The use of curvature in gravity and magnetic anomalies analysis

Abstract

This paper presents two improved techniques to determine boundaries and depth from observed gravity or magnetic anomalies. The first technique is based on analysis of the largest curvature of the total horizontal gradient of the total magnetic field to determine boundaries. The second technique is based on analysis signal of the total gradient of the total magnetic field to estimate depth. The technique is just only to calculate the total gradient magnitude of gravity or magnetic anomalies, rather than two derivatives of the total gradient magnitude. It is a particularly useful transformation for reducing the effects of noise and increasing the coherency of solutions from model-independent functions. The techniques is shown to work successfully in models and yield excellent results in delineating magnetic contact edges and reasonable performance in producing depth estimates. A practical surveyed data of the South China Sea show good correlation with known structural features.