2.

2 Gravity surveys

Gravity survey
The effect of latitude
The effect of elevation
The Bouguer effect
Topographic effect
The effect of tides
Summary of corrections
Gravity in boreholes

Gravity survey

In all gravity surveys the vertical component of g, g
z
, is measured. The
instrument used to measure g
z
is called a gravimeter. Standard gravimeters
have a precision of approximately 0.01 x 10
-3
cm s
-2
. Gravimeter precision is
thus 0.01 mgal or roughly 1 part in 10
8
in the measurement of g
z
.

A gravity survey will show variation in g
z
caused by the following:
a) changes in latitude
b) changes in elevation
c) local topography
f) earth tides
g) variation in subsurface density

A profile of observations of g
z
may be dominated by a) and b) making
it difficult to see a desired anomaly from a subsurface feature (the anomaly
might be smaller than the line width of the curve plotting g
z
vs. distance along
profile.) Since position and elevation can be known accurately it is customary
to correct for or remove the first order variations due to elevation and latitude.


The effect of latitude

Equation 2.1 may be used to derive a formula for the change in gz as
one moves from north to south along a line of latitude. For a change in
distance ds the approximate expression is:

dg/ds 1 x dg/d
1.307 sin 2 mgal/mile or 0.817 sin 2 mgal/km

At a latitude of 45, dg/ds .817 mgal / km
If the measurement accuracy of 0.01 mgal is to be useful the N-S position
must be known to about 12 m.


The effect of elevation

In changing elevation, g
z
changes because of the change in distance
from the center of mass of the earth. From Newton's Law we have that

2
z
R
GM
g =
so
R
g 2
R
GM 2
dR
dg
3
= = = -0.308 mgal/m or -0.094 mgal/ft at the equator

This is called the free air effect or free air correction. If the measurement
accuracy is 0.01 mgal then we must know our elevation to 3.2 cm or 1.25 in.
It is evident that accurate surveying of gravity stations, especially elevation, is
important.


The Bouguer effect

Surveys are usually conducted on the land surface. As one changes
elevation there are changes in g caused by the added (or subtracted) layer of
material that has been included. Thus in moving up from a valley to a plateau
the gravity decreases due to the increasing distance from the center of mass
but is also increased by the attraction of the slab of rock whose thickness is
the change in elevation. The effect is large.

The gravitational attraction of an infinite slab of thickness z and density is:

g
z
= 2 G z
= 0.04193 z, when is in gm cm
-3
and z is in meters

If we assume a typical density of 2.67 gm cm
-3
, this becomes:
g
z
= 0.1118 mgal / m or 0.0341 mgal / ft

The effect of this intervening slab is called the Bouguer effect or Bouguer
correction. It is the opposite sign to the free air correction.

This effect may be difficult to calculate because one does not know the
density. Further if the elevation change is confined to a small region, like
going up a hill, then the infinite slab is an inappropriate description of the
intervening mass. Under this circumstance the actual topography must be
considered and another effect, the topographic effect, is included. This is
discussed below. Conventional practice is to apply the Bouguer correction
and then the topographic correction.

For gradual topography where the Bouguer correction is appropriate an
incorrect choice of density will yield a corrected set of gravity data whose
surface (or profile line) mimics (if the density chosen was too low) or mirrors
(if the density was too high) the topography. A method for estimating the
density is then to vary the density in repeat calculations until a corrected
profile is obtained which is uncorrelated with the topography. A tricky
procedure. (include ref. to Nettleton)

The major effects, latitude variation, the free air effect and the Bouguer
effect are shown schematically in Figure 2.2.1 for a topographic section in
which a cave is the target of a gravity survey. We will find below that the
cave anomaly is about 0.4 mgals. The Bouguer effect is about 50 mgals
overall along the profile, the free air effect changes by more than 100 mgals
and the latitude effect is almost 10 mgals over the 10 km profile. The task is
to plot the data in a way that shows a 0.4 mgal anomaly (with a resolution of
0.01 mgal) on a profile which varies up to 100 mgal. The dynamic range of
such a plot is too large for visual or graphic presentation.

Since the latitude and free air effects, and to a good approximation the
Bouguer effect, are accurately predictable it is common practice to correct the
data to a reference level. This essentially removes the large first order
variations along the profile and permits the ready identification of the
anomaly due to the buried density inhomogeneity or mass deficit in the case
of the cave. If topographic effects are appreciable, they must be addressed as
discussed next.


Topographic effect

In regions with considerable topographic relief the infinite Bouguer
slab is not a good model for the intervening mass between the reference
elevation and the point of observation. The actual gravitational effects must
be calculated numerically for the masses above and below the slab surface.

Observation point
M
1

Bouguer slab M
2

Ref. level


M
1
is a mass excess adjacent to the observation point which reduces the
value of g
z
.
M
2
is a mass deficit adjacent to the observation point which also reduces the
value of g
z
.

If it is reasonable to assume values for then the effects of the
topography can be removed. The topographic corrections are difficult to do in
very rugged terrain because the nearest features have the biggest effect but
they are often the most poorly mapped. Choosing the density is also a
problem but an iterative process such as that described for the Bouguer
correction is used until the corrected data shows no correlation with the
topography.


The effect of tides

The Earth, like the oceans, is distorted by the gravitational attraction of
the sun and moon and the resulting bulges in the surface have diurnal
periodicity which is predictable to first order at any point on the Earth. The
tidal variations can be on the order of + 0.1 mgal and so to use the full
sensitivity of the gravimeter these variations must be removed. In some small
scale surveys it may be reasonable to assume that the tidal variations are
linear with time during the intervals between the times that a base or reference
station is reoccupied. In this case the tidal variations are included and treated
in the same manner as the slow drift in gravimeter readings caused by
inherent strain in the sensing element.


Summary of corrections

The corrections are applied with respect to a reference station which
defines a reference level and a reference latitude. Following the sign
convention for the corrections the observed gravity values at points of
measured elevation and latitude, expressed as differences from the reference
station, have the following corrections applied step by step:
1) Subtract the latitude correction for stations to the North of the
reference and add it for stations to the South.
2) Add the free air correction.
3) Subtract the Bouguer slab correction.
4) Add the topographic correction.
5) Apply the tidal correction.

The anomaly (if there is one) that remains after these corrections have
all been applied is the Bouguer anomaly. The Bouguer anomaly reflects the
subsurface inhomogeneities in density. It should also be noted here that the
Bouguer anomaly is caused by the excess mass associated with a volume of
density
2
enclosed by a medium of density
1
.


g
z


2


1


Excess mass = volume x (
2
-
1
) = volume x

from which one can obtain the actual mass via:
Actual mass = Excess mass x
2
/ (
2
-
1
)


Gravity in boreholes

Borehole gravimeters can be used to obtain very accurate
measurements of the density of horizontally layered rocks. In the following
sketch the interval between two depths can be thought of as a Bouguer slab.


At z
1
the gravity field due to the slab of thickness h = + 2 G z
At z
2
the gravity field due to the slab of thickness h = - 2 G z
The change in g in going from z
1
to z
2
is therefore 4 G z.
But there is also an increase in g due to going closer to the center of the Earth,
the free air effect, which we have seen is 0.3083 x h, so the total observed
change across the interval is:
g
z
= 0.308 h - 0.083 h

The objective of the exercise is to find so rearranging:
(gm cm
-3
) = 0.308 h - g
z
/ 0.083 h = 3.71 - 12.05g
z
/ h
where h is in meters and g
z
is in mgals.