Identificação, caracterização e interpretação dos lineamentos estruturais na porção central emersa da Bacia Potiguar através de imagens SRTM

Abstract

This study deals with the identification, characterization and interpretation/correlations of structural lineaments in the central continental area of the Potiguar Basin, located in the State of Rio Grande do Norte. The analysis was based on SRTM images at a 1:500,000 scale. Structural lineaments were interpreted from digital analyses of shaded relief images generated by the SRTM Project, utilizing geoprocessing techniques with various illumination angles. The classification of the main lineaments comprise the predominant NE-SW, NW-SE, N-S and E-W trends. The NE and NW trends play a significant role in shaping the structural framework of the Potiguar Basin, exemplified by the Carnaubais (NE) and Afonso Bezerra and Poço Verde-Caraúbas (NW) fault systems. The study enabled correlations with other structures in the region, such as lineaments in the Pre-Cambrian Basement (overprinting its plastic structures), south of the Potiguar Basin. The NE-trending extensional structures of the “Potiguar Graben” (at subsurface) are also noticed as NE-trending lineaments, suggesting a late Cretaceous reactivation of this trend in the Potiguar Basin. Younger NE lineaments also overprinted the Barreiras Group and Neogene sedimentar covers, which outcrop in the studied region.