Curie point depth beneath the Barramiya-Red Sea coast area estimated from spectral analysis of aeromagnetic data

The geothermal regime beneath the Barramiya-Red Sea coast area of the Central Eastern Desert of Egypt has been determined by using the Curie point depth, which is temperature dependent. This study is based on the analysis of aeromagnetic data. The depth to the tops and centroid of the magnetic anomalies are calculated by power spectrum method for the whole area. The result of this investigation indicates, two new maps of the Curie point depth (CPD) and the surface heat flow (q) maps of the study area. The coastal regions are characterized by high heat flow (83.6 mW/m(2)), due to the geothermic nature of the region, and shallow Curie depth (22.5 km), where (CPD) depends on the tectonic regime and morphology in the eastern part of the area. The western portion of the studied area has a lower heat flow (<50 mW/m(2)) and deeper Curie depth (similar to 40 km), due to the existence of a large areal extent of negative Bouguer anomaly in the NE-SW direction. In addition to its bordering to the Red Sea margin, such high heat flow anomaly is associated with the increased earthquake swarms activity in the Abu Dabbab area. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.