An improved ILTHG method for edge enhancement of geological structures: application to gravity data from the Oued Righ valley

Abstract

In literature several filters have been suggested for identifying the boundaries of magnetic and gravity sources. In this work we introduced an improved filter to enhance edges of geologic structures using potential field data, called improved logistic function of total horizontal gradient. Our improved filter is based on the ratio of the first order vertical derivative of modified total horizontal gradient to its total horizontal gradient. The method is tested on synthetic and real gravity data from the Oued Righ valley. The effectiveness of the new filter is evaluated by comparing it with other edge detection filters. The results show that proposed method cannot only equalize the responses of shallow and deep sources, but also can produce the edges with higher resolution compared to the other methods. These results demonstrate that the new filter is a useful tool for structural mapping and tectonic interpretation.