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Tectonic map and geologic evolution of Syria

The role of GIS

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, U.S.

Tarif Sawaf

Syrian Petroleum Company, Damascus, Syria

Khaled Al-Maleh

Damascus University, Damascus, Syria

Corresponding author: G. Brew, brew@geology.cornell.edu

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

For the past 12 years, Cornell Syria Project scientists and colleagues at the Syrian Petroleum Company have studied the regional structure and geologic evolution of Syria. We are currently generating new structural maps and tectonic models for the whole country. Information on this region is relatively limited, despite the local importance of hydrocarbon production and abundant surface and subsurface data. Our regional approach involves new interpretations of seismic reflection profiles, well data, remote sensing imagery, and potential-field data, merged with existing interpretations of similar data sets. These interpretations, integrations, analyses, and map preparation are all performed within a GIS platform.

As detailed elsewhere in this issue, the importance of GIS as a data storage and interrogation tool for petroleum exploration is well established. This article describes our use of GIS to facilitate regional tectonic mapping in Syria. Although not directly related to the search for hydrocarbons, the maps and models generated have obvious utility for oil exploration. Herein we detail the types of data being used, their integration and interpretation within the GIS, and our preliminary analysis and findings. We will show how a GIS approach eases data archiving and map generation and also provides interpretational possibilities not available with more traditional mapping procedures.

Our interpretations show that much tectonic deformation within Syria occurred within repeatedly reactivated "mobile zones." GIS-generated structural maps on various geologic horizons, and tectonic maps at key time points, illustrate the interconnected and contemporaneous nature of the tectonic episodes within the different Syrian mobile zones. Hydrocarbon plays in Syria, such as the Euphrates Fault System, owe their existence to these tectonic episodes; better understanding of the deformation will lead to more informed exploration strategies. Hence, the data stored within the GIS can directly influence exploration strategies and decisions.

	Study area and GIS coverages

 
Our research concerns the northern Arabian Platform, specifically . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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