The use of the Levy-stable distribution for geophysical data analysis

The suitability of the Levy-stable distribution for geophysical data from a sedimentary environment has been investigated. Four types of geophysical well logging measurements from the Choshuichi alluvial fan in central Taiwan were analyzed—long-normal electrical resistivity, short-normal electrical resistivity, natural gamma-ray logging, and spontaneous potential. The results demonstrate that the Levy-stable distribution describes the geophysical data better than a Gaussian distribution. Because the Levy-stable distribution is flexible in fitting data from strongly heterogeneous fields and the traditional Gaussian distribution is only its special case, the Levy-stable distribution should be considered when analyzing geophysical data.