On Gravity Inversion for Point Mass Anomalies by Means of the Truncated Geoid

Abstract

The physical meaning of the truncated geoid, which is defined by the convolution of gravity anomalies with the Stokes function on a spherical cap of specified radius, has been studied by the authors. They investigated its relation to the density distribution, generating the surface gravity, and its potential use in inversion. Some progress results for simulated studies on point mass anomalies are presented.

The behavior of the truncated geoid is controlled by the radius of the integration domain, hereinafter referred to as the truncation parameter, which is treated as a free parameter. The change of the truncated geoid in response to the change of the truncation parameter was studied in the context of the simulated mass distributions. By means of such computer simulations we have managed to demonstrate the clear sensitivity of the truncated geoid to the depths, in addition to the horizontal positions, of point mass anomalies generating the synthetic surface gravity. The objective of this paper is to illustrate, with the help of computer simulation as the method of our study, the contribution of the truncated geoid to the solution of the gravimetric inverse problem. Further work towards employing the truncated geoid in gravity exploration is being conducted.