International Journal of Geosciences, 2016, 7, 598-614
Published Online April 2016 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ijg
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ijg.2016.74046
How to cite this paper: Widarto, D.S., Yudistira, T., Nishida, J.-I., Katsura, I., Gaffar, E.Z. and Nishimura, S. (2016) Imaging
Rock Density Distribution beneath Liwa Fracture Zone in the Southern Part of the Great Sumatran Fault System, Indonesia.
International Journal of Geosciences, 7, 598-614. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ijg.2016.74046
Imaging Rock Density Distribution beneath
Liwa Fracture Zone in the Southern Part of
the Great Sumatran Fault System, Indonesia
Djedi S. Widarto
1*
, Tedi Yudistira
2
, Jun-Ichi Nishida
3
, Ikuo Katsura
4
, Eddy Z. Gaffar
5
,
Susumu Nishimura
4
1
Upstream Technology Center, PT Pertamina (Persero), Jakarta, Indonesia
2
Department of Geophysical Engineering, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia
3
Faculty of Literary, Ohtani University, Kyoto, Japan
4
Kyoto Institute of Natural History, Kyoto, Japan
5
Research Centre for Geotechnology—LIPI, Bandung, Indonesia
Received 1 March 2016; accepted 25 April 2016; published 28 April 2016
Copyright © 2016 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
We have imaged rock density distribution beneath Liwa fracture zone in the southern part of the
the Sumatran Fault Zone by modelling and inverting Bouguer gravity data in two-and three-di-
mensional environments, respectively. The purpose of this study is aimed to figure out the subsur-
face distribution of rock densities associated with subsurface basement structure representing
the evidence of trans-tensional tectonic product in the SF. In the gravity modeling, to eliminate
distortions to the measured gravity values before modelling and inverting the data, Bouguer ano-
malies obtained in field measurements are reduced to the horizontal plane of z = +800 m as a re-
presentation of the average elevation in Liwa. For the inversion, we used algorithm implementing
depth-and minimum volume weighting parameters in order to obtain a smooth model with better
vertical resolution. The two-dimensional models show clearly surface topography of the basement
rocks and the presence of normal faults. The reduced Bouguer anomaly of +800 m elevation shows
the presence of structural lineaments extending primarily in a northwest-southeast direction, pa-
rallel to Sumatran Fault Zone and older graben faults showing a negative flower structure. From
the three-dimensional inversion, the model illustrates an increase of density contrast, lower val-
ues being found near the surface and higher values in the deeper parts. The lower density contrast
of 0.15 to 0.3 g/cm
3
found in the rock groups at depths of 2 km and less is characteristic of rela-
tively homogeneous and poorly compacted rocks. Rocks with moderate to high density contrast
(>1.0 g/cm
3
) are recognized at depths of over 2 km. This model suggests a change of basement
morphology as a function of depth, and delineates structural lineaments extending in north-
*
Corresponding author.