Comparison of some commonly used regional residual separation techniques
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Pierre Keating*, Nicolas Pinet and Mark Pilkington, Geological Survey of Canada
Summary
Regional-residual separation is essential in gravity and
magnetic data interpretation and a variety of techniques can
be used. This is generally done by estimating a regional
field which is later subtracted from the measured field to
obtain a residual field. Here we compare some simple and
easy to use techniques. Graphical techniques allow includ-
ing geological information in the estimation. Low pass and
non-linear filtering, and upward continuation can also be
used. These techniques are tested using gravity and mag-
netic data from the Gaspé Peninsula in eastern Canada. We
show that for gravity data graphical techniques and non-
linear filtering give similar results in our study area. Up-
ward continuation and non-linear filtering give equivalent
results, however upward continuation is easier to use and
implement. For magnetic data good results are obtained
using low-pass and non-linear filtering. In practice one
should always use two different techniques to determine the
regional field since a good agreement between their results
can be an indication of an acceptable regional field.
Introduction
The separation of gravity and magnetic field anomalies into
their respective regional and residual components is neces-
sary for their quantitative interpretation. Various approach-
es to regional-residual separation exist and there is no
unique solution; different residual fields will therefore re-
sult in different interpretations. We discuss some of the
techniques in use and compare the results of their applica-
tion on real data. All separation techniques make some
hypothesis about the source distribution: a common as-
sumption is that the observed field is the sum of the effects
of shallow and deep sources. However, it is possible for the
so-called shallow sources to extend to great depth and this
makes the separation difficult. Here we restrict ourselves to
techniques that are easy to implement. Results from syn-
thetic models are presented as well as results from a case
study in eastern Canada and compared to regional gravity
and magnetic anomalies obtained by these techniques.
Methodologies
The oldest technique is graphical separation. In this case,
the interpreter uses a series of profiles along which the
separation is manually performed. This process allows
taking into account surface data and other information such
as the known or estimated depth of some sources. Typical
examples of the use of graphical separation are given by
Gupta and Ramani (1980) in a Precambrian terrain, and
©The Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the Chinese Geophysical Society
GEM Beijing 2011: International Workshop on Gravity, Electrical & Magnetic Methods and Their Applications
Beijing, China. October 10-13, 2011.
Pinet et al. (2006) in a sedimentary basin. Simple upward
continuation can also be used to obtain the regional field
(Nettleton, 1954; Fuller, 1967) and, in that case, the upward
continuation distance is an arbitrary parameter. A more
rigorous approach is proposed by Jacobsen (1987) who
assumes that the field is due to an ensemble of mutually
uncorrelated thin sources. He shows that the field from a
slab located z1 and z2 is simply the difference between the
field upward continued to 2z1 and 2z2. Upward continuation
can then be used as a standard filter for potential field sepa-
ration. Although the assumption of non correlation between
the layers is often difficult to meet, the resulting maps re-
main very useful for anomaly detection and pattern dis-
crimination (Jacobsen, 1987). Low pass filtering can also
be used to define the regional field. However, since the
spectrum of most geological features is broadband the spec-
tra of features located at different depths overlap and that
their spectra cannot be separated completely (Telford et al.,
1990). Keating and Pinet (2011) have shown how non-
linear filters can also be used to determine a regional field
anomaly that closely resembles the one obtained from
graphical techniques.
Application to gravity data
The techniques are tested on gravity and magnetic data
from the Gaspé Peninsula area in Eastern Canada. Pinet et
al. (2006) used a graphical technique to determine the re-
gional gravity field from 24 profiles. The basic assumption
is that the regional component of the gravity field should
not include the effect of outcropping or shallow sources.
The Bouguer gravity anomaly is shown in Figure 1. The
depth extent of the Sept-Iles layered intrusion as interpreted
from gravity data is 7 km and the depth extent of the Shick-
shock Group is 5 km according to seismic data. Obviously,
the regional should not include the effect of these sources.
The gravity anomaly associated with the Sept-Iles layered
intrusion has diameter of about 75 km, while the north-
south extent of the Shickshock anomaly is about 25 km and
its length about 150 km. The regional obtained from graph-
ical techniques presented in Figure 2 is characterized by its
general decrease to the north-west and a large area of near-
constant field in its southeastern part.
Upward continuation as a separation filter is first tested by
using a continuation height of 14 km which should remove
the gravity effect of bodies that have depth extent less than
7 km, the maximum depth extent of the Sept-Iles layered
intrusive and the Shickshock Group. The resulting regional
nevertheless contains anomalies that are directly associated
to these two bodies. A series of increasing continuation
 Comparison of regional residual separation techniques
heights are tested and the effect of the Sept-Iles and Shick-
shocs anomalies is finally removed at a continuation height
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of 80 km which, in theory, should remove the gravity effect
of sources located between the surface and a depth of 40
km.
Figure 1: Bouguer anomaly in the Gaspé Peninsula region
Figure 2: Regional anomaly obtained by the use of graphi-
cal techniques. Adapted from Pinet et al., 2006
To obtain a regional using non-linear filtering, an 80 km
long non-linear filter is first successively applied along the
columns and rows of the grid. The resulting regional does
not show any residual anomalies that may be caused by
near-surface features. Similarly to the regional obtained by
the graphical technique, the non-linear regional decreases
to the north-west and exhibits a wide maximum to the
©The Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the Chinese Geophysical Society
GEM Beijing 2011: International Workshop on Gravity, Electrical & Magnetic Methods and Their Applications
Beijing, China. October 10-13, 2011.
southeast. Moreover, amplitudes of both the graphical and
non-linear filtered regional anomaly maps are approximate-
ly the same.
Application to magnetic data
We now compare the regional anomalies obtained by low
pass filtering, upward continuation and non-linear filtering.
The study area is located within the central part of the re-
gion covered by the gravity data. The residual total magnet-
ic field obtained after removing the IGRF is characterized
by short-wavelength anomalies superimposed on a wide
magnetic depression (see Figure 3). The magnetic anoma-
lies located in the southern part of the map are associated
with the volcanics of the Mont Alexandre syncline while
the wide and high amplitude anomaly in the north-west
corner of the map corresponds to the Lemieux intrusive
suite.
Figure 3: Residual total magnetic field over the central part
of the Gaspé Peninsula
Given the apparent width of the narrow anomalies that we
wish to remove, we use a 24 km low pass Butterworth filter
to estimate the regional. The resulting regional, shown in
Figure 4, is smooth, but the effect of the Mont Alexandre
volcanics (a broad high) is still clearly visible making this
regional unacceptable. A continuation height of 12 km is
also used to compute a regional field since the maximum
depth extent of the Mont Alexandre syncline is 7.5 km, but
the depth extent of Lemieux intrusive suite (Pinet et al.,
2010) is unknown. This regional, shown in Figure 5, is
smooth and does not show any effect due to short wave-
length anomalies. However, we note that the amplitude
 Comparison of regional residual separation techniques
range is smaller than in Figure 4. To test non-linear filter-
ing we use a 4.5 km long non-linear filter since the appar-
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ent width of the magnetic anomalies caused by the Mont
Alexandre syncline volcanics is about 4 km at the most.
The calculated regional (not shown here) still shows some
response from the hinge zone of the syncline. All short
wavelength responses in the north-western part of the map
have been removed and only the high-amplitude long wa-
velength component due to the Lemieux intrusive suite
intrusive is present.
Figure 4: Regional field from 24 km low-pass filtering
Figure 5: Regional field from upward continuation to a 12
km height
©The Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the Chinese Geophysical Society
GEM Beijing 2011: International Workshop on Gravity, Electrical & Magnetic Methods and Their Applications
Beijing, China. October 10-13, 2011.
A better evaluation of these results is obtained by compar-
ing profiles (Figure 6) of the measured residual total mag-
netic field and calculated regional fields. The regional
fields obtained from non-linear and low-pass filtering are
nearly identical except a relatively minor (~20 nT) discre-
pancy over the narrow high-amplitude magnetic anomaly
due to the Mont Alexandre volcanics. There the regional
field calculated from the non-linear filter is slightly less
affected by this sharp anomaly than the regional obtained
from low-pass filtering. Over the Lemieux intrusive the
regional fields estimated by non-linear and low-pass filter-
ing are similar but we cannot determine if they are correct
since too little is known on the structure of this intrusive at
depth. This is a good example for the importance of geo-
logical constraints when determining a regional field.
Figure 6: Measured magnetic data and estimated regional
fields along profile A-B indicated in Figure 4
The regional estimated from the upward continued magnet-
ic field at a height of 12 km does not correspond with the
regional that would be drawn by an experienced interpreter.
In particular, its amplitude is too high over most of the
profile, and too low over its northern part. Also, over the
south portion of the Lemieux intrusive, we believe that
none of the tested techniques provide an adequate regional
background. At this geomagnetic latitude we expect the
regional field to be at about the same level as the base of
the three small amplitude magnetic anomalies located there,
however it is much higher. Over this section, the lengths of
the low pass and non-linear filters used to estimate the re-
gional are two long. On the other hand, selecting shorter
filter lengths would result in poor results over the Mont
Alexandre volcanics.
Conclusions
The good correspondence between regional gravity anoma-
lies determined by a graphical technique and non-linear
filtering is not surprising as non-linear filtering somewhat
mimics what one does graphically when removing local
anomalies. The only geological a priori information that
can be taken into account in the non-linear filtering is the
 Comparison of regional residual separation techniques

apparent width of the anomalies to be removed. For gravity Keating, P. and Pinet, N, 2011, Use of non-linear filtering
data, the use of upward continuation as a separation filter for the regional-residual separation of potential field data:
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was not as successful as expected. By trial and error we
found that the regional obtained from an upward continua-
tion of the gravity field to a height of 80 km shows some
correspondence to the regional gravity anomalies deter-
mined from graphical or non-linear filtering, however, in
theory this is equivalent to removing all sources between
the surface and a depth of 40 km. This seems excessive as
the thickness of the crust is about 40 km in this region (Ma-
rillier and Verhoef, 1989). Upward continuation makes the
hypothesis that sources are uncorrelated thin horizontal
plates located at different depths. This is not the case here,
as some of the outcropping sources such as the Sept-Iles
and Shickshocks anomalies which extend laterally for sev-
eral kilometers have more or less subvertical sides and are
thus vertically correlated. Upward continuation can never-
theless be used as an ad hoc separation filter if one neglects
its physical significance.
For magnetic data, non-linear and low pass filtering per-
form equally well while upward continuation does not pro-
vide an acceptable regional field in the example shown
here. We were unable to determine a continuation height
that provides an acceptable regional magnetic field as it
was the case in the gravity example. Interestingly, for the
magnetic data set used in this study, we could easily select
the parameters of the low pass filter that gives good results.
This is because the magnetic anomalies due to the Mont
Alexandre volcanics have a well defined width which is of
a much shorter wavelength than the other anomalies present
on the map.
Journal of Applied Geophysics, 73, 315-322.
Marillier, F., and Verhoef, J., 1989, Crustal thickness under
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, northern Appalachians, from
gravity and deep seismic data. Canadian Journal of Earth
Sciences, 26, 1517-1532.
Nettleton, L. L., 1954, Regionals residuals and structures:
Geophysics, 19, no.1, 1-22.
Pinet, N., Keating, P., Brouillette, P., and Dion D.-J., 2006,
Production of a residual gravity anomaly map for Gaspésie
(northern Appalachian Mountains), Quebec, by a graphical
method: Geological Survey of Canada, Current Research
2006-D1, 8p.
Pinet, N., Keating, P., Lavoie, D., and Brouillette, P., 2010,
Forward potential-field modeling of the Appalachian oro-
gen in the Gaspé Peninsula (Québec, Canada): Implications
for the extent of rift magmatism and the geometry of the
Tacadian orogenic wedge: American Journal of Science,
310, 89-110.
Telford, W.M., Geldart, L.P., Sheriff, R.E., and Keys, D.A.,
1990, Applied geophysics, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.

We note that for both for gravity and magnetic data that at
least two different techniques give similar results. We con-
clude that in practice one should always use two different
techniques to determine the regional field since a good
agreement between their results can be an indication of an
acceptable regional field. It is also likely that different re-
sults would be obtained in other geological contexts.

References

Fuller, B. D., 1967, Two-dimensional frequency analysis

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Gupta, V. K., and N. Ramani, 1980, Some aspects of re-

gional residual separation of gravity anomalies in a pre-
Cambrian terrain: Geophysics, 45, no.9, 1412-1426.

Jacobsen, B. H., 1987, A case for upward continuation as a

standard separation filter for potential field maps: Geophys-
ics, 52, no.8, 1138-1148.

©The Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the Chinese Geophysical Society

GEM Beijing 2011: International Workshop on Gravity, Electrical & Magnetic Methods and Their Applications
Beijing, China. October 10-13, 2011.