Course: Geophysical Exploration and Interpretation (PE-309)

Topic: Gravity Method, Magnetic Method and Seismic Method

Submitted to: Sir Muhammad Tahir

Combined effort by:

Mansoor Ahmed Ansari (PE-024) Muhammad Shahrukh (PE-021) Haris Saleem (PE-030)

GRAVITY METHOD:
Gravity is the force of attraction between masses. In geophysical terms it is the force due to the integrated mass of the whole Earth, which acts on the mechanism of a measuring instrument. Measurements are usually made at the surface of the Earth, in aircraft or on ships. They may also be made in mines or on man-made structures. The gravity field in space may be inferred from the orbit of a satellite. The measuring instrument may be a very precise spring balance, a pendulum or a small body falling in a vacuum. If the Earth were a perfect homogeneous sphere the gravity field would only depend on the distance from the centre of the Earth. In fact the Earth is a slightly irregular oblate ellipsoid which means that the gravity field at its surface is stronger at the poles than at the equator. The mass (density) distribution is also uneven, particularly in the rigid crust, which causes gravity to vary from the expected value as the measurement position changes. These variations are expressed as gravity anomalies, the mapping of which gives us an insight into the structure of the Earth. Gravity methods are still employed very widely in hydrocarbon exploration, many other applications have been found, some examples of which are Hydrocarbon exploration Regional geological studies Isostatic compensation determination Exploration for, and mass estimation of, mineral deposits Detection of sub-surface cavities (microgravity) Location of buried rock-valleys Determination of glacier thickness Tidal oscillations Archaeogeophysics (micro-gravity); e.g. location of tombs Shape of the earths (geodesy) Military (especially for missile trajectories) Monitoring volcanoes. A major sedimentary basin can reduce the gravity field by more than 1000 g.u., but many other common targets, such as massive ore bodies, produce anomalies of only a few g.u. Caves and artificial cavities such as mine workings usually produce even smaller (and negative) effects, even when very close to the surface. Topographic effects may be much larger. Elevation difference alone produces a gravity difference of nearly 20 000 g.u. between the summit of Mount Everest and sea-level. For engineering and geological purposes, gravity changes must often be measured to an accuracy of 0.1 g.u. (approximately one-hundred millionth of the Earths field), and this is the sensitivity of virtually all modern gravity meters. The so-called microgravity meters have readout precisions of 0.01 g.u. but not even their manufacturers claim accuracies of better than about 0.03 g.u.

Units
The normal value of g at the Earths surface is 980 cm/s2. In honour of Galileo, the c.g.s. unit of acceleration due to gravity (1 cm/s2) is Gal. Modern gravity meters (gravimeters) can measure extremely small variations in acceleration due to gravity, typically 1 part in 109. The sensitivity

of modern instruments is about ten parts per million. Such small numbers have resulted in sub units being used such as the: milliGal (1 mGal = 10-3 Gal); microGal (1 Gal = 10-6 Gal); and 1 gravity unit = 1 g.u. =0.1 mGal [10 gu =1 mGal] 1 micrometer per second squared = m (SI unit) Milligal (mgal) = cm.s-2 = ms-2= 10 (the traditional cgs unit) Gravity unit (gu) = 1 (the old American measure = 1 meter scale division)

Gravity Equipment
There are three main classes of gravity measuring instruments: Pendulums - where the period of the pendulum is inversely proportional to g Sensitive spring balances - where the spring extension is proportional to g Falling bodies timed over a fixed distance of fall in a vacuum tube The spring balances are relative instruments, which mean that they can only be used to measure the difference in gravity between two or more points. Pendulums can be used for relative and absolute measurements by calculating the ratio of periods measured at two points or the exact period at a particular point. The falling body class measures the absolute gravity. The drawings in Figure show the result of measurements, indicating the relative surface variation of gravitational acceleration over geologic structures. When the spatial craft passes over a denser body or crosses to another denser block of rocks the gravitational attraction is increased. Above, it also shows a curve, which describes the gravity behaviour.

FIGURE : Cartoon illustrations showing the relative surface variation of gravitational acceleration over geologic structures

MAGNETIC METHOD:
Compasses and dip needles were used in the Middle Ages to find magnetiteores in Sweden, making the magnetic method the oldest of all applied geophysical techniques. It is still one of the most widely used, even though significant magnetic effects are produced by only a very small number of minerals. Magnetic field strengths are now usually measured in nanoTesla (nT).The pre-SI unit, the gamma, originally defined as 105 gauss but numerically equal to the nT, is still often used.
Common uses of magnetic method include: locating buried tanks and drums fault studies Mineral exploration Geothermal exploration mapping buried utilities, pipelines buried foundations, fire pits for archaeological studies

Basic theory
If two magnetic poles of strength m1 and m2 are separated by a distance r, a force, F, exists between them. If the poles are of the same polarity, the force will push the poles apart, and if they are of opposite polarity, the force is attractive and will draw the poles together. The equation for F is the following:

where is the magnetic permeability of the medium separating the poles; m1 and m2 are pole strengths and r the distance between them.

Magnetic units
The magnetic flux lines between two poles per unit area, is the flux density B (and is measured in weber/m2 = Tesla). B, which is also called the magnetic induction, is a vector quantity. The unit of Tesla are too large to be practical in geophysical work, so a sub-unit called a nanotesla (1 nT = 10-9 T) is used instead, where 1 nT is numerically equivalent to 1 gamma in c.g.s. units (1 nT is equivalent to10-5 gauss). The magnetic field can also be defined in terms of a force field which is produced by electric currents. This magnetizing field strength H is defined, following Biot-Savarts Law, as being the field strength at the centre of a loop of wire of radius r through which a current I is flowing such that H = I/2r. Consequently the units of the magnetizing field strength H are amperes per metre (A/m). The ratio of the flux density B to the magnetizing field strength H is a constant called the absolute magnetic permeability ().

Susceptibility
A body placed in a magnetic field acquires a magnetization which, if small, is proportional to the field: M = kH

The susceptibility, k, is very small for most natural materials, and may be either negative (diamagnetism) or positive (paramagnetism).

Susceptibilities of rocks and minerals

The susceptibility of a rock usually depends on its magnetite content. Sediments and acid igneous rocks have small susceptibilities whereas basalts, dolerites, gabbros and serpentinites are usually strongly magnetic. Weathering generally reduces susceptibility because magnetite is oxidized to hematite, but some laterites are magnetic because of the presence of maghemite and remanently magnetized hematite. The susceptibilities, in rationalized SI units, of some common rocks and minerals are given in Table below:

Table Magnetic susceptibilities of common rocks and ores Common rocks Slate 00.002 Dolerite 0.010.15 Greenstone 0.00050.001 Basalt 0.0010.1 Granulite 0.00010.05 Rhyolite 0.000250.01 Salt 0.00.001 Gabbro 0.0010.1 Limestone 0.000010.0001 Ores Hematite Magnetite Chromite Pyrrhotite Pyrite

0.0010.0001 0.120.0 0.00751.5 0.0011.0 0.00010.005

The Earths magnetic field

The geomagnetic field at or near the surface of the Earth originates largely from within and around the Earths core. The geomagnetic field can be described in terms of the declination, D, inclination, I, and the total force vector F. The vertical component of the magnetic intensity of the Earths magnetic field varies with latitude, from a minimum of around 30,000 nT at the magnetic equator to 60,000 nT at the magnetic poles.

Magnetic Instruments
Early torsion magnetometers used compass needles mounted on horizontal axes (dip needles) to measure vertical fields. These were in use until about 1960, when they began to be replaced by fluxgate, proton precession and alkali vapor magnetometers. Instruments of all these three types are now marketed with built-in data loggers and can often be set to record automatically at fixed time intervals at base stations. All three can be used singly or in tandem as gradiometers, although care must then be taken with precession instruments to ensure that the polarizing field

from one sensor does not affect the measurement at the other. Gradient measurements emphasize near surface sources and are particularly useful in archaeological and environmental work.

SEISMIC METHODS
Seismic methods are the most effective, and the most expensive, of all the geophysical techniques used to investigate layered media.

Seismic Waves
A seismic wave is acoustic energy transmitted by vibration of rock particles. Low-energy waves are approximately elastic; leaving the rock mass unchanged by their passage, but close to a seismic source the rock may be shattered and permanently distorted.

Types of elastic wave

When a sound wave travels in air, the molecules oscillate backwards and forwards in the direction of energy transport. This pressure or push wave thus travels as a series of compressions and rarefactions. The pressure wave in a solid medium has the highest velocity of any of the possible wave motions and is therefore also known as the primary wave or simply the P wave. Particles vibrating at right angles to the direction of energy flow (which can only happen in a solid) create an S (shear, shake or, because of its relatively slow velocity, secondary) wave. The velocity in many consolidated rocks is roughly half the P-wave velocity. It depends slightly on the plane in which the particles vibrate but these differences are not significant in small-scale surveys. P and S waves are body waves and expand within the main rock mass. Other waves, known as Love waves, are generated at interfaces, while particles at the Earths surface can follow elliptical paths to create Rayleigh waves. Love and Rayleigh waves may carry a considerable proportion of the source energy but travel very slowly. In many surveys they are simply lumped together as the ground roll.

Reflection and refraction

When a seismic wave encounters an interface between two different rock types, some of the energy is reflected and the remainder continues on its way at a different angle, i.e. is refracted. The law of reflection is very simple; the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence (Figure 11.2a). Refraction is governed by Snells law, which relates the angles of incidence and refraction to the seismic velocities in the two media: sin i/ sin r = V1/V2 If V2 is greater than V1, refraction will be towards the interface. If sin I equals V1/V2, the refracted ray will be parallel to the interface and some of its energy will return to the surface as a head wave that leaves the interface at the original angle of incidence (Figure 11.2b). This is the basis of the refraction methods discussed in Chapter 12. At greater angles of incidence there can be no refracted ray and all the energy is reflected. When drawing ray paths for either reflected or critically refracted waves, allowance must be made for refraction at all shallower interfaces. Only the normal-incidence ray, which meets all interfaces at right angles, is not refracted.

Seismic Sources
The traditional seismic source is a small charge of dynamite. Impact and vibratory sources are now more popular but explosives are still quite commonly used.

Detection of Seismic Waves

Land seismic detectors are known as geophones, marine detectors as hydrophones. Both convert mechanical energy into electrical signals. Geophones are usually positioned by pushing a spike screwed to the casing firmly into the ground but it may be necessary to unscrew the spike and use some form of adhesive pad or putty when working on bare rock.

Geophones
A geophone consists of a coil wound on a high-permeability magnetic core and suspended by leaf springs in the field of a permanent magnet (Figure). If the coil moves relative to the magnet, voltages are induced and current will flow in any external circuit. The current is proportional to the velocity of the coil through the magnetic field, so that ground movements are recorded, not ground displacements. In most cases the coil is mounted so that it is free to vibrate vertically, since this gives the maximum sensitivity to P waves rising steeply from subsurface interfaces, i.e. to reflected and refracted (but not direct) P waves. P-wave geophones that have been normally connected give negative first-arrival pulses (breaks) for refractions and reflections, but may break either way for direct waves.

Moving coil geophone

Noise
Any vibration that is not part of the signal is noise. Noise is inevitable and coherent noise is generated by the shot itself. S waves, Love and Rayleigh waves and reflections from surface irregularities are all forms of coherent noise. In shallow refraction work these slow, and therefore late-arriving, waves usually prevent the use of any event other than the first arrival of energy. Noise which is not generated by the shot is termed random. Movements of traffic, animals and people all generate random noise and can, to varying extents, be controlled. It should at least be possible to prevent the survey team contributing, by giving warning using a whistle or hooter. Random noise is also produced by vegetation moving in the wind and disturbing the ground. The effects can be reduced by sitting geophones away from trees and bushes, and sometimes by clearing away smaller plants. Significant improvements can often be achieved by moving particularly noisy geophones a few inches. Placement is also important. It may not be easy to push a spike fully home in hard ground but a geophone an inch above the ground vibrates in the wind.