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Journal of the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Interpretation of magnetic anomalies using some simple characteristic positions over tabular bodies

M. Subrahmanyam 1 2 T. K. S. Prakasa Rao 1
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

1 Department of Geophysics, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam-530003, India.

2 Corresponding author. Email: smangalampalli@rediffmail.com

Exploration Geophysics 40(3) 265-276 https://doi.org/10.1071/EG09005
Submitted: 31 January 2009  Accepted: 18 August 2009   Published: 21 September 2009

Abstract

The quantitative interpretation of magnetic anomalies aims at finding out the location, depth, dip, size, and susceptibility contrast of causative geological sources. In this paper an easy method of interpreting magnetic anomalies over simple geometric shapes of dyke, sheet and vertical step has been proposed by using the easily recognisable characteristic positions on the magnetic anomaly profiles. The method does not require prior knowledge of origin and datum. For determining the source parameters, mathematical expressions and graphical procedure are given.

Key words: characteristic positions, depth, dyke, origin, sheet, step.


Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to the reviewers for their critical analysis of the work particularly to Dr Amanda Buckingham for patiently correcting and suggesting some points.


References

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Appendix Notation followed in the paper

ΔF — magnetic anomaly. (ΔT — total component and ΔV — vertical component anomalies)

CF — Amplitude coefficient.

θ F — Index parameter.

T — Total intensity of the earth’s main magnetic field.

K — Susceptibility contrast.

B0′ = B0 (1 – cos2 IT sin2 AT)1/2. It is the component of the Earth’s normal flux density, B0, in the plane of the profile.

IT — inclination of the Earth’s magnetic field.

AT — declination of the Earth’s magnetic field from x-axis.

i — inclination of the resultant magnetization.

a — declination of the resultant magnetization from x-axis.

I — resolved direction of the induced component of magnetization in the xz plane.

Y — resolved direction of the resultant (remanence and induction) component of magnetization in the xz plane.

tan I = tan IT/cos AT.

tan Y = tan i/cos a.

α — strike of the body.

X — distance of the point of observation from the origin.

h — depth to the top of dyke, sheet, fault or contact.

H — depth to the bottom of the fault.

2w — width of the dyke.

t — thickness of sheet/thin plate.

δ — geological dip.

Dyke

Magnetic expression for the dyke is given by

EG09005_EA1.gif

where

EG09005_EA2.gif

and

EG09005_EA3.gif

EG09005_EA4.gif

and

EG09005_EA5.gif

Thin sheet

Magnetic expression for the sheet is given by

EG09005_EA6.gif

where

EG09005_EA7.gif

and

EG09005_EA8.gif

Vertical step

Magnetic expression for the vertical step is given by

EG09005_EA9.gif

where

EG09005_EA10.gif

and

EG09005_EA11.gif


Table A1. Characteristic properties of the anomaly curve to fix the correct, quadrant of θ F (θ F is as obtained from the method).
Click to zoom

Interpretation of overlapping anomalies by this method

The method discussed in the present paper has been developed for interpreting the magnetic anomalies over single and simple tabular geometries. When the interpretation method is applied over a magnetic profile of overlapping anomalies (anomalies over two or more than two bodies), there may be a small amount of error in the determination of origin and datum. To show the effect of the interpretation technique, Synthetic anomalies over two (2.5 dimensional) bodies separated by 200 m were considered. On applying the geometric procedure for determining the origin and datum over the two bodies, the error percentage was found to be small. For computing the error percentage in datum, the peak to peak amplitude was used. The synthetic profile over two bodies and the interpretation is shown in Figure 10. The interpreted results along with actual values and per cent errors are given in the Table A2.


Fig. 10.  Synthetic Magnetic Anomalies calculated over two bodies separated by 200 metres. The graphical determination of the origin is shown in the top figure. The corresponding models are shown in the bottom figure. The datum shifts are –20 nT and –55 nT for body 1 and body 2 respectively. The magnetic and body parameters used are given in the text.
F10


Table A2. Geomagnetic Field Parameters: Intensity = 42 000, Inclination = 60°, Declination = 0°, The profile bearing = 0°, reference height = 0. For both the bodies strike length = 100 m.
Click to zoom