Constraint 3D density interface inversion from gravity anomalies

Abstract

Estimation of body interfaces through gravity data is a challenging ill-posed problem that requires the careful incorporation of additional constraints that generally lead to sophisticated optimization strategies. Building on this idea, this paper presents a 3D constrained density interface inversion in the frequency domain. The method has the flexibility to incorporate density changes with depth and a priori information that assimilates further geophysical and geological constraints. Depth weighting was also used to counteract the natural decay of the kernel so that the inversion yields depth information. The results of an example set of synthetic gravity data and field data indicate that the proposed method offers the advantage of stable calculations and has produced high inversion accuracy and satisfactory performance.