Azerbaijan is located in the Alpine Himalayan collisional zone and is characterized by its complex and variable geological structure. To study Azerbaijan’s deep structure, twelve main regional interpreting profiles were selected for comprehensive 3D combined gravity-magnetic modeling. The development of the initial physical-geological models (PGMs) was based on known surface geology, drilling data, previous seismic, magnetotelluric and thermal data analysis, examination of the richest petrophysical data, as well as quantitative and qualitative gravity/magnetic data examination. The PGMs thus reflect the key structural-formational specifics of Azerbaijan’s geological structure, beginning from the subsurface (hundreds of meters) up to the Moho discontinuity (40 - 60 km). The PGMs revealed common factors controlling ore- and hydrocarbon bearing formations, primarily the boundaries of tectonic blocks, masked faults, and buried uplifts of magmatic rocks. Many of these factors can be used to investigate long-term geodynamic activity at a depth. The article summarizes many years of investigation by exemplifying the most typical PGMs for the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, the Kura depression, and central and northern Azerbaijan.
Katz B., Richards D., Long D. and Lawrence W., “A new look at the components of the petroleum system of the South Caspian Basin,” Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Vol. 28, 2000, pp. 161-182. doi:10.1016/S0920-4105(00)00076-0
Diaconescu C. C., Kieckhefer R. M. and Knapp J. H., “Geophysical evidence for gas hydrates in the deep water of the South Caspian Basin, Azerbaijan, ”Marine and Petroleum Geology, Vol. 18, 2001, pp. 209-221. doi:10.1016/S0264-8172(00)00061-1
Jackson J., Priestley K., Allen M., Berberian M., “Active tectonics of the South Caspian Basin,”Geophysical Journal International, Vol. 148, 2002, pp. 214-245.
Brunet M.-F., Korotaev M. V., Ershov A. V. and Nikishin, A. M., “The South Caspian Basin: a review of its evolution from subsidence modeling,” Sedimentary Geology, Vol.156,2003,pp.119-148. doi:10.1016/S0037-0738(02)00285-3
Knapp C. C., Knapp J. H. and Connor J. A., “Crustal-scale structure of the South Caspian Basin revealed by deep seismic reflection profiling,” Marine and Petroleum Geology, Vol. 21, 2004, pp.1073-1081. doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2003.04.002
Manley D.M., Mohammed S.F. and Robinson N.D., Thomas R.W., “Structural interpretation of the deepwater Gunashli Field,” facilitated by 4-C OBS seismic data, The Leading Edge, No. 9, 2005, pp. 922-926. doi:10.1190/1.2056396
Mekhtiev Sh. F. and Gadjiev T. G. (Eds.), “Azerbaijan SSR, Economic Minerals,” Ministry of Geology of the USSR, 1976, Moscow.
Gadjiev R. M., “Deep geological structure of Azerbaijan, ”Azgosizdat, 1965, Baku (in Russian).
Tzimelzon I. O., “Deep structure of the Earth’s crust and tectonics of Azerbaijan on the geophysical data analysis,” Soviet Geology, 1965, No. 4, 103-111 (in Russian).
Shekinsky E., Radzhabov M., Timukyan G., Levi V. and Riger R., “Study of the Earth’s crust structure in Azerbaijan using deep seismic sounding,” Izv. Akad. Nauk Azerb. SSR, 1967, Ser.: Nauki o Zemle, 5, pp.41-50 (in Russian).
Khesin B. E., “Geophysical characteristics of tecto- no-magmatic zones of Azerbaijan,” Geotektonika(in Russian), No. 6, 1968, pp. 61-69.
Tzimelzon I. O., “Relation between the tectonics of sedimentary deposits of Azerbaijan and earth’s deep structure,” Geotectonics(in Russian), No. 5, 1970, pp. 69-81.
Azizbekov Sh. A., Agabekov M. G., Grigoryants B. V., Shikalibeyli E. Sh. and Mamedov A. V., “The history of the geological evolution,” In: Azizbekov Sh. A. (Ed.), Geology of the USSR, Azerbaijan, Nedra, Moscow(in Russian), Vol. XLVII, 1972, pp.441-503.
Shikhalibeyli E. Sh., “Location of Azerbaijan in general structure of the Caucasus and surrounding folded region,” In: Azizbekov Sh. A. (Ed.), Geology of the USSR, Azerbaijan, Nedra, Moscow(in Russian), Vol. XLVII, 1972, pp. 286-290.
Khesin B. E., “Prognosis and localization of hidden mineralization in mountainous regions on the basis of geophysical data, ”Nedra, Moscow (in Russian), 1976.
Gugunava G. E., “Interrelation of some geophysical fields and deep structure of the Caucasus,” Mezniereba(in Russian), Tbilisi, 1981.
Alexeyev V. V., Gadjiev T. G., Karkoshkin A. I. and Khesin B. E., “Gravity and magnetic anomalies in Azerbaijan and their geological interpretation,” Map Printing Factory, Leningrad (in Russian), 1988.
Khesin B. E., Alexeyev V. V. and Eppelbaum L. V., “3-D modelling of gravity and magnetic fields as a final stage of application of effective interpretation system of geophysical data under difficult geological conditions,” Geoinformatics, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1993, pp.177-188.
Khesin B. E., “Alexeyev V. V., Eppelbaum L. V., Interpretation of Geophysical Fields in Complicated Environments,” Kluwer Academic Publisher, 1996, Ser: Modern Approaches in Geophysics, Boston – Dordrecht – London.
Sarker G., and Abers G. A., “Deep structures along the boundary of a collision belt: attenuation tomography of P and S waves in the Greater Caucasus,” Geophysical Journal International, Vol. 133, 1998, pp. 326-340. doi:10.1046/j.1365-246X.1998.00506.x
Ershov, A. V., Brunet, M.-F., Korotaev, M. V., Nikishin, A. M. and Bolotov, S. N., “Late Cenozoic burial history and dynamics of the Northern Caucasus molasses basin: implications for foreland basin modeling,” Tectonophysics, Vol. 313, 1999, pp. 219 - 241. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(99)00197-3
Artyushkov E. V., M?rner N.-A. and Tarling D. H., “The cause of loss of lithospheric rigidity in areas far from plate tectonic activity,” Geophysical Journal International, Vol. 143, 2000, pp.752-766. doi:10.1046/j.1365-246X.2000.00275.x
Kaban M. K., “A gravity model of the north Eurasia crust and upper mantle: 2. The Alpine-Mediterranean foldbelt and adjacent structures of the southern former USSR,” Russian Journal of Earth Sci., Vol.4, No.1, 2002, pp. 19-33. doi:10.2205/2002ES000082
Allen M. B., Vincent S. J., Alsop G. I., Ismail-zadeh A. and Flecker R., “Late Cenozoic deformation in the South Caspian region: effects of a rigid basement block within a collision zone,”Tectonophysics,Vol.366,2003,pp. 223-239. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(03)00098-2
Saintot A., Brunet M.-F., Yakovlev F., Sebrier M., Stephenson R., Ershov A., Chalot-Prat F. and McCann T., “The Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Greater Caucasus,” The Geological Society of London, Memoirs, Vol. 32, 2006, pp.277-289.
Leonov Yu. G. (Ed.), “The Greater Caucasus in the Alpine Epoch,” Geos, 2008, Moscow (in Russian).
Ricketts J. W., Takedatsu R., Mellors R. J., Sandwell D., Gok R. and Yetirmishli G., “Crustal structure of the Caucasus and Caspian region using gravity and receiver functions,” Trans. of the American Geophysical Union, 2008, Fall Meeting, abstract No. T21A-1922.
Khain V. E., “Structure and main stages in the tectonic-magmatic development of the Caucasus: An attempt at geodynamic interpretation,” American Journal of Science, Vol. 275A, 1975, pp. 131-156.
Khain V. E., “Tectonics of continents and oceans,” Nauchnyi Mir, Moscow (in Russian), 2000.
Barton P. J., “The relationship between seismic velocity and density in the continental crust - a useful constraint? ” Geophys. J. R. Astr. Soc., Vol. 87, 1986, pp. 195-208.
Nikolsky Yu. I., Milai T. A. and Kogan L. Z., “Geo- logical-geophysical studies of the tectonics, magmatism, and metallogeny of the Caucasus,” Nedra, Leningrad (in Russian), 1975.
Gongadze S. A., “Anomalous gravity field of Georgia and some problems of its geological-geophysical interpretation,” Ph. D. Thesis, Institute of Geophysics, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2006.
Khesin B. E. and Eppelbaum L. V., “Development of 3-D gravity-magnetic models of Earth’s crust in complicated regions of Azerbaijan,” Proceed. of the 69th EAGE Conference, London, Great Britain, 2007, p. 343.
Pilchin A. N. and Eppelbaum, L. V., Determination of the lower edges of magnetized bodies by using geothermal data, Geophysical Journal International, Vol.128, 1997, pp. 167-174. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1997.tb04077.x
Eppelbaum L. V. and Khesin B. E., “Advanced 3-D modelling of gravity field unmasks reserves of a pyrite-polymetallic deposit: A case study from the Greater Caucasus,” First Break, Vol. 22, No. 11, 2004, pp. 53-56.
Khain V. E., “Mesozoic–Cenozoic Accretionary complexes of the Greater Caucasus,” Doklady Earth Sciences, Vol. 413A, No. 3, 2007, pp. 376-379.