Land Deformation Associated with Salt Domes along the Red Sea Coastline Hannah Pankratz1, Mohamed Sultan1, Karem Abdelmohsen1, Mustafa Emil1, Saad morgen2, Hassan Harbi2, Saleh Sefry2 1. Department of Geosciences , Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, United States, 2. Saudi Geological Society, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT STUDY AREA 1. ELEVATION 2. PERSISTENT SCATTER

The southwest portion of Saudi Arabia is rapidly growing (in size and a INTERFEROMETRY

population) especially in the Jazan Province, Saudi Arabia where they are Figure 3. ALOS Figure 2. Regional map (a) currently building a multibillion-dollar economic city along the coast of b PALSAR 12.5 m Figure 4. Radar Interferometry is showing the location of Jazan DEM data on top based on the phase change that the Red Sea. The area of focus for this project is the old city of Jazan, City in the Jazan Province. An of a hillshade map occurs during ground motion and enlarged map (b) showing which is ~45 km south of the proposed economic city. The old city of to exaggerate the the moving satellite. Jazan City and the Farasan, 2 topography. The Jazan is located on a peninsula that is located on a ~4 km salt dome or which is a set of Islands Jazan dome is located ~50 km to the west diapir structure that is located ~40 meters above the relatively flat outlined in black of Jazan City where there are and the three surroundings. This study is aimed at assessing the land deformation known salt domes down to a selected potential Figure 5. (Below) Shows the PSI results. The PSI technique depth of only couple hundred caused by surface or near subsurface salt domes along the southern domes are shown uses a large stack of radar images and detects the change in meters. coastline of Saudi Arabia by using the integration of remote sensing and in white. movement of persistently reflecting surface features (buildings, infrastructure). The salt dome shows relative uplift in the middle geophysical methods. Salt domes are important economically, but they and similar patterns can be seen in the potential salt domes in can also act as a geologic hazard over time. The results from this study is white. to create a set of criteria for locating subsurface salt domes along the coastline of Saudi Arabia. The findings from this research can be applied 3. SALT DOME SPECTRAL SIGNATURE to other salt basins around the world as a non-invasive and less expensive Figure 7. (Below) Spectral library Figure 9. (Below) Band-ratio image reflectance values resampled to the using Landsat 8 bands (6/7, 6/5, 4/2). technique to locate potential domes that could be used economically as wavelength regions covered by Landsat 8 This ratio was selected to highlight the well as preventative action for future city planning. bands. This is done in order to compare major minerals present in the salt dome the library spectra with the collected and to isolate them from the surrounding reflectance from the satellite images. lithologies. GEOLOGIC HAZARDS AND PROBLEMS

The intrusion of the salt dome into the overlying cap rock is Figure 6. (Above) The USGS spectral

causing mm/yr. land deformation. library showing the major minerals that we suspected make-up the salt dome. Uneven land surfaces Vertical lines bracket the wavelength Figure 8. (Above). Reflectance values of regions sampled by the eight Landsat 8 various materials around the Jazan salt dome bands. The bands in parenthesis are and Farasan Islands extracted from Landsat 8 bands. This was compared with the spectra Compromising building foundations those of Landsat 7 bands and those not are Landsat 8 bands. from Figure 7 to create Figure 9. and infrastructure

Forcing the population to move inland Figure 1. Salt dome outcrop in Jazan 4. GEOPHYSICAL RESULTS RESULTS AND FINDINGS city creating very uneven topography.  3 Potential salt bodies could be located around Jazan City, Saudi Arabia. Photo credit: Dr. Mohamed Sultan Cavities in the cap rock causing sink- Figure 10. Profile of the  The Jazan salt dome is uplifting ~3 mm/yr.

Bouguer anomaly (green), The dome appears to be a mixture of halite, calcite, gypsum, and possible anhydrite. the high-pass filter (pink), OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY and the TDR (blue) along  From the three gravity techniques, salt domes, are going to be associated with negative or

1. What are the current uplift rates of the Jazan salt dome? line A-A’ seen in Figures low values. 11, 12, and 13. The three 2. What are the spectral signatures and/or lithological make-up of the salt profiles though different, show low readings around CRITERIA FOR POTENTIAL DOMES domes? the Jazan salt dome 3. What is the gravity signature of the salt dome? depicting a negative or low 1. Relative elevation highs determined by high-resolution digital elevation models. associated value 4. Prevent other coastal cities in southern Saudi Arabia to be 2. Radial uplift pattern determined by the Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers built on near subsurface salt domes. [StaMPs].

FINAL OUTCOME Figure 12. (Below) This map shows the 3. Identification of salt minerals and rock types that are typical of salt domes high-pass filter applied on the regional Bouguer gravity map . This technique (carbonates and evaporates) in Landsat Data. Create a set of criteria that can be used on not only on salt domes in Saudi cancels out any bodies that are greater Arabia, but also known and unknown salt basins around the globe. 4. Regional Bouguer gravity map showing low or negative anomalies. than 800 m down. salt domes.

A A 5. Low or negative anomalies from the high-pass filtered Bouguer Anomaly. DATA AND METHODOLOGY Remote Sensing Data: Geophysical Data: A’ A’ 6. Used if an anomaly cannot be located on the Bouguer map or by using the high-pass filter, salt domes would still appear as having low or negative values. ALOS PALSAR DEM12.5m) 719m interval regional (airborne) gravity data ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONTACT INFROMATION ESA Envisat Radar scenes Processed data: A Persistent Scatter Technique Figure 11. (Above) Bouguer map with Figure 13. (Above) TDR map in radians  ALOS PALSAR DEM data courtesy of the Alaskan Bouguer Map Hannah Pankratz values around ~0.7 mGals around the salt A’ highlighting shallow basement structures. Satellite Facility. dome. The outcropped salt dome is outlined in Ph.D. Student Optical remote sensing scenes  Landsat satellite data provided through EarthExplorer 800 m High-Pass Filter black and the potential domes in white. Western Michigan University Landsat 8 from the USGS Only potential domes 1 and 2 have a low operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Department of Geosciences signature on the TDR map.  Envisat radar scenes provided by the European Space Band ratios and spectral libraries Earth Sciences Remote Sensing Lab Tilt Derivative or Tilt Angle Map Agency.