Roughness of three types of gravity disturbances and their correlation with topography in rugged mountains and flat regions

Abstract

We investigate the roughness of and the correlation with topography of the observed, topographically corrected (T), and bathymetrically and topographically corrected (BT) gravity disturbances. The numerical investigation is carried out for the gravity disturbances at the Earth’s surface and for the upward continued gravity disturbances at different altitudes. The area of study comprises a rough part of the Canadian Rockies surrounded by flat regions. The smoothest at the Earth’s surface are the BT gravity disturbances. The evolution of roughness with altitude shows an interesting phenomenon, diverse for the three types of gravity disturbances. The correlation with topography over the study area of the observed gravity disturbances is bellow 0.6, and of the BT gravity disturbances approximately −0.6. The largest absolute value, of about −0.75, is found between the topography and the T gravity disturbances. This large negative correlation indicates a presence of the isostatic compensation in mountainous regions of the Canadian west coast.