GEOPHYSICS, VOL. 74, NO. 3 MAY-JUNE 2009 ; P. I9I21, 11 FIGS. 10.1190/1.

3092775

3D gravity inversion through an adaptive-learning procedure

Fernando J. S. Silva Dias1, Valria C. F. Barbosa1, and Joo B. C. Silva2

ABSTRACT
We have developed a gravity inversion method to estimate a 3D density-contrast distribution producing strongly interfering gravity anomalies. The interpretation model consists of a grid of 3D vertical, juxtaposed prisms in the horizontal and vertical directions. Iteratively, our approach estimates the 3D density-contrast distribution that ts the observed anomaly within the measurement errors and favors compact gravity sources closest to prespecied geometric elements such as axes and points. This method retrieves the geometry of multiple gravity sources whose density contrasts positive and negative values are prescribed by the interpreter through the geometric element. At the rst iteration, we set an initial interpretation model and specify the rst-guess geometric elements and their target density contrasts. Each geometric element operates as the rst-guess skeletal outline of the entire homogeneous gravity source or any of its homogeneous parts to be reconstructed. From the second iteration on, our method automatically redenes a new set of geometric elements, the associated target density contrasts, and a new interpretation model whose number of prisms increases with the iteration. The iteration stops when the geometries of the estimated sources are invariant along successive iterations. Tests on synthetic data from geometrically complex bodies and on eld data collected over a mac-ultramac body and a volcanogenic sedimentary sequence located in the Tocantins Province, Brazil, conrmed the potential of our method in producing a sharp image of multiple and adjacent bodies.

INTRODUCTION
A fundamental goal of gravity interpretation is to produce a sharp 3D image of anomalous sources. A versatile approach toward ob-

taining such imaging is to estimate a 3D density-contrast distribution from the gravity data. However, the solution of this inverse problem is nonunique Roy, 1962; Silva et al., 2002 . A conservative interpreter might, in this case, give up any further effort to estimate the source geometry and accept the ostrich hypothesis Stark, 1997 : If the data dont resolve it, you dont need to model it.Alternatively, the interpreter might be willing to estimate a unique solution at the expense of a decrease in the resolution of the estimated source geometry. The traditional Tikhonov regularization of orders zero, one, or two Tikhonov and Arsenin, 1977 leads to unique and stable solutions; but besides producing blurred source images, they concentrate the excess or deciency of mass at the borders of the interpretation region, irrespective of the true source depth. Barbosa et al. 2002, their Figure 5 and Silva et al. 2001, their Figures 7 and 8 show this tendency of concentrating a 2D estimated mass at the surface by inverting 1D gravity data. Li and Oldenburg 1998 show this same tendency in a 3D density-contrast estimate, conrming that smoothed models arent necessarily blurry versions of the truth Stark, 1997 . To counteract this tendency of mass concentration at the borders of the interpretation region, Li and Oldenburg 1998 minimize the modulus of the rst-order derivatives of the weighted density distribution along the horizontal and vertical directions. As pointed out by Barbosa et al. 2002 , the weights penalize the assignment of large values to the density distribution estimates located between the earths surface and the sources top. Thus, the efcacy of Li and Oldenburgs 1998 strategy lies in prior knowledge about the source depth to the top. Despite estimating the sources at their correct depth, Li and Oldenburgs 1998 method still produces blurred images. Yao 2007 presents a method that saves computational time in 3D forward modeling by identifying the unnecessary calculation of terms involving the same relative positions between observations and cells of the interpretation model. The depth constraints aimed at avoiding concentration of the estimated density contrast at the surface are similar to those obtained by Li and Oldenburg 1998 ; the obtained images are also blurred.

Manuscript received by the Editor 25 April 2008; revised manuscript received 5 November 2008; published online 2 April 2009. 1 Observatrio Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. E-mail: fernando@on.br; valcris@on.br. 2 Universidade Federal do Par, Dep. Geofsica, Belm, Brazil. E-mail: joaobcsy@yahoo.com.br. 2009 Society of Exploration Geophysicists. All rights reserved.

I9

I10

Silva Dias et al. Besides the extension to three dimensions, the main difference between our approach and the one proposed by Silva and Barbosa 2006 is an automatic and iterative scheme, named adaptive-learning procedure, which incorporates prior information about possible skeletal outlines of the causative sources. Starting with a reduced number of parameters to be estimated, a set of rst-guess geometric elements axes and points and the corresponding target density contrast, we estimate a rough 3D density-contrast distribution. At the rst iteration, each geometric element operates as the rst-guess skeletal outline of the presumed gravity sources to be reconstructed. From the second iteration on, the adaptive-learning procedure automatically increases the number of parameter to be estimated. Additionally, by using the previous 3D density-contrast estimates, this procedure automatically creates a new set of geometric elements and of corresponding target density contrasts. Then, at each iteration, our method estimates a new 3D density-contrast distribution that concentrates most of mass excess or deciency closely distributed about the current skeletal outlines, composed of the initial and the new set of geometric elements. This process stops when the geometries of the estimated sources are invariant along successive iterations of the adaptive-learning procedure. The expression, adaptive-learning procedure is not an allusion to machine learning methods, which is a subeld of articial intelligence research. The area of machine learning deals with the design of programs that can learn rules from data, adapt to changes, and improve performance with experience. Most machine-learning algorithms extract information rules and patterns from data automatically. Usually, a machine-learning algorithm takes a training set, forms hypotheses, and makes predictions about the future. Some machine-learning algorithms cannot infer the rules analytically; rather, the learning relies on some form of external experience. A supervised learning problem, for example, builds up a classier given a set of classied training examples. Our method also extracts information automatically, but it is extracted out of the previous solution in an iterative algorithm. Our learning procedure does not use external input or training data, and it does not create general rules that can be used with other data sets. Conversely, it creates particular rules a new set of geometric elements and corresponding target density contrasts from the solution obtained in the previous solution the 3D density-contrast estimates that can be used only with the current data set gravity data and along the same program run.

Bosch et al. 2006 use a Bayesian approach to estimate the 3D density and susceptibility distributions within different layers of a simulated sedimentary basin. They incorporate a priori information on the depth of each layer and on the density and susceptibility distribution through prior probability density functions. The source images obtained with this method are correctly located but blurred. In other work, Chen and Gao 2007 present a method directed to reduce the computational effort in the forward 3D modeling and apply it to 3D inversion. The resulting sources images are blurred. On a vertical plane the sources are not even correctly located. On the other hand, several 2D gravity inversion methods tackle the problem of producing nonsmooth and correctly located solutions of the linear problem of estimating a discrete spatial distribution of density contrast. Last and Kubiks 1983 method produces compact, homogeneous solutions correctly located and presenting sharp borders. Barbosa and Silva 1994 generalize the moment-of-inertia functional proposed by Guillen and Menichetti 1984 , producing sharp images of the gravity sources. Bertete-Aguirre et al. 2002 and Kirkendall et al. 2007 use total variation regularization, whose stabilizing functional is the l1-norm of the parameters. The images obtained by Bertete-Aguirre et al. 2002 are sharper than those obtained with maximum smooth methods but are still more blurred than images obtained with Last and Kubiks 1983 and Guillen and Menichettis 1984 methods. Silva and Barbosa 2006 and Barbosa and Silva 2006 have developed 2D interactive methods for inverting, respectively, gravity and magnetic data consisting of interfering anomalies produced by multiple, complex, and closely separated 2D geologic sources. These inversion methods are extensions of Guillen and Menichettis 1984 method, and they produce sharp images of density and magnetization distributions concentrated around several specied geometric elements axes and points . Silva et al. 2007 produce very sharp images of the horizontal projection of the gravity sources by applying the entropic regularization developed by Ramos et al. 1999 to the apparent density-mapping problem. Substantial effort has been directed to produce sharp 3D source images using strategies similar to the ones dened for 2D inversion. Camacho et al. 2000 , for example, present a method in which ele, or zero are accrued sucmentary cells of constant densities , cessively to the other cells with nonnull densities. An additional constraint imposing a minimum-mass and consequently minimumvolume because the density is constant solution guarantees compactness and stability. The source image is sharp, but the solution may be somewhat different from the true one. Portniaguine and Zhdanov 1999 and Zhdanov et al. 2004 apply Last and Kubiks 1983 stabilizing functional to components of the gravity tensor and to joint inversion of gravity and gravity tensor. The source images are sharp and correctly located. Zhang et al. 2004 produce sharp source images by introducing a priori information on the density contrast and on the depths to the top and bottom of the true sources. Most of these methods, however, are particularly well suited to recover single sources or multiple sources, giving rise to mildly interfering gravity anomalies. We present a new approach for interpreting 3D gravity anomalies produced by multiple and complex density sources that are separated vertically and/or laterally from each other by short distances, thus producing strongly interfering anomalies. Our method follows the lines developed by Silva and Barbosa 2006 to interpret a 2D complex geologic setting by gravity data.

METHODOLOGY
Assume that a set of multiple, complex, homogeneous, and laterally adjacent 3D gravity sources, each one with constant density contrast, is conned in the interior of a region R. This region is divided into an mx my mz grid of 3D vertical juxtaposed prisms mx my mz M , which are assumed to approximate the true geometry. The density contrast within each prism is assumed constant. The discrete forward-modeling operator for the gravity anomaly can be expressed in matrix notation as

Ap,

where g g1 , , gN T is the vector of theoretical gravity anomaly, p p1 , , pM T is the vector of the prisms density contrasts, T stands

3D adaptive-learning gravity inversion for transposition, and A is an N M matrix whose element Aij is numerically equal to the vertical component of the gravity anomaly produced by the jth prism with unitary density contrast at the ith observation, dened by

I11

Aij ri
Vj

z r

zi dv , ri 3

From here on, we use the caret to denote estimate. In equation 4, is the expected mean square of the noise realizations in the gravity data. The elements of the prior reference vector pok are computed automatically at each iteration by a penalization algorithm, described k 1/2 1/2 in the next subsection. The values Wp and Wr are, respectively, M M and N N, diagonal, positive-denite weighting matrices dened below. k 1/2 1/2 To dene pok , Wp , and Wr , we rst construct the M 1 vectors d and ptarget. The jth element d j of vector d is given by

where is the universal gravitational constant, V j is the volume of the jth prism, ri is the position vector of the ith observation, and the integration is conducted over the variable r , denoting the source-location vector. Variables zi and z are the vertical components of the vectors ri and r , respectively. An expression for Aij is given by Blakely 1995 . To obtain a unique and stable estimate of the density-contrast distribution, we look for the solution of the linear system 1, satisfying o the observed gravity anomaly go go , , gN T, and presenting 1 most of its mass excess or deciency concentrated about specied geometric elements axes and points that presumably describe the gravity sources framework. Each geometric element operates as a skeletal outline of a particular homogeneous section of the 3D gravity source to be estimated. To this end, we formulate an iterative inversion to estimate a density-contrast distribution that not only ts the gravity data but also satises two constraints. The rst constraint imposes that the density-contrast distribution can assume, in the neighborhood of an anomalous source, just two known density-contrast values: zero at the surrounding homogeneous background rocks and a nonnull constant value at each of the multiple anomalous sources. To incorporate the rst constraint, we force the density-contrast estimate of each prism to be close either to zero or to prespecied nonnull values. The second constraint imposes that the estimated nonnull density contrast must be concentrated about a set of NE geometric elements axes and points whose spatial positions are xed by the interpreter at the rst iteration. There is not a simple rule regarding the choice of NE. A large number of geometric elements allow the reconstruction of complex source geometries, but several geometric elements closely spaced from each other may also favor compact sources not necessarily displaying complex shapes. Our constrained inversion method is similar to the interactive gravity and magnetic inversions developed by Silva and Barbosa 2006 and Barbosa and Silva 2006 , respectively, and is solved by an iterative method that, at the kth iteration, looks for a parameter perturbation estimate p k that minimizes the functional
1/2 Wp
k

dj

min d j ,
NE

1, . . . ,M ,

where d j is the distance from the center x j,y j,z j of the jth elementary prism to the th geometric element. If the th geometric element is a point located at xe ,ye ,ze , we set

xj

xe

yj

ye

zj

ze

2 1/2

, 7

1 , ... , M.

If the th geometric element is an axis Figure 1 joining the endpoints A and B , we compute a modied distance d j, given by

xj

xe

yj j

ye

zj

ze

2 1/2 U

, 8

1 , ... , M.

where is a large positive number and where xe j, ye j, and ze j are the coordinates of point D j black dot, Figure 1 , dened as the orthogonal projection of the center of the jth elementary prism onto the th axis direction. ADj D jB A B , where, genericalIn equation 8, U ly, PQ represents the distance of the segment that joins points P and Q. If point D j belongs to the nite segment A B of the th axis, we x j xe 2 y j ye 2 z j ze 2 1/2; have U 0 and d j otherwise, a large positive value is assigned to U and, consequently, to d j.

pk

subject to

W1/2 go r

Apok

A pk

After estimating the parameter correction vector, at the kth iteration we add it to the prior reference vector pok , updating the densitycontrast distribution such that

pk

pok

pk.

Figure 1. Schematic representation showing the distance d j solid thick gray line from the center of the jth elementary prism gray to the th axis thick black line . A and B white dots dene the endpoints of the th axis. The point D j black dot is dened as the orthogonal projection of the center of the jth prism onto the th axis.

I12

Silva Dias et al. Equations 12 and 13 impose that the estimate of the jth prisms density contrast be, at least temporarily, frozen at the violated boundary. On the other hand, if the density-contrast estimate of the jth prism at the kth iteration does not violate any boundary of the intarget 10 3 , respectively, for terval 10 3,ptarget j or p j j, j k 1/2 positive or negative density contrasts, then the jth element of Wp is computed by equation 10 and the jth element of pok is set to

Let , 1 , . . . , NE, be the target density contrast assigned to the th geometric element point or axis . The jth element of vector ptarget is given by

ptarget j

*,

arg min d j ,
1 NE
k

1, . . . ,M . 9

1/2 The jth diagonal element of Wp at the kth iteration is given by

1/2 Wp

w1/2 p jj

d3 j pok j

1 , ... , M, 10

pok

ptarget j

if

ptarget j 2

p jk

ptarget j

14
or

where is a small positive number. The diagonal elements of matrix k 1/2 Wp assign large weights to the density-contrast corrections associated to prisms, which are far from all geometric elements, and small weights to the density-contrast corrections associated to prisms, which are close to any geometric elements. 1/2 The ith diagonal element of Wr is given by

pok

if 10

p jk

ptarget j 2

15

W1/2 r

1/2 wr ii

Dmax , hi

1, . . . ,N,

11

where Dmax is the largest extent of the source region R and hi is the horizontal distance from the ith observation point to the geometric 1/2 element closest to it. The role of matrix Wr is to favor small numerical residuals in absolute value at observations directly above any geometric element. The constrained inverse problem of minimizing the functional given in equation 3 subject to equation 4 is solved by transforming it into an unconstrained inverse problem of minimizing a functional involving the sum of the data mist functional equation 4 and the functional given in equation 3 weighted by a nonnegative scalar that controls the trade-off between the data mist functional equation 4 and the prior information about the sources equation 3 .

1/2 At the rst iteration k 0 , we set po0 0 and Wp IM . The process stops when the value of the mist functional equation 4 decreases below the noise level and the number of density-contrast estimates that attains the target density contrast does not substantially decrease relative to the previous iteration. The recommended range and order of magnitude for the control parameters are as follows. Parameter may vary from 0.02 to 0.05; it is used to accelerate the convergence, but it does not modify the nal solution. The remaining control parameters are kept xed along 107, and 107. the successive iterations such as 10 7, Regarding the type, number, and position of the geometric elements, as well as ptarget, we stress that they are not control parameters but are variables associated with the a priori knowledge of the interpreter about the geologic setting and must be specied in accordance with this knowledge.

SENSITIVITY TO THE INTERPRETATION MODEL The penalization algorithm

To dene the reference vector pok at the kth iteration, we implemented the following penalization algorithm. Assume that the estimated density-contrast distribution must be equal to the background value 0 g/cm3 or equal to ptarget, j 1 , . . . , M. The penalization j algorithm imposes that if the density-contrast estimate of the jth prism at the kth iteration p jk violates any boundary of the interval target 10 3,ptarget 10 3 , respectively, for positive j or p j j, j or negative density contrasts, with j ptarget and a small j k 1/2 positive number, then the jth element of Wp is assigned a large value and the jth element of pok is replaced by the violated boundary 0 or ptarget . Mathematically, this penalization can be described j as In this section, we illustrate how difcult may be the choice of the interpretation model. Consider a simple example where the noisecorrupted gravity anomaly Figure 2a is produced by a cubic source Figure 2b . The cube is 2 km on a side, with a density contrast of 0.4 g/cm3 relative to the background and with center at x 3 km, y 3 km, and z 3 km. The gravity data were computed on plane z 0 km at the nodes of a 10 10 grid with a grid spacing of 2 km in both x- and y-directions. We obtain four inversion results using different grid sizes of the interpretation models but using the same geometric element, represented by a single point red dot in Figure 2b having a target density contrast equal to the true one. In the rst and second inversion results Figure 2c and d , we use coarse interpretation models composed of prisms with large volumes 4 4 4 and 5 5 5 grids of 3D prisms, respectively . Neither estimated density-contrast distribution recovers the true cubic source, even though both t the gravity observations not shown . Likewise, Figure 2e and f, whose grids are, respectively, 12 12 12 and 24 24 24, shows the third and fourth inversion results using rened interpretation models composed by prisms with small volumes. Neither estimated density-contrast distribution recovers the true cubic shape of the source transparent yellow cube , even though both t the gravity observations not shown and obey the imposed constraint of mass concentration about a geometric element

pok

j k jj

ptarget j

w1/2 p
or

if p jk

ptarget j

12

pok w1/2 p
jj

j k

0 if p jk

ptarget j ptarget j

10

13

3D adaptive-learning gravity inversion represented by a single point. These unsatisfactory results of our preliminary 3D gravity inversion led to the development of a new iterative scheme: adaptive-learning.

I13

ADAPTIVE-LEARNING PROCEDURE
In this procedure, at the th iteration the source region R is discretized automatically into a 2 1mx 2 1my 2 1mz grid of 3D prisms. Simultaneously, the procedure may automatically create a new set of geometric elements a) and associated target density contrasts. Specically, at the rst iteration, the interpreter sets up an initial interpretation model as a grid of mx my mz 3D prisms and species the rstguess geometric elements axes and points and the corresponding target density contrasts. The rst-guess geometric elements and the assigned target density contrasts make up the static geologic reference model, i.e., the prior information introduced by the interpreter at the rst iteration that will be kept xed along the successive iterations. Using the static geologic reference model and the initial interpretation model, our method estimates a rst density-contrast distribution. c) From the second iteration on, the adaptivelearning procedure automatically divides each 3D prism into eight new prisms, setting up a new interpretation model. Also, this procedure automatically creates a new set of geometric elements and the associated target density contrasts. These new geometric elements consist only of points located at the centers of the prisms whose densitycontrast estimates attain or exceed the corresponding target density contrasts at the previous iteration. Although only points are created from the second iteration on, all axes and points specied in the rst iteration are maintained. The associated target density contrasts of these new points are e) the corresponding target density contrasts of the prisms where these points are located. The new geometric elements just points and the associated target density contrasts make up the dynamic geologic reference model the new skeletal outlines that are created automatically at the beginning of the th iteration 2 and updated at the end of the same th iteration of the adaptivelearning procedure. The iteration stops when the geometries of the estimated sources are invariant along successive iterations of the adaptive-learning procedure.

source Figure 2b . We invert this ground gravity data performing four iterations of the adaptive-learning procedure. In all inversions, we set 0.02. At the rst iteration, 1, the static geologic reference model consists of one point red dot in Figure 2b having target density contrast of 0.4 g/cm3; the interpretation model consists of a 3 3 3 grid of 3D prisms. The process stops at the fourth iteration, 4, of the adaptive-learning procedure, which uses a ne interpretation

b)

d)

f)

ILLUSTRATION OF THE ADAPTIVE-LEARNING PROCEDURE

In this section, we invert the same anomaly shown in Figure 2a but using the adaptive-learning procedure aiming at retrieving the true cubic

Figure 2. Simple example using different grid sizes on the interpretation models. a Noise-corrupted Bouguer black lines anomaly. b Perspective of the cubic body yellow with density contrasts of 0.4 g/cm3. The red dot is the rst guess of the geometric element. c-f Perspectives of the estimated density-contrast distributions by using interpretation models consisting of c 4 4 4, d 5 5 5, e 12 12 12, and f 24 24 24 grids of 3D prisms. The true cubic body is shown by yellow lines in c and by the transparent yellow cube in d-f .

I14

Silva Dias et al. with the previous estimate of the density-contrast distribution using no adaptive-learning procedure Figure 2f . The adaptive-learning procedure is crucial because it helps recover the true sources shape. Without it, the true shape of the gravity source is not recovered, even using a rened interpretation model as shown in Figure 2e and f .

model composed of a 24 24 24 grid of 3D prisms. The estimated density-contrast distribution after the fourth iteration Figure 3a shows that the cubic body has been delineated perfectly. The red dots in Figure 3a are the static and dynamic geologic reference models. The former is established by the interpreter single red dot in Figure 2b , and the latter is created automatically at the fourth iteration. The tted anomaly is shown in Figure 3b in dashed red lines. The gain in resolution by applying the adaptive-learning procedure can be veried by comparing the solution in Figure 3a

APPLICATIONS TO SYNTHETIC DATA

We present two tests with synthetic data, simulating interfering gravity anomalies caused by homogeneous geologic sources closely located to each other vertically and laterally , separated by abrupt contacts and having different density contrasts. We also present a numerical analysis of the solution sensitivity to uncertainties in dening the static geologic reference models related to these two simulated synthetic tests.

a)

Large source surrounding a small source

Figure 4a shows the gravity anomaly solid lines corrupted with pseudorandom Gaussian noise with zero mean and a standard devia-

a)

b) b)

Figure 3. Simple example illustrating the adaptive-learning procedure. a Perspective of the estimated density-contrast distributions using the same interpretation model shown in Figure 2f and after performing four iterations of the adaptive-learning procedure. The red dots are the static initial or the dynamic redened geologic reference models geometric elements and their corresponding target density contrasts . b Observed black lines and tted dashed red lines Bouguer anomalies produced by the corresponding estimated solution shown in a .

Figure 4. Test with synthetic data produced by a large source surrounding a smaller source. a Noise-corrupted Bouguer anomaly mGal . b Perspective of the granite transparent blue enclosed in anorthosite transparent yellow , which were assigned density contrasts of 0.2 and 0.4 g/cm3, respectively. The red dots are the initial geometric elements.

3D adaptive-learning gravity inversion tion of 0.05 mGal. The data at the earths surface were computed on a 13 13 grid in the x- and y-directions, with a grid spacing of 0.5 km along both directions. This anomaly was produced by a simulated granitic-anorthositic outcropping lopolith Figure 4b with the anorthositic rocks yellow surrounding the granitic rocks blue . The granite and the anorthosite have positive density contrasts relative to the metasedimentary country rocks 0.2 and 0.4 g/cm3, respectively . The red dots in Figure 4b dene the static geologic reference model whose assigned target density contrasts are 0.2 and 0.4 g/cm3, depending on whether the interpreter presumes that the point lies inside the granite blue or inside the anorthosite yellow , respectively. Figure 5a-d shows the inversion results after the rst to fourth iterations, respectively, using 0.02. The corresponding observed black lines and tted dashed red lines gravity anomalies are shown in Figure 5e-h. At the rst iteration of the adaptive-learning procedure, 1, the interpretation model consists of a 4 3 3 grid of 3D prisms. Figure 5a shows that the estimated density-contrast distribution does not recover the true lopolith body and does not t the observations Figure 5e . At the second 2 and third 3 iterations of the adaptive-learning procedure, the interpretation models consist of, respectively, an 8 6 6 and a 16 12 12 grid of 3D prisms. Figure 5b and c shows the corresponding estimated density-contrast distributions, delineating a small source embedded in a large source having density contrasts of 0.2 and 0.4 g/cm3, respectively. Additionally, the solutions displayed in Figure 5b and c yield acceptable anomaly ts, as shown in Figure 5f and g, respectively. At the fourth iteration of the adaptive-learning procedure, 4, the interpretation model consists of a 32 24 24 grid of 3D prisms. The estimated density-contrast distribution and the corresponding tted gravity data are shown in Figure 5d and h, respectively. The solution at the fourth iteration of the adaptive-learning scheme shows the excellent performance of our method in recovering the true granitic-anorthositic lopolith shape. From the fourth iteration on, the volumes and geometries of the estimated granite and anorthosite bodies do not vary appreciably.

I15

a)

e)

b)

f)

c)

g)

Multiple buried sources at different depths

Figure 6a displays a perspective view of three buried sources in a uniform background producing the ground gravity anomaly, shown by black lines in Figure 6b. The data were generated at the nodes of a 22 17 grid with sampling intervals of 1 km in both x- and y-directions. We corrupt the theoretical anomaly with zero-mean Gaussian pseudorandom noise with a standard deviation of 0.01 mGal. The density contrast and the depth to the center of the true sources are 0.15 g/cm3 and 1.5 km blue block , 0.3 g/cm3 and 4 km green block , and 0.4 g/cm3 and 2.5 km red block . Figure 6c shows the set of geometric elements yellow lines that represents the static geologic reference model. We assign to these lines target density contrasts equal to the corresponding true values. We invert this gravity anomaly using three iterations of the adaptive-learning procedure. In all inversions, we set 0.02. Figure 7a and b shows the estimated density-contrast distributions at rst and third iterations, respectively. The corresponding observed black lines and tted dashed red lines gravity anomalies are

d)

h)

Figure 5. Test with synthetic data produced by a large source surrounding a smaller source. a-d Perspectives of the estimated density-contrast distributions after performing, respectively, one to four iterations of the adaptive-learning procedure. e-h Noise-corrupted Bouguer black lines and tted dashed red lines anomalies produced by the corresponding estimated solutions shown in a-d , respectively.

I16

Silva Dias et al. ure 7c , we carried out further iterations of the adaptive-learning procedure until the successive volumes and geometries of the estimated sources do not change signicantly. The process stops at the third iteration, 3. The interpretation model, consisting of a 28 48 24 grid of 3D prisms, leads to the estimated density-contrast distribution shown in Figure 7b, which reconstructs very well the true sources and yields a computed anomaly Figure 7d that ts the gravity data within the experimental errors.

shown in Figure 7c and d. At the rst iteration of the learning scheme, 1, the interpretation model consists of a 7 12 6 grid of 3D prisms. Although the inversion result Figure 7a approximately recovers the three true sources and ts the observations Fig-

a)

Solution sensitivity to uncertainties in a priori information

In this section, we investigate the effect on the previous solutions caused by small or large perturbations in dening the static geologic reference model. To this end, we repeat the previous two tests using a new set of initial geometric elements as shown in Figure 8a and d dots , respectively. In the rst test, the new initial geometric elements consist of four points only red dots, Figure 8a . The purpose is to assess the solution sensitivity to a substantial reduction in the number of initial geometric elements and a slight displacement of its spatial positions. To this end, we compare the new results with the previous one 21 red dots, Figure 4b . At the fourth iteration, the estimated density-contrast distribution Figure 8b , obtained with a 48 48 24 3D prisms grid, shows that despite the uncertainties in dening the static geologic reference model, the estimate still retains the main features of the true sources and explains the data within the experimental error Figure 8c . In the second test, the new initial geometric elements consist of just a few points black dots, Figure 8d . The purpose is to assess the solution sensitivity to the use of a different type of initial geometric elements points instead of axes or to a reduction in the number of these elements. We found that the estimated density-contrast distribution Figure 8e does not reconstruct the true sources very well and does not explain the gravity data within the experimental errors Figure 8f . In a real example, the interpreter does not know whether the estimated and the real sources are close to each other, but he can assess the data mist and the geologic signicance of solution. If he is dissatised, he may then reject the solution and try other initial geometric elements until the algorithm produces a solution that satises the geology and ts the data.

b)

c)

APPLICATION TO REAL DATA

The outcroping Cana Brava layered mac-ultramac complex CBC and the Palmeirpolis volcano-sedimentary sequence PVSS are located in the north of Gois state within Tocantins Province in central Brazil, between the Amazonian and So Francisco cratons. Figure 9 shows a simplied geologic map of the CBC and PVSS and adjacent regions Carminatti et al., 2003 , where the main host rock consists of metasedimentary sequences of the Serra da Mesa Group. Figure 10a shows the Bouguer anomaly map produced by the CBC and PVSS bodies indicated in Figure 10a .

Figure 6. Test with synthetic data produced by multiple buried sources at different depths. a Perspective of three blocks with density contrasts of 0.15 blue , 0.3 green , and 0.4 g/cm3 red . b Noisecorrupted Bouguer anomaly mGal . c Initial geometric elements yellow lines and true sources transparent colored blocks .

3D adaptive-learning gravity inversion Because the mac-ultramac complex and a volcano-sedimentary sequence are outcropping bodies, we dene as starting geometric elements at the rst iteration 1 , a set of points at the surface color dots, Figure 10a . The blue and red dots have target density contrasts equal to 0.27 and 0.39 g/cm3, respectively. To all pink dots Figure 10a located outside PVSS or CBC outcropping sources, we assign null target density contrasts. We invert this ground gravity data performing two iterations of the adaptive-learning procedure using 0.05. At the rst iteration of the adaptive-learning procedure, 1, we set an initial interpretation model consisting of a 32 56 5 grid of 3D prisms. Figure 10b shows the tted Bouguer anomaly dashed red lines , and Figure 11a displays a perspective

I17

view of the estimated density-contrast distribution obtained at the third iteration of the adaptive-learning procedure using an interpretation model consisting of a 128 224 20 grid of 3D prisms. Our result conrms that PVSS and CBC bodies are thin and have north-south elongated forms. Jointly, these bodies have horizontal dimensions around 86 and 28 km in the north-south and east-west directions, respectively. In Figure 11b, a set of horizontal depth slices of the estimated density-contrast distribution shows that the PVSS and CBC bodies, between 0 and 4 km, are compact and have nearly constant thicknesses. For depths beyond 4 km, both bodies are still compact but show variable thicknesses, and they attain a maximum bottom depth of 7 km.

a)

c)

Figure 7. Test with synthetic data produced by multiple buried sources at different depths. a, b Perspective views of the estimated density-contrast distributions after performing, respectively, one and three iterations of the adaptive-learning procedure. c, d Noise-corrupted Bouguer black lines and tted dashed red lines anomalies produced by the corresponding inversion solutions shown in a and b , respectively.

b) d)

I18 Figure 8. Solution sensitivity to uncertainties in the a priori information. a, b and d, e Perspective views of the true and the estimated density-contrast distributions of the synthetic tests shown in Figures 4 and 6, respectively. The a red and d black dots are the corresponding initial geometric elements. c, f Noise-corrupted Bouguer black lines and tted dashed red lines anomalies produced by the corresponding inversion solutions shown in b and e , respectively.

Silva Dias et al.

a)

d)

b)

e)

f) c)

3D adaptive-learning gravity inversion

I19

Figure 9. Simplied geologic map of Cana Brava layered mac-ultramac complex CBC and the Palmeirpolis volcano-sedimentary sequence PVSS in central Brazil. After Carminatti et al. 2003 .

a)

b)

Figure 10. a Bouguer anomaly map gray lines from the Cana Brava layered mac-ultramac complex CBC and the Palmeirpolis volcanosedimentary sequence PVSS and adjacent regions in central Brazil. The blue, red, and pink dots are the rst guesses of the geometric elements with target density contrasts equal to 0.27, 0.39, and 0.0 g/cm3, respectively. The black line indicates the outcropping boundary separating the CBC and PVSS from the host rock. b Observed solid black lines and tted dashed red lines Bouguer anomalies obtained at the second iteration of the adaptivelearning procedure.

I20

Silva Dias et al. ity anomaly without introducing depth weighting or integrated sensitivities of the data vector to each parameter to avoid concentrating the estimated mass at the surface. The method signicantly helps improve image sharpness. Therefore, it can be used to interpret gravity data from a geologic setting consisting of sharp-boundary domains, e.g., intrusive rocks in sedimentary environments such as laccoliths and sills, regardless of whether their shapes are simple or complex. Our method can be used in two different interpretation contexts. The rst is the case where the required a priori information may be easily retrieved from available geological data. The user may accept or reject a solution on the basis of his geologic conception about the sources and, in either case, start a new inversion modifying the initial a priori information. The method is therefore a tool in helping, rather than replacing, geophysicists in decision-making. In the second context, the a priori information cannot be retrieved easily. In this case, the method can be used to test a variety of geological hypotheses.

a)

b)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank editor Kees Wapenaar, assistant editor Steven Arcone, associate editor John Peirce, and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. We thank Yara R. Marangoni for providing the real gravity data and for helpful discussions. V. C. F. Barbosa and J. B. C. Silva were supported in this research by fellowships from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento e Tecnolgico CNPq , Brazil. Additional support for V. C. F. Barbosa and F. J. S. Silva Dias was provided by CNPq grants 471913/2007-3 and 501749/2008-0 and FAPERJ grants E-26/100.688/2007 and E-26/ 110.961/2008 . Most of the gures were done with the open-source ParaView program.

REFERENCES
Barbosa, V. C. F., and J. B. C. Silva, 1994, Generalized compact gravity inversion: Geophysics, 59, 5768. , 2006, Interactive 2D magnetic inversion: A tool for aiding forward modeling and testing geologic hypotheses: Geophysics, 71, no. 5, L43 L50. Barbosa, V. C. F., J. B. C. Silva, and W. E. Medeiros, 2002, Practical applications of uniqueness theorems in gravimetry: Part II Pragmatic incorporation of concrete geologic information: Geophysics, 67, 795800. Bertete-Aguirre, H., E. Cherkaev, and M. Oristaglio, 2002, Non-smooth gravity problem with total variation penalization functional: Geophysical Journal International, 149, 499507. Blakely, R. J., 1995, Potential theory in gravity and magnetic applications: Cambridge University Press. Bosch, M., R. Meza, R. Jimnez, and A. Hnig, 2006, Joint gravity and magnetic inversion in 3D using Monte Carlo methods: Geophysics, 71, no. 4, G153G156. Camacho, A. G., F. G. Montesinos, and R. Vieira, 2000, Gravity inversion by means of growing bodies: Geophysics, 65, 95101. Carminatti, M. G., Y. R. Marangoni, and C. T. Correia, 2003, Modelagem gravimtrica do complexo de Cana Brava e seqncia de Palmeirpolis, GO: Revista Brasileira de Geocincias, 33, 245254. Chen, S., and Z. Gao, 2007, A new method of gravity inversion based on the frequency characteristic of density distribution: 77th Annual International Meeting, SEG, Expanded Abstracts, 811815. Guillen, A., and V. Menichetti, 1984, Gravity and magnetic inversion with minimization of a specic functional: Geophysics, 49, 13541360. Kirkendall, B., Y. Li, and D. Oldenburg, 2007, Imaging cargo containers using gravity gradiometry: IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 45, 17861797. Last, B. J., and K. Kubik, 1983, Compact gravity inversion: Geophysics, 48, 713721. Li, Y., and D. W. Oldenburg, 1998, 3-D inversion of gravity data: Geophysics, 63, 109119. Portniaguine, O., and M. S. Zhdanov, 1999, Focusing geophysical inversion images: Geophysics, 64, 874887.

Figure 11. Cana Brava layered mac-ultramac complex. Estimated density-contrast distribution obtained at the third iteration of the adaptive-learning procedure. a Perspective view. b Ensemble of horizontal depth slices

CONCLUSIONS
We have proposed an iterative and interactive gravity inversion method to estimate a 3D density-contrast distribution; it ts the observations within the measurement errors and favors compact gravity sources closest to the skeletal outlines of the sources. The interpreter guides the inversion by specifying the rst-guess skeletal outlines as well as their associated density contrasts and by accepting or rejecting the solution. This method has been tested on both synthetic and eld data sets. The results show that the method is effective in retrieving the geometries of multiple gravity sources that give rise to an interfering grav-

3D adaptive-learning gravity inversion

Ramos, F. M., H. F. Campos Velho, J. C. Carvalho, and N. J. Ferreira, 1999, Novel approaches on entropic regularization: Inverse Problems, 15, 1139 1148. Roy, A., 1962, Ambiguity in geophysical interpretation: Geophysics, 27, 90 99. Silva, J. B. C., and V. C. F. Barbosa, 2006, Interactive gravity inversion: Geophysics, 71, no. 1, J1J9. Silva, J. B. C., W. E. Medeiros, and V. C. F. Barbosa, 2001, Potential eld inversion: Choosing the appropriate technique to solve a geologic problem: Geophysics, 66, 511520. , 2002, Practical applications of uniqueness theorems in gravimetry: Part I Constructing sound interpretation methods: Geophysics, 67, 788794. Silva, J. B. C., F. S. Oliveira, V. C. F. Barbosa, and H. F. Campos Velho, 2007, Apparent-density mapping using entropic regularization: Geophysics, 72, no. 4, I51I60.

I21

Stark, P. B., 1997, Does God play dice with the earth? And if so, are they loaded? : Presented at the SIAM Geosciences Meeting, unpublished notes available at http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/users/stark/accessed 6 February 2009. Tikhonov, A. N., and V. Y. Arsenin, 1977, Solutions of ill-posed problems: V. H. Winston & Sons. Yao, C., 2007, Iterative 3-D gravity and magnetic inversion for physical properties: 77th Annual International Meeting, SEG, Expanded Abstracts, 805809. Zhang, J., C. Wang, Y. Shiz, Y. Cai, W. Chi, D. Dreger, W. Cheng, and Y. Yuan, 2004, Three-dimensional crustal structure in central Taiwan from gravity inversion with a parallel genetic algorithm: Geophysics, 69, 917924. Zhdanov, M. S., R. Ellis, and S. Mukherjee, 2004, Three-dimensional regularized focusing inversion of gravity gradient tensor component data: Geophysics, 69, 925937.