Geophysical Applications of Moving-Base Gravity Gradiometry.
Abstract
The current state-of-the-art in gravity gradiometer development for moving platforms is more than adequate for geophysical survey application. An examination of the gravity gradients of several types of geological features shows that an aircraft mounted instrument with 10 Eotvos unit sensitivity and 10 second response time will be sufficient to measure geological anomalies with scale lengths as small as 5 km. Instruments under development at two different laboratories presently have better than 10 Eotvos sensitivity at 10 seconds integration time. Within 3 to 5 years, these instruments could be used in geophysical surveys. However, research must be performed in the processing of gravity gradiometer data for geophysical parameter recovery to take full advantage of the information content of this data. Gravity gradiometry can yield much sharper definition of the shape, size, and depth of geological structures than can gravity data, because of the more rapid attenuation of the gradients with distance. This is analogous to the sharper focus and narrowed field of view provided by telescopic optics compared to the naked eye. Most of the published work on processing of gravity gradient data ignores the wealth of information contained in the gradients and recommends simply integrating a single gradient component to obtain gravity or deflection of the vertical along the survey track.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 15, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA086489
Entities
People
- R. D. Brown