Abstract: | Anomalies in total field, horizontal, and vertical components over the Indian region derived from MAGSAT measurements have been inverted through the ridge-regression method, basically to test: (1) the application of the method in deriving a stable estimate of crustal magnetisation, and (2) the relative amount of information on crustal magnetisation contained in scalar vis-a`-vis vector data. Results show that the instabilities in magnetisation solution that appear when Mayhew's conventional method is applied in low latitudes could be removed through the ridge-regression technique. It was also noticed that magnetisation distribution estimated through the inversion of the total field(B) does not relate well with the geological features in the equatorial region. Inversion of theZ-anomaly alone gives realistic results for the equatorial region but not over higher latitudes. We conclude that a joint inversion ofX- andZ-anomalies provides a magnetisation estimate consistent with known geological features both for equatorial and higher latitudes. |