The gravity method has been widely used for detecting the subsurface density anomaly and geological structures. The interpretation result based on gravity data can be used for mineral/oil exploration and regional geological study. The effective and successful application of gravity methods depends on the fast forward modeling and stable inversion tools to image the subsurface density structures. In this chapter, we will review the applications and developments of gravity method. We starts form the basic theory for gravity field and the scalar gravity potential and introduce the closed form of the solution for the gravity field caused by a density anomaly. Different gravity data forward modeling and inversion techniques will be introduced in this chapter with their application in petroleum reconnaissance. Several examples will be presented in this chapter to illustrate the application of different gravity modeling and inversion techniques.
Part of the book: Gravity