Application of curvatures and Poisson's relation to airborne gravity gradient data in oil exploration

Abstract

The application of equipotential surface curvatures and Poisson's relation to airborne gravity gradient data is presented. The mean and differential curvature of the equipotential surface, the curvature of the gravity field line, the shape index, the zero contour of the Gaussian curvature of the equipotential surface and the zero contour of the determinant of the gravity gradient tensor should improve the understanding and geological interpretation of gravity gradient data. Their use is illustrated in model data and applied to FALCON® airborne gravity gradiometer data from the Canning Basin, Australia.