Joint iterative migration of surface and borehole gravity gradiometry data

Abstract

Gravity and gravity gradiometry surveys have been widely used in mineral and petroleum exploration. Borehole gravity measurements can help to detect a deep target, which is of importance in studying both mineral and hydrocarbon (HC) deposits. Joint interpretation of surface and borehole gravity data can provide more insight about the subsurface geological structures than separate surface and borehole data. The major goal of this joint interpretation is to produce a 3D density distribution under the area of the a surface survey and in the vicinity of a borehole. This paper develops a novel approach to solving this problem based on the concept of potential field migration, which produces images of the subsurface density distribution. By applying the migration iteratively, we can generate a rigorous inverse model of the density distribution. The method is illustrated by the joint migration of the borehole and surface data for a set of representative density models. Presentation Date: Wednesday, October 19, 2016 Start Time: 2:45:00 PM Location: 141 Presentation Type: ORAL