18 -3742.68 -11216.59 -1871.34
C16 -25072.95 3899.56 -12536.47 -1949.78

In this research work, two depth models, dmax and dmin, were proposed. dmax was
imported into surfer software environment and then 3D depth to basement map (Fig 7 b)
depicting the undulating nature of the magnetic basement was generated. dmax and dmin,
represent the deep and shallow seated magnetic sources respectively. The deeper magnetic
sources regarded as the low frequency component is represented by the steep gradient of the
spectral energy curve while the shallow magnetic bodies seen as the high frequency
component is represented by the less steep gradient of the energy curve. The deeper magnetic
sources are attributable to magnetic bodies on the basement surface and the shallow sources
probably regarded as magnetic intrusions.

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These deeper sources lie at depth that varies between 3.472 km and 6.972 km but with
an average or true depth value of 5.010 km. Conversely, the shallower magnetic bodies lie
between 1.177 km and 1.834 km but with an average depth of 1.047 km. Maximum
sedimentary thickness found in block 12 is located in the eastern portion of the map whereas
the minimum sediment found in block 13 is located in the north western portion of study area.
The depth to shallow sources for window two, seven, nine and fourteen were not computed
nevertheless, due to the absolute noise effect within the region as evidenced by the non
linearity of the energy curve.
The established true sedimentary thickness is in disparity with the results obtained by
most previous researchers that had worked within the area of study. [10] obtained basement
depth for deeper magnetic sources to vary between 1.16 km and 6.13 km but with an average
depth of 3.03 km while the depth for the shallower source bodies was evaluated to vary from
0.06 km to 0.37 km but with average of 0.22 km. [10] also reported that [5], opined the
sedimentary thickness to range from 0.9 km to 5.6 km ,1.95 km to 5.09 km respectively.
Similarly, [16] showed that the basement depth vary from 1.2 km to 2.5 km These differences
in true sedimentary thickness value is owed to rapid progressive sea level rise leading to high
transgressive and less regressive patterns with tectonic activities as at when the data was
obtained within the study area. The basement map nevertheless presents successive patterns of
structural (basement) highs and lows which are, perhaps, attractive site for economic
deposition.
3-D standard Euler deconvolution of the aeromagnetic data covering the study area
using different structural indices of 1,2 and 3 are shown in table 2,3 and 4. From the depth
colume which shows depth to magnetic sources, Fig 8, 9 and 10 were generated. X_Euler and
Y_ Euler indicate the x and y cordinate of the Euler solution while the depth, backgrnd,
windsize, dZ, dXY, X, Y. X_offset, Y_offset and mask columns indicate the sedimentary
thickness, base level of the solution, the chosen window size,, percentage depth uncertainty,
location uncertainty as percentage of solution depth Z, x coordinate of the center of the
search window, y coordinate of the center of the search window, X_Euler – X, Y_Euler – Y
and a flag indicating whether this solution is to be plotted or not (1 indicates plot and *
indicates don’t plot), respectively.
Nevertheless, some of the geological models chosen were dyke, cylinder and sphere
models, thus the reason behind choosing structural indices of 1, 2 and 3. Result for magnetic
dykes ( structural index 1) is shown in Fig. 8. It shows depth values to range from 1525.74 km
to 2919.21 km. In a similar fashion, using a structural index of 2, Euler solutions indicating
cylindrical geological models are presented in Fig. 9 and it shows depths ranging from
2290.49 km to 4447.62 km On the other hand, sedimentary thickness which falls between
2925. 93 km and 5790.49 km were revealed when structural indice of 3 was chosen.
The depth values for various causative magnetic sources range from 1525.74 km to
5790.49 km and the significance of the obtained depth parameter can be compared to that of
the spectral analysis in that appreciable sedimentary thickness can be inferred within the area
of study. This is because the thickness value revealed is greater than the proposed thickness
value suitable for hydrocarbon exploration by [17].

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Fig 7b. 3D depth to basement map of the study area

Table 2. Some of the Euler Deconvolution Solutions when the Structural Index is one

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Table 3. Some of the Euler Deconvolution solutions when the structural index is 2

Table 4. Some of the Euler Deconvolution solutions when the structural index is 3

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Fig. 8. Euler deconvolution depth map with S.I of 1 (km)

Fig. 9. Euler deconvolution depth map with S.I of 2(km)

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Fig. 10. Euler deconvolution depth map with S.I of 3 (km)

4. CONCLUSIONS

Presented in this research is the quantitative interpretation of aeromagnetic anomalies

caused by the distribution of subsurface structures covering Mmaku and environs. The
quantitative methods employed for depth determination are spectral analysis and Euler
Deconvolution methods. Depth values obtained via spectral analysis vary between 3.472 km
and 6.972 km for the deeper sources. These depth values are sufficient for hydrocarbon
exploration. From the Euler depth solutions, the depth obtained by modeling magnetic dykes
ranges from 1525.74 km to 2919.21 km whereas the depth observed within the study area
when cylindrical and spherical geological model were represented ranges between 2290.49
km to 4447.62 km and 925. 93 km to 5790.49 km. It can therefore be deduced that
appreciable amount of hydrocarbon can be explored within the area as the estimated
sedimentary thickness value surpass the average thickness value of 2.3 km proposed by [17]
for the formation of oil and gas from organic remains. Also, the sedimentary thickness value
obtained in this research work fairly concurs with the thickness of sediments obtained within
the study area by other researchers.

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