THE SOUTH FALKLAND BASIN: NEW DATA ON DEEP GEOPHYSICAL INHOMOGENEITIES AND OIL AND GAS POTENTIAL (BASED ON REMOTE SENSING AND GEOELECTRIC RESULTS)

Geoelectric measurements made during the 17th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition (XVII UAE, 2012) allowed to obtain new results on the deep structure of the tectonic zone between the Falkland Islands and the South Shetland Islands. The results make it possible to estimate the probable nature of geodynamic processes in this region. Deep geoelectric boundaries position and the nature of their contacts near the South Shetland Islands and the Falkland Islands show a fundamentally different distribution of the crustal and mantle homogeneities in the Strait structures forming continental and oceanic rock complexes. In the South Falkland Basin shelf, some anomalous zones of “hydrocarbon deposit” type were detected due to special technology of satellite data processing and interpretation. The “deposit” type anomalies were mapped by FSPEF survey and anomalous polarized layers of “the hydrocarbon deposit” type were chosen by VERS sounding within these anomalies. These result contribute in the oil and gas potential data for the South Falkland Basin shelf zone.