From Micro- to Satellite Gravity: Understanding the Earth

The main physical principle of gravity method application is the difference in densities between the various geological, environmental, archaeological and other targets and host media. Gravity is one of the oldest geophysical methods and it is widely applied for knowledge of subsurface and deep Earth’s domains. The present review displays multiscale examples of gravity field examination: from very detailed (delineation of karst terranes and archaeological targets) to regional investigations (development of 3D physical-geological models and satellite data examination of giant regions). Geographically the examined areas include the South Caucasus, the Dead Sea region, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arabian-African region. Diverse methodologies of the gravity data processing, qualitative and quantitative interpretation, and results of 3D gravity field modeling are shown. It is demonstrated that integration of gravity field analysis with other geophysical methods (magnetic, paleomagnetic, thermal, seismic, etc.) significantly increases accuracy and reliability of developed physical-geological models. The further ways of evaluation of gravity data analysis are considered.