Abstract
The isostatic gravity anomalies have been traditionally used to solve the inverse problems of isostasy. Since gravity measurements are nowadays carried out together with GPS positioning, the utilization of gravity disturbances in various regional gravimetric applications becomes possible. In global studies, the gravity disturbances can be computed using global geopotential models which are currently available to a relatively high accuracy and resolution. In this study we facilitate the definition of the isostatic gravity disturbances in the Vening-Meinesz Moritz inverse problem of isostasy for finding the Moho depths. We further utilize uniform mathematical formalism in the gravimetric forward modelling based on methods for a spherical harmonic analysis and synthesis of gravity field. We then apply both mathematical procedures to determine globally the Moho depths using the isostatic gravity disturbances. The results of gravimetric inversion are finally compared with the global crustal seismic model CRUST2.0; the RMS fit of the gravimetric Moho model with CRUST2.0 is 5.3 km. This is considerably better than the RMS fit of 7.0 km obtained after using the isostatic gravity anomalies.
Highlights
The functional models of solving the inverse problem of isostasy have been traditionally formulated by means of the isostatic gravity anomalies
Bagherbandi and Sjöberg [11] demonstrated that the VMM Moho depths better agree with the Moho data taken from the global crustal seismic model CRUST2.0 (Bassin et al [12]) than those obtained based on solving the Airy-Heiskanen isostatic model
The refined gravity data shown in Figure 6 were further utilized in definition of the isostatic gravity disturbances (in Equation (10))
Summary
The functional models of solving the inverse problem of isostasy have been traditionally formulated by means of the isostatic gravity anomalies (cf. Heiskanen and Moritz [1], p. 133). Sjöberg and Bagherbandi [10] computed the Moho depths based on solving Moritz’s generalization of the Vening-Meinesz inverse problem of isostasy (VMM isostatic model). Tenzer et al [20,21,22] utilized the definition of gravity disturbances in the forward modeling of gravitational field generated by major known crustal density structures. Following this concept, here we define the VMM inverse problem of isostasy by means of the isostatic gravity disturbances
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