Exercises gravity surveying

Applied and Enviromental Geophysics Autumn term 2009

Gravity reduction: Theory

1. In order to compare gravity measurements taken at dierent points, the application of a number of corrections may be necessary. Name them and explain why they have to be applied! 2. Depending on the applied corrections, generally two gravity anomaly types are derived. Name them and write down the corresponding formulae. Briey explain how they can be used/ interpreted and what the main dierences between them are. 3. Derive the correction for the decrease of the gravitational acceleration with distance from the center of the Earth (the radial gradient of the gravitational acceleration g r ). Show that one obtains the commonly used free-air correction formula: gF A = (3.086 gu/m)h , where h is the height of the observation point, by substituting the Earths radius (6371 km) and the mean value of gravity (9810000 gu) into your equation. 4. Using your free-air correction formula, discuss how accurate the elevation has to known in order to keep the eect of elevation errors smaller than the measuring error of the gravimeter of commonly 0.1 gu.

Gravity modeling
2 r2 z x2 + z 2

The gravity anomaly caused by horizontal cylinder is given by: gz = , (1)

where = 6.67 10 11 Nm2 /kg2 is the gravity constant, is the density contrast, x is the distance along the prole, and r and z are the radius and the depth of the cylinder axis, respectively. Show that the half-width x1/2 , where gz (x1/2 ) = 1 2 gz,max , is equal to the depth z of the axis of the cylinder. 1

ANALYZING A FIELD DATA SET

Analyzing a eld data set

The data set you will analyze in this exercise was measured close to Uppsala across a valley lled with unconsolidated sediments in order to determine the depth of the valley in-ll (This survey was completed by students of an earlier course). A LaCoste-Romberg Microgal Gravimeter with an accuracy of 0.1 gu was employed. For our analysis, we are only interested in the changes in gravity relative to the base station (basep 0 at x = 608.26 m). This means, after the survey was completed, rst a tidal correction was applied to all measurements. Then, the value of the rst reading at base-station basep 0 was subtracted from all values. We are only concerned with correcting the measurements to be comparable with this very rst reading. For example, the free air and Bouguer corrections should only reduce a measurement to the datum of the base station basep 0. This exercise has three parts, you will rst compute the Bouguer gravity anomaly by estimating and subtracting the necessary corrections. Then, you will calculate a regional trend and separate the Bouguer gravity anomaly into a regional and residual part. And nally, you will estimate a model for the gravity anomaly assuming the valley in-ll can be represented by a horizontal cylinder.

3.1

Gravity corrections

Tables 1, 2, and 3 show the rst few entries of the surveyors eld log. Your task is to complete the list! Write the corrections in the way that the sum of measurement and corrections will give the anomaly value. 1. Correct for the instrument drift. Use the following list with measurements take at the same base station basep 0 and assume a linear drift between these two measurements. Time [hh.mm.ss] 09.55.00 10.56.00 Relative gravity [gu] 2.2 1.8

2. Correct for the eect of the dierence in latitude of the measurements. Assume that the prole is running from south (x = 0) towards north (basep 0 at x = 608.26 m). As you know, the north-south gradient at latitude is g given by = 8.12sin2 in [gu/km]. Further, the latitude of Uppsala and the survey is 59 53 50 N (59.897328 ). 3. Compute now the free air and Bouguer corrections and anomalies in relation to the base station datum. Assume a rock density of 2670kg/m3 .

3.2

Separating regional eld and residual anomaly

Table 4 shows a list of all corrected measurements except you have to ll in the values for three station you just computed in the previous exercise. In this exercise,

ANALYZING A FIELD DATA SET Station No. basep 0 1:-40 1:-30 1:-20 Time [hh.mm.ss] 09.40.00 10.12.00 10.22.00 10.32.00 Distance along prole [m] 608.28 375.81 366.41 357.14 Elevation [m] 32.130 29.228 28.785 27.882

Table 1: Station details. Relative gravity [gu] 11.7 12.5 13.5 Drift corr. [gu] Corr. for latitude [gu]

Table 2: Corrections part A. you will estimate a regional trend and prepare the survey data for the later analysis of the residual anomaly. We assume that the regional trend can be represented by a linear function. We assume further, that the measurements taken at both ends of the prole (base station basep 0 and basep1) give us sucient information to estimate this trend. 1. Write down the linear regional trend in the form y = a + bx. 2. Complete the list by separating the Bouguer anomaly into a regional and residual anomaly. 3. Plot the residual Bouguer gravity anomaly prole.

3.3

Modeling a cylindrical body

Assume that the valley in-ll can be modeled by a cylindrical body, extending to innity perpendicular to the prole (see Equation 1). Determine the depth to the center and the radius of the cylinder based on the residual anomaly. Further, compute the maximum value gz,max and a few more theoretical density values. Plot them together with the measured values and compare! Based on your observations discuss how reasonable our assumption is that the valley in-ll can be modeled by a cylinder. Densities of the alluvial sediments (2000kg/m3 ) and the surrounding granitic bedrock (2670kg/m3 ) are known from other investigations.

ANALYZING A FIELD DATA SET

Free air corr. [gu]

Bouguer corr. [gu]

Free air anomaly [gu]

Bouguer anomaly [gu]

Table 3: Corrections part B, and Free air and Bouguer anomaly.

Station basp 1 1:180 1:170 1:160 1:150 1:140 1:130 1:120 1:110 1:100 1:90 1:80 1:70 1:60 1:50 1:40 1:30 1:20 1:10 1:0 1:-10 1:-20 1:-30 1:-40 basep 0

Distance [m] 0.00 158.65 168.66 178.67 188.67 198.68 208.68 218.69 228.69 238.70 248.70 258.70 268.71 278.71 288.71 298.71 308.71 318.71 328.65 338.57 347.98 357.14 366.41 375.81 608.28

Bouguer anomaly [gu] 10.1 7.3 7.4 7.2 6.5 5.7 4.9 4.1 3.3 2.7 2.6 2.8 2.7 2.1 1.9 2.5 3.3 3.5 3.5 3.8 4.2

Regional trend [gu]

Residual anomaly [gu]

0.0

Table 4: Regional trend and residual anomaly.