GRAVITY

Prihadi Sumintadireja
Tujuan kuliah:
• Principal of gravity method
• Instrument
• Gravity unit
• Gravity data acquisition
• Data processing
• Regional-residual separation
• Gravity profiles
• Microgravity
4d survey
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PRINCIPAL OF GRAVITY METHOD

Newton’s Law
• Universal Law of Gravitation
• Newton’s Second Law
UNIVERSAL LAW OF GRAVITATION

Newton’s Second Law

 INSTRUMENT
Gravity meter
LaCoste & Romberg
Based on mass-spring system

Accuracy less than 100 mGal

 GRAVITY UNIT
AND EARTH GRAVITY VARIATION
Earth gravity variation

Differences between equator and pole ~ 5,000,000 mGal

Unit of gravity
acceleration (g) Differences between highest mountain and lowest ocean
floor
g = 9.8 ms-2 ~ 3,000,000 mGal
= 980,000 mgal
Regional geology structure
1 ms-2 = 10-6 mms-2 ~ 100,000 mGal
= 10-9 nms-2
Tidal effect of moon and sun
1Gal = 10-2 ms-2 (SI) ~ 300 mGal
1mGal = 10-8 ms-2 (SI)
Microgravity survey ~ 10 mGal

Gravimeter accuracy: 1 mGal

The Relevant Geologic
Parameter is NOT
Density,

But

Density Contrast
GRAVITY DATA ACQUISITION
GRAVITY DATA ACQUISITION

D ay 2 D ay 1

CONTOH METODA PENGUKURAN

PRIHADI SA / 2002
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DRIFT CORRECTION is applied to eliminate the effect of
spring fatigue of the La Coste instrument. This correction
is derived by double check the starting base station at
appropriate time interval.

TIDAL CORRECTION is applied to eliminate gravity of

the sun and moon which are time function due to relative
motion among earth, moon and sun. The tidal correction
had been calculated in advance using computer by
applying the Longman’s formula.
GRAVITY DATA REDUCTIONS
Drift and Tidal Variation
Drift Tidal

Drift + Tidal
 GRAVITY DATA PROCESSING
The data obtained from the sites are sent directly to
the base camp and processed.

1. DATA REDUCTION

2. GRAVITY PROFILES

3. GRAVITY MAP

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 GRAVITY DATA PROCESSING

DATA REDUCTION
The gravity data reduction consists of two types of correction which are internal
and external correction.
The internal corrections are drift and tidal corrections.
The external corrections are ellipsoid gravity value, free air, bouguer, and terrain
corrections.

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 GRAVITY DATA PROCESSING
Factors affecting gravity measurement which are not related to geology, need to be
reduced or corrected

Temporal based variations:

- Instrument drift,
- Tidal effects

Spatial based variations:

- Latitude variations
- Elevation variations
- Slab effects
- Topographic effects

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GRAVITY DATA REDUCTIONS
Latitude variation

Earth’s Shape
Earth’s Rotation

Centrifugal force reduces

gravitational acceleration

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 DATA ACQUISITION
* Gravity Measurement
* GPS Positioning

DRIFT and TIDAL

CORRECTION GRAVITY DATA
PROCESSING FLOW
* FREE AIR CORRECTION
* BOUGUER CORRECTION CHART

* Bouguer Anomaly

TERRAIN CORRECTION

* Complete Bouguer Anomaly

GRAVITY PROFILES
GRAVITY MAPS

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ELLIPSOID EARTH GRAVITY reference has to be applied to produce an earth
gravity value at the mean sea level as a function of location latitude.
This reference implies an homogenous mass distribution of the ellipsoid earth
model.
The ellipsoid model in the IUGG 1979 formula is :

g = 978.03185 (1 + 0.005278895 sin  + 0.000023462 sin4 ) , mgal

where
g = theoretical gravity as function of 
q = latitude of the observation point.

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GRAVITY ANOMALIES

g theory = g n + g h
gn = Gravity value from Geodetic Reference System
g = Gravity due only to increased distance from the center of mass
h

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FREE-AIR CORRECTION (FAC) is applied to estimate the earth
gravity at certain altitude of an observation above mean sea
level.
The free air correction formula is calculated for average earth
radius at elevation h in meters.
FAC = - 0.3086 h, mgal

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GRAVITY ANOMALIES

FREE-AIR ANOMALY

 g F A = g o b s e r v a t io n - g t h e o r y

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 GRAVITY DATA REDUCTIONS
Variation due to
elevation Free-Air correction
g FA  0.3086 mgal / meter

The minus sign indicates

as the elevation increases, the
observed gravitational acceleration
decreases
Note:
the primary costs of a high-precision gravity survey is
in obtaining the relative elevations needed to
compute the Free-Air correction
e.g.
for precision of 0.01 mGals, relative station elevations
need to be known to about 3 cm

Need to be corrected so the gravity

acceleration is due to subsurface geology, NOT
due to elevation differences.
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BOUGUER CORRECTION (BC) is applied to estimate the earth gravity at elevation h
above sea level with earth mass of density  (gr./cm3) fill up the space of thickness h.
This theoretical Bouguer correction can be written as:
BC = 2h  Gh = 0.04187  h, mgal
where :
G = 6.67 x 10-9 Cgs unit
 = the chosen density in gr./cm3
H = altitude of observation point in meters.

BOUGUER ANOMALY (BA) is the difference between the observation gravity value
(gobs) and the expected earth normal gravity at an observation point.

BA = gobs - (g - FAC + BC)

where the magnitude in the bracket is the expected earth normal gravity.
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GRAVITY ANOMALIES

BOUGUER ANOMALY

 g B A =  g FA - 0 .4 1 9 2 h

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 Variation due to Bouguer correction
excess mass
g BC  0.04193h mgal

more mass below the reading taken Excess mass can be approximated as a
at a higher elevation than one taken slab of material with thickness h dan
at a lower elevation. density r

r can be chosen graphically using

Nettleton or any other method
available

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 TERRAIN CORRECTION

Pengukuran gaya berat sering dilakukan pada daerah

dengan topografi yang cukup bervariasi.
Koreksi terrain harus dihitung untuk menghilangkan efek
relief permukaan bumi terhadap nilai anomali Bouguer yang
dihitung.
Koreksi ini dihitung sebagai efek gaya berat yang
ditimbulkan oleh suatu badan massa tiga dimensional yaitu
adanya bukit dan lembah di sekitar stasion pengukuran gaya
berat.
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29 PRIHADI SA / 2002
 INNER ZONE CORRECTION

To apply this correction, a simple topographic survey has to

be performed at every gravity station along a radius of  35
and  68 meters which may be done before or after gravity
reading.
Such survey should include the nature of local morphology
and the distance to the gravity station which affects the
observation.
The correction was directly calculated at the field by using a
certain gravity terrain inner correction chart.
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 OUTER ZONE CORRECTION
This correction was done by using the Hammer Chart, usually based on
a topographic map of 1 : 250.000 scale.
Applying the terrain correction, the Bouguer Anomaly (BA) can be
refined to be a Complete Bouguer Anomaly (CBA) following this
formula :

CBA = gobs - (g - FAC + BC - TC)

or
CBA = BA + TC

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METODA PERHITUNGAN KOREKSI TERRAIN

Metoda konvensional untuk menghitung koreksi terrain adalah dengan

menggunakan Hammer Chart dan peta topografi berskala tertentu.

Sekarang ini perhitungan koreksi terrain dilakukan dengan bantuan

komputer, salah satunya adalah Metoda Integrasi Numerik.

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TERRAIN CORRECTION CALCULATION FLOW
CHART
Topographic
Gravity
Observation Map

Station Digitizing,
Position X, Y, Z Gridding and
Merging

N Projection
System Similar to
the Map

Transformation
of the Coordinate
Y

TerrainCorrection

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 N W

A
R IV E R

D
H IL L R O C K

Sketch measurement topographic for Terrain Correction

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 GRAVITY DATA REDUCTIONS
Terrain correction

Variation in gravity due to nearby topography

We always observe a smaller gravitational acceleration at B, because:

- pulled by mountain mass
- no mass in valley

Terrain Corrections are always positive in value!!

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COMPLETE BOUGUER ANOMALY
CBA= gobs - gn + 0.3086h - 0.04193r h + TC (mGal)

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GRAVITY ANOMALIES
REGIONAL- RESIDUAL SEPARATION

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 REGIONAL-RESIDUAL SEPARATION

CBA/BA = regional + residual

Regional:
-regional or trend geology , deep subsurface,
-featured as long wavelength in gravity signal

Residual:
- local geology or shallow subsurface
- featured as short wavelength in gravity signal

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REGIONAL-RESIDUAL SEPARATION

Profile

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REGIONAL-RESIDUAL SEPARATION

Map

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MASS INHOMOGONEITY
ACROSS A NORMAL FAULT

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 GRAVITY PROFILES
Gravity profile will be produced for each line using its reduced data to present
the trend of gravity values along the line.

GRAVITY MAP
Consists of CBA/BA anomaly map, regional gravity map, residual gravity map.

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 Density of Common Geologic Material ( Telford et al. 1990 )

Density range Approximate average

3
No. Material Type ( Mg / m ) density ( Mg / m3 )

Unconsolidated Sediment
1. Alluvium 1.96 - 2.00 1.98
2. Clay 1.63 - 2.60 2.21
3. Gravel 1.70 - 2.40 2.00
4. Loess 1.40 - 1.93 1.64
5. Silt 1.80 - 2.20 1.93
6. Soil 1.20 - 2.40 1.92

Sedimentary Rocks
7. Sand 1.70 - 2.30 2.00
8. Sandstone 1.61 - 2.76 2.35
9. Shale 1.77 - 3.20 2.40
10. Limestone 1.93 - 2.90 2.55
11. Dolomite 2.28 - 2.90 2.70
12. Chalk 1.53 - 2.60 2.01
13. Halite 2.10 - 2.60 2.22
14. Glacier Ice 0.88 - 0.92 0.90

Igneous Rocks
15. Rhyolite 2.35 - 2.70 2.52
16. Granite 2.50 - 2.81 2.64
17. Andesite 2.40 - 2.80 2.61
18. Syenite 2.60 - 2.95 2.77
19. Basalt 2.70 - 3.30 2.99
20. Gabbro 2.70 - 3.50 3.03

Metamorphic Rocks
21. Schist 2.39 - 2.90 2.64
22. Gneiss 2.59 - 3.00 2.80
23. Phylite 2.68 - 2.80 2.74
24. Slate 2.70 - 2.90 2.79
25. Granulite 2.52 - 2.73 2.65
26. Amphibolite 2.90 - 3.04 2.96
27. Eclogite 3.20 - 3.54 3.37
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 Densities of Minerals and Miscellaneous Materials ( Telford et al, 1990 )

Density Range Approximate average density

No. Material Type ( Mg/m 3)
( Mg / m3 )

Metallic minerals
1. Oxides, Carbonates
A. Manganite 4.2 - 4.4 4.32
B. Chromite 4.2 - 4.6 4.36
C. Magnetite 4.9 - 5.2 5.12
D. Haematite 4.9 - 5.3 5.18
E. Cuprite 5.7 - 6.15 5.92
F. Cassiterite 6.8 - 7.1 6.92
G. Woframite 7.1 - 7.5 7.32
H. Uraninite 8.0 - 9.97 9.17
2. Copper n.d 8.7
3. Silver n.d 10.5
4. Gold 15.6 - 19.4 17.0
5. Sulphides
A. Malachite 3.9 - 4.03 4.0
B. Stannite 4.3 - 4.52 4.4
C. Pyrrhotite 4.5 - 4.8 4.65
D. Molybdenite 4.4 - 4.8 4.7
E. Pyrite 4.9 - 5.2 5.0
F. Cobaltite 5.8 - 6.3 6.1
G. Galena 7.4 - 7.6 7.5
H. Cinnabar 8.0 - 8.2 8.1

Non-metallic minerals
6. Gypsum 2.2 - 2.6 2.35
7. Bauxite 2.3 - 2.55 2.45
8. Kaolinite 2.2 - 2.63 2.53
9. Baryte 4.3 - 4.7 4.47

Miscellaneous materials
10. Snow 0.05 - 0.88 n.d
11. Petroleum 0.6 - 0.9 n.d
12. Lignite 1.1 - 1.25 1.19
13. Anthracite 1.34 - 1.8 1.50
45PRIHADI SA / 2002
 REFERENCES

• Thomas M. Boyd, University of Melbourne

http://www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/ES304/MODULES/GRAV/main.ht
ml
• Telford, W.M., Geldart, L.P. and Sheriff, R.E., 1990. Applied Geophysics.
Cambridge University Press, 770 pp.
• Sarkowi, M., 2006. Gayaberat-Mikro Antar Waktu untuk Analisa
Perubahan Kedalaman Muka Air Tanah Studi Kasus Dataran Aluvial
Semarang. PhD Thesis, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Bandung,
Indonesia, 118 pp.

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