GEM 10B Satellite gravity data and Nigerian oil prospects

Extension of the hydrocarbon rich Benue depression and the Niger delta basin in the bight of Benin is construed from the gravity data of Gravity Earth Model (GEM) 10B Satellite, published by NASA, Godard Space Flight Centre in 1977. This interpretation is based on the supposition that: i) the depth of a buried horizontal cylinder can be estimated by the Fourier transform of the vertical gravity field [Odegard and Berg, Geophys., 30, No. 3, 424-438 (1965)]; and ii) the oil horizons of southern Nigeria are basically connected to the separation of South American and African plates [Burke et al., African Geology, Ibadan Univ. Press, Ibadan, Nigeria, p. 187-204 (1970)]. (author)