Exploration Geophysics

Introduction to the Potential Field Methods (PFM)

Gravity
What is gravity Gravity anomalies

Magnetic Rocks and minerals magnetism

Magnetic method and anomalies

Potential field methods

Gravity and magnetic forces generate FORCE FIELDS. Geophysical studies using these fields are called the POTENTIAL FIELD METHODS, because we can find a SCALAR value at all points in space which tells us the potential effect on any body caused by all masses considered. The effect on any body can then be determined by differentiation. Just as a body will not feel a magnetic force if it has no susceptibility, a body will feel no gravitational force if it has no mass. More about potential later.

Gravity
Gravity (gravitation), is a natural phenomenon by which
physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is responsible for keeping the Earth and the other planets in their orbits around the Sun; for keeping the Moon in its orbit around the Earth; for the formation of tides.

Gravity

Historical overviewe Brahe Kepler Newton Einstein

Tycho Brahe
1546 - 1601

He made and recorded large quantities of accurate measurements of the motions of the planets around the Sun.

Keplers Laws of Planetary Motion

1) The planets move abort the sun in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus.

2) The radius vector joining a planet to the sun sweeps over equal areas in equal intervals of time. 3) The square of the time of one compete revolution of a planet about its orbit is proportional to the cube of the orbit's semi-major axis

T12/ T22 =R13/ R23 or T2=k.R3

Newton?

Newtons Laws of Motion

First Law - A body remains in its state of motion

unless acted upon by an outside force

Second Law - A body acted upon by an external

force will change its momentum in the direction of the force such that the greater the force the greater the change in momentum (F= ma).

Third Law - Forces always occur in pairs, i.e. for

every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

Law of Universal Gravitation

Every object attracts every other object with an attractive force which is directly proportional to the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the separation between them

F = gravitational force(N) m = mass of object(kg)

Gm1m2 F 2 r

r = separation between objects(m) G = universal gravitation constant

Gravitational Field Strength g

m

From Newtons 2nd Law

GMm F 2 r
GM g 2 r

F = mg
g = acceleration due to gravity (m/s2)

F g m
g = gravitational field strength (N/kg)

Field lines give the direction of the field. The field is a vector.

Earths surface

On a large scale, gravity is an attractive radial field

On a small scale gravity can be regarded as a uniform field

Gravitational Potential V
Is the work (energy transferred) per unit mass that is done by the force of gravity as an object moves to that location from a reference location In general For a radial field

V g r
V = potential difference(J/kg)

GM V r

V = gravitational potential at a distance r from mass M A Point in space has Potential An Object placed there has Potential Energy Potential Energy = potential x mass

GMm EP r

Mass and Weight are two different Properties of Matter

MASS
Mass is a physical property of matter that explains how much matter is in an object Mass does not change when gravity changes

WEIGHT
Weight is a force which is calculated by multiplying the acceleration of gravity times mass. Weight can change when gravity changes

Mass = Amount of material Weight = Force due to gravity

Gravity observations are either:

ABSOLUTE RELATIVE it is necessary to measure only the difference between the gravity at the base station and the gravity at the field stations.

it is necessary to measure the actual gravity that exists at the observation point.

Our concern here with the relative measurements Instruments used for relative gravity observations are portable gravimeters

Local vs. regional

Let's consider a spherical ore body buried in sedimentary rocks underlain by a denser Granitic basement that dips to the right. This geologic model and the gravity profile that would be observed over it are shown in the figure below.

Local vs. regional

The observed gravity profile is dominated by a trend indicating decreasing gravitational acceleration from left to right. This trend is the result of the dipping basement interface. The gravitational anomaly caused by the ore body is indicated by the small hump at the center of the gravity profile.

Local vs. regional

The figure shows the effect of the granite basement, the lower the effect of the ore body If effect of basement is known we can subtract it from the total gravity signal which will give us the response due to the ore body.

Local vs. regional

From this simple example, two contributions to the gravitational acceleration can be observed The first is caused by large-scale geologic structure that is not of interest. The gravitational acceleration produced by these largescale features is referred to as the Regional Gravity Anomaly. The second contribution is caused by smaller-scale structure for which the survey was designed to detect. That portion of the observed gravitational acceleration associated with these structures is referred to as the Local / Residual Gravity Anomaly. Because the regional effect is often much larger in size than the local remove effect before attempting to interpret the gravity observations for local geologic structure.

Local

Effect of depth on the observed gravity anomaly.

Variation in: - width / size - amplitude

Separation of local and regional

Because regional anomalies vary slowly along a particular profile and local anomalies vary more rapidly, any method that can identify and isolate slowly varying portions of the gravity field can be used to separate regional and local gravity anomalies. The methods generally fall into three broad categories: -Direct estimates -Graphical estimates -Mathematical estimates

Separation of local and regional

Direct Estimates - These are estimates of the regional gravity anomaly determined from an independent data set. For example, gravity observations collected at relatively large station spacings are sometimes available from National Centers. Using these observations, you can determine how the long-wavelength gravity field varies around your survey and then remove its contribution from your data.

Separation of local and regional

Graphical Esimates - These estimates are based on simply plotting the observations, sketching the interpreter's esimate of the regional gravity anomaly, and subtracting the regional gravity anomaly estimate from the raw observations to generate an estimate of the local gravity anomaly.
However, this is very subjective and one can easily remove the real anomaly. This technique is not highly recommended.

Separation of local and regional

Mathematical Estimates - This represents any of a wide variety of methods for determining the regional gravity contribution from the collected data through the use of mathematical procedures. Examples of how this can be done include: -Moving averages -Function fitting -Filtering and upward continuation (similar as to magnetics