THREE-DIMENSIONAL INTERPRETATION OF GRAVITY DATA FROM SEDIMENTARY BASINS USING AN EXPONENTIAL DENSITY-DEPTH FUNCTION*

In mapping the topography of the basement of deep sedimentary basins by gravity modelling, the accuracy can be improved by incorporating an exponential increase in density with depth. For calculating the gravity effect of a three-dimensional (3D) structure with such an exponential density-depth relation a frequency-domain forward algorithm based on series expansion is presented, the numerical evaluation of which can be performed efficiently by fast Fourier transform. The algorithm can be applied in a recursive procedure to give the inverse solution in terms of basement relief. The inversion procedure is satisfactorily tested on a 2D synthetic example and a 3D field example of gravity data from the western margin of the Pannonian Basin in eastern Austria, where up to 2.2 km of Tertiary sediments overlie an igneous or metamorphic basement. The results are confirmed by basement intersections in several wells.