Subsurface structure of Teboursouk and El Krib plains (dome zone, northern Tunisia) by gravity analysis

•The gravity lineament map has been established.•The depth of lineaments and their dip trends have been estimated.•The location of some known major faults is confirmed.•New faults, non-observed at surface, are highlighted and characterized.•Synthetic structural map based on surface and sub-surface data has been established.

Gravity data was used to investigate sub-surface structure of the Teboursouk and El Krib plains belonging to the dome zone in the Northwest of Tunisia. Analysis of the gravity data included the computation of the Bouguer anomaly, the horizontal and vertical gravity gradients, the upward continuations, Euler deconvolution and analytic signal of high-resolution. The Bouguer anomaly map (d = 2.4 g cm−3) has provided information on the variation of the underground density and shown contrasting anomalous zones. The treatments applied to the Bouguer anomaly map have detected new deep faults and provided details on their dips and depths (exceeding 1500 m per places).Statistical analysis of the gravity data filtering shows that the study area is divided by four major faults with NW–SE, NE–SW, E–W and N–S trends. These faults have contributed to the structuring of the area.The results provide confirmation of some faults already recognized or inferred from the previous structural studies, and specify their depths and dips. While large number of new faults that remained undetected until now, have been highlighted.