Comprehensive gravity and magnetic data analysis for quantitative determining salt bodies in complex physical-geological environments

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Abstract

It is well known that salt bodies in the subsurface are usually unfavorable targets for applying gravity and magnetic methods. It is caused mainly by minor differences in density (salt layers with a density of 2100-2200 kg/m3 often occur in sediments with a similar density) and magnetic (salt layers with a magnetization of about -10 mA/m frequently occur in low-magnetic media) properties as well as geological-petrophysical variability of the subsurface geological section. Therefore, for gravity-magnetic data processing and interpretation, many advanced procedures from the available methodological arsenal should be applied, beginning with removing different kinds of noise and target visual localization and ending with developing 3D physical-geological models. Although quantitative analysis of gravity-magnetic anomalies from salt objects, usually in thin horizontal plates, is a complicated problem, an interpretation methodology for carefully analyzing observed potential field anomalies has been developed (Eppelbaum, 2019). Integrating gravity and magnetic data between themselves and with other geophysical methods increases the reliability and accuracy of geological-geophysical interpretation. For combined 3D gravity-magnetic modeling, the developed GSFC software is applied, where 3D horizontal polygonal prisms approximate the geological bodies. The application of some qualitative and quantitative interpretation methods is shown in the model and field examples. Besides the land survey, it is proposed to apply a remote-operated vehicle magnetic survey at low altitudes, which will allow not only the delineation of the salt target’s disposition but also to monitor the appearance of new karst terranes, which are often associated with salt objects.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)12-26
Number of pages15
JournalStratigraphy, Petroleum, Sedimentology, Geochemistry
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024

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