This text bridges the gap between the classic texts on potential theory and modern books on applied geophysics. It opens with an introduction to potential theory, emphasising those aspects particularly important to earth scientists, such as Laplace's equation, Newtonian potential, magnetic and electrostatic fields, and conduction of heat. The theory is then applied to the interpretation of gravity and magnetic anomalies, drawing on examples from modern geophysical literature. Topics explored include regional and global fields, forward modeling, inverse methods, depth-to-source estimation, ideal bodies, analytical continuation, and spectral analysis. The book includes numerous exercises and a variety of computer subroutines written in FORTRAN. Graduate students and researchers in geophysics will find this book essential.

Applications of potential theory to modern geophysics with exercises and FORTRAN subroutines.

This combination of textbook and reference manual provides a comprehensive account of gravity and magnetic methods for exploring the subsurface using surface, marine, airborne and satellite measurements. It describes key current topics and techniques, physical properties of rocks and other Earth materials, and digital data analysis methods used to process and interpret anomalies for subsurface information. Each chapter starts with an overview and concludes by listing key concepts to consolidate new learning. An accompanying website presents problem sets and interactive computer-based exercises, providing hands-on experience of processing, modeling and interpreting data. A comprehensive online suite of full-color case histories illustrates the practical utility of modern gravity and magnetic surveys. This is an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses and reference text for research academics and professional geophysicists. It is a valuable resource for all those interested in petroleum, engineering, mineral, environmental, geological and archeological exploration of the lithosphere.

This book introduces the principles of gravitational, magnetic, electrostatic, direct current electrical and electromagnetic fields, with detailed solutions of Laplace and electromagnetic wave equations by the method of separation of variables. Discussion includes behaviours of the scalar and vector potential and the nature of the solutions of these boundary value problems, along with the use of complex variables and conformal transformation, Green's theorem, Green's formula and Green's functions.

Gravity interpretation involves inversion of data into models, but it is more. Gravity interpretation is used in a “holistic” sense going beyond “inversion”. Inversion is like optimization within certain a priori assumptions, i.e., all anticipated models lie in a limited domain of the a priori errors. No source should exist outside the anticipated model volume, but that is never literally true. Interpretation goes beyond by taking “outside” possibilities into account in the widest sense. Any neglected possibility carries the danger of seriously affecting the interpretation. Gravity interpretation pertains to wider questions such as the shape of the Earth, the nature of the continental and oceanic crust, isostasy, forces and stresses, geol- ical structure, nding useful resources, climate change, etc. Interpretation is often used synonymously with modelling and inversion of observations toward models. Interpretation places the inversion results into the wider geological or economic context and into the framework of science and humanity. Models play a central role in science. They are images of phenomena of the physical world, for example, scale images or metaphors, enabling the human mind to describe observations and re- tionships by abstract mathematical means. Models served orientation and survival in a complex, partly invisible physical and social environment.

Includes discussions of fundamental concepts, explained using heuristic descriptions of seismic modelling, deconvolution, depth migration, and tomography; processing and contouring pitfalls; and developments in time-lapse seismology, borehole geophysics, multicomponent seismology, and integrated reservoir characterization.

Providing information about the principles, understanding, and applicability of the gravity exploration method, this text is both a textbook and a reference for anyone engaged in geophysical exploration.