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Understanding Gravity Gradients PDF
Understanding Gravity Gradients PDF
Understanding Gravity Gradients PDF
a tutorial
AFIF H. SAAD,
Saad GeoConsulting, Richmond, Texas, USA
tion as well as enhancement of high fre- the potential P (Figure 3) has a negative
quencies (or high wavenumbers) relative slope on the west and south sides of the
to low frequencies. The phase transfor- minimum (going downhill), zero slope
mation generally produces anomaly at the minimum, and positive slope on
peaks (or troughs) approximately over the east and north sides (going
the source edges in the case of wide bod- uphill)thus producing the negative-
ies (width w is large relative to depth d, positive pairs of gravity anomalies P,x
w > d). The enhancement of high and P,y. Notice that we can obtain the P,y
wavenumbers sharpens these peaks to pattern of anomalies by a simple 90
increase the definition of body edges in counterclockwise rotation of the P,x pat-
addition to emphasizing the effects of tern, in the same manner as one rotates
shallow sources. Another explanation, the x-axis to the y-axis. In fact, if we rotate
from elementary calculus, is that in the the x- and y- axes 45 counterclockwise,
space domain the horizontal derivative or if we take the directional horizontal
is defined as the rate of change of P with derivative of the potential P in the NE
respect to x or y. Hence, the horizontal direction, the negative-positive pattern
derivative is a measure of the slope or of anomalies obtained is rotated in the
gradient of the anomalies in the x or same direction as shown in Figure 4,
y direction (Figure 5, bottom left). If we Figure 7. Frequency responses of second emphasizing the fact that these anom-
consider the P surface as topography, derivative filters. alies are coordinate-dependent.
The first vertical derivative, on the other hand, is a zero- response to the positive density contrast of the salt as com-
phase filter (right panel of Figure 5); hence, it will not affect pared to the deeper salt effect.
the location of anomaly peaks, but it will sharpen the poten-
tial anomalies and will emphasize the high-frequency com- The second derivatives of the potential. The various grav-
ponents due to shallow sources relative to the deeper effects, ity gradient components are computed by taking the hori-
as seen in the P,z map of Figure 3 (lower right). The vertical zontal x- and y-derivatives and vertical z-derivative of each
derivative of P is, by definition, the rate of change of P with of the three gravity components of Figure 3. Figure 6 shows
depth; hence, its effect will be similar to downward continu- the five independent components of the gravity gradient ten-
ation, making the anomalies sharper and emphasizing shal- sor (second derivatives of the potential P): P,xx; P,xy; P,xz;
lower effects. Notice that the P,z data are the vertical gravity P,yy; and P,yz along with the dependent second vertical
component gz measured by modern-day gravimeters. derivative P,zz (P,zz = P,xx P,yy by Laplaces equation).
The frequency response of all three first derivative fil- Again, we can expect the single, double, triple, and quadru-
ters (Figure 5) is proportional to the wavenumber; hence, ple pattern of anomalies produced, if we keep in mind the
we expect these derivatives to enhance the short wave- properties and effect of the derivative operators explained
lengths or high frequencies due to the shallow part of the above, or the frequency responses of the second derivative
salt with positive density contrast as suggested by the bend- filters shown in Figure 7.
ing or embayment of the contours at that location in Figure The gravity gradient component P,xx is computed by tak-
3. Notice the reverse polarity of the shallow anomalies in ing the x-derivative of P,x. This results in a second phase
AUGUST 2006 THE LEADING EDGE 945
Figure 9. Combined products of gravity gradient components: Horizontal gradient and total gradient of gz.
transformation and further enhancement of the high fre- tion. Thus, the tensor has only five independent components.
quencies of the anomalies of P,x. Thus, the negative anom- It is interesting to note from Figure 8 that the first (top) row
aly of the doublet of P,x splits into a negative-positive pair, of the tensor is identical with the first (left) column and its
and the positive anomaly splits into a positive-negative pair components are the x-, y- and z-derivatives of the gravity
west-to-east along the x-axis, resulting into a negative- field horizontal component gx of the gravity vector g (Figure
strong positivenegative triplet (P,xx of Figure 6). We can 3). Similarly, the second (center) row of the tensor is iden-
also explain this pattern by examining the slopes of the tical with the second (center) column and its components
anomalies of P,x as we proceed from left to right along the are the x-, y- and z-derivatives of the horizontal gravity field
x-axis. Notice that the steepest slope is at the center of the component gy of the gravity vector g; the third (bottom) row
map of P,x (Figure 3) and it is positive; the zero slopes are of the tensor is identical with the third (right) column and
at the trough and peak of P,x, and the gentle negative slopes its components are the x-, y- and z-derivatives of the grav-
are to the left and right of the trough and peak, respectively. ity field vertical component gz of the gravity vector g.
In a similar manner, we can explain the triplet pattern of Notice the greater enhancement and better definition of
the component P,yy (center panel of Figure 6) which is sim- the shallow anomaly pattern associated with the upper part
ply a 90 counterclockwise rotation of the P,xx pattern. of the salt in all gravity gradient maps (Figure 6). This is
The gravity gradient component P,xy is computed by tak- because the frequency response of all second derivative fil-
ing the derivative of P,x in the y (or N) direction or by tak- ters is proportional to the square of the wave number (Figure
ing the derivative of P,y in the x (or E) direction. This results 7). Notice also the reverse polarity of the high-frequency
in a second phase transformation and further enhancement anomaly pattern in all components as expected from the pos-
of high-frequencies of the anomalies of P,x or P,y. itive density contrast of the shallow salt. Thus, for example,
Considering P,x, the negative anomaly of the doublet of P,x the triplet of P,xx is positive-negative-positive for shallow
splits into a negative-positive pair, along the y-direction or salt as compared to the main negative-positive-negative
south-to-north and the positive anomaly splits into a posi- pattern for the deep salt.
tive-negative pair along the y-direction or south-to-north, One should emphasize that the pattern of anomalies
resulting in a negative-positivenegativepositive produced is coordinate-dependent. However, one can use
quadruplet (P,xy of Figure 6, top center panel). We can also these patterns and shapes of gravity gradient anomalies
explain this pattern by examining the slopes of the anom- with the projected outline of the causative salt body in this
alies of P,x in Figure 3 as we proceed from south-to-north example to develop interpretation techniques for locating
in the y-direction, or the slopes of the anomalies of P,y as the main salt body, its edges, and its shallow part. For exam-
we proceed from west-to-east in the x-direction. ple, the zero contours of P,xx and P,yy closely define the west-
The gravity gradient components P,xz and P,yz and P,zz east edges and south-north edges of the main salt body,
(right column of Figure 6) are com-
puted by taking the z-derivative of P,x
and P,y and P,z, respectively. This only
causes further sharpening of the anom-
alies and enhancements of the high fre-
quencies of P,x and P,y and P,z without
any changes in the location or shapes
of the anomalies, the z-derivative being
a zero-phase filter (Figure 7).
The full gradient tensor can be con-
structed by noting that P,yx = P,xy and
P,zy = P,yz and P,zx = P,xz (Figure 8).
The tensor is symmetric about its diag-
onal and its trace, the sum of the diag-
onal components (P,xx + P,yy + P,zz), is
identically equal to zero in source-free
regions, according to Laplaces equa-
Combinations of GG components
(invariants). Various combinations of
the gravity gradient components can
be used to simplify their complex pat-
tern and to further enhance and aid in
the interpretation of the data. Figures
9 and 10 show three examples: ampli-
tude of the horizontal gradient of ver-
tical gravity (gz); amplitude of the total
gradient or analytic signal of gz; and
the differential curvature which is also
known from the early torsion balance
literature as the horizontal directive
Figure 13. Similarity between surface horizontal gravity (in the X-Y plane) and subsurface vertical tendency or HDT. The horizontal and
gravity (in the X-Z plane).
total gradients of gz (Figure 9) are com-
puted from combinations of the ele-
ments of the third column (or third
row) of the gravity gradient tensor
P,xz and P,yz and P,zz (Figure 6). The
latter are the x, y, and z derivatives of
P,z (or gz). The horizontal gradient of
gz can be used as an edge-detector or
to map body outlines. The analytic
signal can be used for depth interpre-
tation. The differential curvature
(Figure 10) is computed by a combi-
nation of the other components of the
tensor: P,xx and P,xy and P,yy. The
magnitude of the differential curva-
ture emphasizes greatly the effects of
the shallower sources. Several inter-
pretation techniques for the differen-
tial curvature are available in the early
literature of the torsion balance.
The three examples of combined
GG products discussed above are use-
ful in simplifying and focusing the
complex pattern of anomalies over
their source, providing more enhance-
ments to the high-frequency part of
Figure 14. Similarity between surface horizontal gravity gradient difference (in the X-Y plane) and anomalies due to shallow sources, and
subsurface vertical gravity gradient (in the X-Z plane). producing coordinate-independent or
invariant anomalies. These are per-
respectively (Figure 6, top left and center panels). Also, the haps easier to interpret than the original gradient compo-
peaks and troughs of the quadruplet pattern of P,xy anom- nents. Other coordinates-independent invariants can be
alies are located roughly around the perimeter of the salt computed and used as well for interpreting the data using
body (Figure 6, top center) and can be used to delineate the different combinations of the GG components. For exam-
salt boundary. The negative-positive pairs of the P,xz and ple, one can compute the horizontal and total gradients of
P,yz anomalies are near or on the west-east and southnorth gx and gy from the elements of the first row and second row
edges of the body, respectively (Figure 6, top-right and cen- of the GG tensor, respectively. Figure 11 defines other grav-
ter-right panels). These relations depend on the width/depth ity gradient invariants, I0, I1, and I2 suggested by Pedersen
ratio of the source and are generally valid only for wide bod- and Rasmussen (1990) and used for interpretation of GG
ies, i.e., bodies whose width is greater than their depth (w> data. Gravity gradient components can also be combined
d). It should be emphasized that narrow sources (wd), to form three different Euler equations for gx, gy, and gz that
including point masses, will produce similar geometric pat- can be used to solve for source depth (Figure 12), as sug-
tern of complex anomalies as in Figure 6; however, the rela- gested by Zhang et al. (2000).