Sediment thickness of the Tuz Gölü Basin using gravity data

The Bouguer gravity data of this study were obtained from the World Gravity Map (WGM 2012) to investigate the sediment thickness beneath the basin of the Tuz Gölü. First of all, the average depths of the intra-sediment intermediate layers and sediment lower boundary topographies of the study area were calculated by taking the amplitude spectrum of gravity anomaly data of the study area. The total horizontal derivative method was used to reveal the discontinuities below the sediment and at the top of the basement. This method was applied to the gravity data caused by the basement units obtained by filtering the gravity anomaly data. Lineaments consisting of high-amplitude values are taken into account in the total horizontal derivative anomaly map to display the discontinuity boundaries at the desired depths. Within the scope of this study carried out in the research area, new discontinuity boundaries were determined. On the other hand, the basement upper surface topography of the study area, namely the sediment lower boundary topography, was mapped using the Parker–Oldenburg inversion algorithm. The accuracy of the depth values calculated by the inverse solution was tested by applying the Normalized Full Gradient (NFG) method to the two specified profiles. The results obtained with these two depth determination methods were approximately similar. Thus, the sediment thickness found using both methods was found to be in the range of 4–10.5 km. Therefore, the sediment thickness calculated from the inverse solution and NFG methods is compatible with each other within the error limits of ± 0.1 km under these two profiles.