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Estimation of depth to salt domes from normalized full gradient of gravity anomaly and examples from the USA and Denmark

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Abstract

We present an estimation of depth of anomalous bodies using normalized full gradient (NFG) of gravity anomaly. Maxima in the NFG map can locate the bodies and indicate their depth. Model calculation using a sphere and application of the NFG method to gravity anomalies over salt domes in the USA and Denmark shows effectiveness of the method. However, the accuracy of depth estimation strongly depends on the number of term N in the Fourier series used to calculate the NFG. An optimum N for the calculation can be given from a test.

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Correspondence to Hamid Aghajani.

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This study was supported by the Ministry of Science, Researches and Technology, Iran.

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Aghajani, H., Moradzadeh, A. & Zeng, H. Estimation of depth to salt domes from normalized full gradient of gravity anomaly and examples from the USA and Denmark. J. Earth Sci. 20, 1012–1016 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-009-0088-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-009-0088-y

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