Downward continuation within the quasiharmonic region

M. Fedi ( ), G. Florio ( ) ( ) Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, University of Naples Federico II, Italy
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Summary Downward continuation is a useful transformation, mainly used to enhance the measured field. Known limitations regard its instability and are theoretical, because the continuation level should not be deeper than the source depth. Despite of this downward continuation was used in several papers to recover source parameters with different methods here referred to as Normalized Full Gradient methods. These studies show that downward continuation may be applied to quasi-harmonic regions, i.e., volumes containing one-point isolated singularities. We modify the Normalized Full Gradient by using statistically meaningful normalizations and find improved, more resolved depth estimations. We show also that methods defined theoretically in the harmonic region, can still be meaningful when applied to downward continued fields within quasi-harmonic regions.

Introduction
The analytic continuation of potential fields is a powerful method to investigate the distribution and the properties of sources at depth. Recently, many techniques were proposed using upward continuation to get vertical sections of the field, from which, in different ways, some source parameters can be estimated, namely their position and the structural index, a parameter related to the source shape (e.g., Sailhac and Gibert, 2003; Fedi, 2007; Florio et al., 2009; Fedi et al., 2009). These methods take advantage from the stability properties of the upward continuation filter, and can recover the resolution lost with the increased altitude by combining this transformation with vertical differentiations, even of relatively high order (Fedi et al., 2009). Also the downward continuation has found application to the source localization at depth, mainly in some formulations from the Russian geophysical school (e.g., Total Normalized Gradient and Quasi-Singular points method; Elysseieva and Pasteka, 2009 and references therein). This kind of approach, developed or used also by other authors (e.g., Nabighian, 1974; Zeng et al., 2002; Aydin, 2007) is based on the computation of the modulus of the analytic signal normalized, level by level, by the average value of the analytic signal at that level. By these techniques (here referred to as Normalized Full Gradient methods, NFG) it is possible to obtain images of the source region, where the position of the singularities can be identified by the maxima of the function used. However, the theory of potential fields states that it is possible to perform downward continuations only in the harmonic region, that is in a source-free volume, where Laplace equation applies. So, a limiting case for downward continuation is represented by the level of the top of the sources. It was noted (e.g., Roy, 1967) that this level marks the limit of the convergence of the continuation process by using the FT operator. However, Ku et al. (1971) pointed out that, for discrete data, a prior filtering is performed by the choice of sampling step. This observation implies that the oscillatory character of a downward continued field is determined not only by the depth of the continuation level, but also by the sampling step, in the sense that the smaller the sampling step, the nearer will be the continuation level at which the transformation becomes unstable. By using a finite Fourier series representation of the horizontal and vertical derivative of a magnetic field, Nabighian (1974) showed that the oscillatory character of a downward continued field in the source region is in practice cancelled when computing the amplitude of analytic signal. Elysseieva and
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Pasteka (2009) point out that the downward continuation in the source region is made only in a formal way, to obtain information about source positions, and not with the aim of describing the continued field itself in the source space. In this paper we explore a different approach to the Normalized Full Gradient method, trying to obtain simply and easily accurate estimations of the source depth, also comparing it with the differential scale function method (Fedi and Florio, 2009).

The Normalized Full Gradient

The Normalized Full Gradient method has been implemented by a Fourier series approach which constitutes a good frame to establish parameters of a low-pass filter, by selecting the number of series term and the power of a Lanczos smoothing factor. An in-deep analysis of the field spectrum is used for the determination of the correct values of these parameters (Elysseieva and Pasteka, 2009) or they are assumed on some experience or practical basis (Aydin, 2007; Zeng et al., 2002). Of course, the degree of the smoothing affects the final depth estimate. In the Quasi-Singular Points method the analysis of the position and values of the NFG maxima in function of the maximum number of used terms was found useful to the estimation of the source position and to the determination of the source type (isolated bodies, contacts or fault steps). In Figure 1b the theoretical NFG function (that is, here no downward continuation was actually performed, but the field was computed at every depth level) for a cylindrical source at 1 m depth is shown. The NFG function is symmetrical with respect the source position, where it diverges. This behaviour identifies clearly the source position. Because of the theoretical and numerical aspects described in the Introduction, a simple and useful shape of NFG as depicted in Figure 1b is not obtained from the analytic signal numerically obtained by downward continuation of the horizontal and vertical gradients (Figure 1a).

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Figure 1. a) Vertical section of the modulus of the analytic signal of the gravity anomaly of a horizontal cylinder at 1 m depth, computed by downward continuation of the horizontal and vertical gradients up to 3 m depth. b) The theoretical NFG transformation for the same gravity field as in a). At 1 m depth (that is at the source position, white pixel) the NFG diverges. This is why some normalization is needed, accounting for the statistical error owned by the downward continuation at increasing depths. We now discuss the important issue of the NFG method regarding how to normalize the modulus of the analytic signal at each downward continuation level. Nabighian (1974) used a function formed by the ratio of squared analytic signal moduli of different order; all other applications of the NFG method used the average of the modulus of the analytic signal at each level, but apparently without a significant discussion about this important choice. We here investigate about the implications of this choice, trying to have insights by the statistical behaviour of the error
EGM 2010 International Workshop Adding new value to Electromagnetic, Gravity and Magnetic Methods for Exploration Capri, Italy, April 11-14, 2010

connected with the downward continuation process. In fact, as well known, the mean is a good estimator for Gaussian distributions, but the modulus of the analytic signal is characterized by frequency histogram having a very different shape, being strongly right-skewed. For this type of skewed distribution, better estimators than the mean may be found. In Figure 2, the NFG sections relative to the analytic signal of the same gravity field as in Figure 1a are shown, each one normalized at each level with a different location parameter for the distribution, namely the mean, the mode, the median and the geometric mean. In this simple case the results are good in each case (the estimated depth varies from 0.9 to 1.2), but the shape of the resulting NFG changes dramatically. In particular, improved results are obtained by using the median, the mode and the geometric mean. The corresponding NFG sections are in fact much more peaked than those obtained by using the arithmetic mean, and give a depth image much closer to the theoretical one (Figure1b), this guaranteeing some advantages in real cases applications.

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EGM 2010 International Workshop Adding new value to Electromagnetic, Gravity and Magnetic Methods for Exploration Capri, Italy, April 11-14, 2010

Figure 2. NFG of the gravity anomaly of a horizontal cylinder at 1 m depth, obtained by using different normalizing factors: a) Mean of the analytic signal (estimated depth: 1.2 m); b) Mode of the analytic signal (estimated depth: 0.9 m); c) Median of the analytic signal (estimated depth: 1.0 m); d) Geometric mean of the analytic signal (estimated depth: 1.0 m). Figure 3a shows the scale function computed for the anomaly generated by a horizontal line mass at 2 km depth. It worth mention the fact that in this case we do not need to compute the modulus of the analytic signal, but we analyze the gravity field. Being this field homogeneous, the behaviour of the scale function clearly defines both the structural index (N) and the depth to the source (z0) by simply looking at the values of the vertical isoline (the homogeneity degree is n = -1 for any altitude, that is N=1), and to its abscissa, equal to z0 = 2 km. Now we wonder what happens when instead than analyzing the field at the measurement level (0 m in our case), we first downward continue the field below the depth to the source and then compute its scaling function. Figure 3b shows that the vertical isoline, describing the structural index, confirms the same correct estimation of the structural index, N=1, while the depth to the source is now estimated as a negative number, close to -1 km, which is again a good estimation, since the analyzed signal is here the field downward continued to 3 km below the measurement level, corresponding to 1 km below the true depth.
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Figure 3. The Scale Function method. a) The field was upward continued up to 2.25 km. The vertical isoline of the scale function (red dashed line) indicates on the abscissa the estimated depth, while its value allows estimating the homogeneity degree and, by its negative, the structural index. b) The field was first downward continued to 3 km below the measurement level (i.e., 1 km below the source depth) and then the same method was applied by upward continuing the input field up to 5 km above the original level. The estimated depth (z0=-1.09) has a negative sign, indicating that the source is now above the observation level. Conclusions We used two different techniques, the Normalized Full Gradient and the Scale Function methods, to investigate about the properties of the sources using downward continuation in quasi-harmonic regions. We define a new approach to compute the best resolved NFG sections, based on statistical
EGM 2010 International Workshop Adding new value to Electromagnetic, Gravity and Magnetic Methods for Exploration Capri, Italy, April 11-14, 2010

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considerations, and obtained improved, high resolution results. We studied also the behaviour of the Differential Scale Function for a similar case of source and downward continuation within a quasiharmonic domain. The good estimated values of the source parameters confirm that downward continuation may be applied to study the source parameters, despite of the well known limitations on its practical and theoretical use for potential fields.

References
Aydin A., 2007. Interpretation of gravity anomalies with the normalized full gradient (NFG) method and an example. Pure and Applied and an example. Pure and Applied Geophysics 164, 23292344. Elysseieva I.S. and Pasteka R., 2009. Direct interpretation of 2D potential fields for deep structures by means of the quasi-singular points method. Geophysical Prospecting, 2009, 57, 683705 Fedi, M., 2007. DEXP: a fast method to determine the depth and the structural index of potential fields sources. Geophysics 72, I1-I11. Fedi M., Florio G. and Quarta T., 2009. Multiridge Analysis of Potential Fields: Geometrical Method and Reduced Euler Deconvolution. Geophysics, 74, n. 4, L53-L65 Fedi M. and Florio G., 2009. The differential scaling function: A local estimator of source parameters of potential fields. 79th Annual International Meeting, SEG, Expanded Abstracts, 918-922. Florio G., Fedi M. e Rapolla A., 2009. Interpretation of regional aeromagnetic data by multiscale methods: the case of Southern Apennines (Italy). Geophysical Prospecting, 57, 479-489. Ku C., Telford W. and Lim S., 1971. The use of linear filtering in gravity problems. Geophysics 36, 1174-1203. Nabighian M.N., 1974. Additional comments on the analytic signal of two-dimensional magnetic bodies with polygonal cross-section. Geophysics, 39, 85-92. Roy A., 1967. Convergence in downward continuation for some simple geometries. Geophysics, 32, 853-866. Sailhac, P. and Gibert, D., 2003. Identification of sources of potential fields with the continuous wavelet transform: 2-D wavelets and multipolar approximations. Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, B5, 2262. Zeng H., Meng X., Yao C., Li X., Lou H., Guang Z. and Li Z., 2002. Detection of reservoirs from normalized full gradient of gravity anomalies and its application to Shengli oil field, east China. Geophysics, 67, 11381147.

EGM 2010 International Workshop Adding new value to Electromagnetic, Gravity and Magnetic Methods for Exploration Capri, Italy, April 11-14, 2010