Gravity Interpretation : Fundamentals and Application of Gravity Inversion and Geological Interpretation

The “Gravity Interpretation: Fundamentals and Applications of Gravity Inversion and Geological Interpretation” is text on gravity methods in geophysics is intended for students and earth scientists of all kinds, including geophysicists, geologists, and geodesists.

The book, “Gravity Interpretation: Fundamentals and Applications of Gravity Inversion and Geological Interpretation” consists of 7 chapters tackling essential concepts and tasks. These chapters encompass data acquisition and analysis, both qualitative and quantitative aspects of geological interpretation, the underlying principles of gravitational theory and its potential, techniques for solving “forward problems” through integration methods, and the application of Bayesian inversion theory with prior information. This approach provides a comprehensive framework for assessing and evaluating results. Numerous practical examples spanning a wide range of scales, from the exploration of underground voids to the study of global geodynamics, serve to illustrate and substantiate the concepts presented in the book.

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Gravity interpretation involves the inversion of data into models, but it goes beyond that. The term “Gravity Interpretation” is employed in a comprehensive manner that goes beyond the concept of “inversion.” Inversion is akin to optimization within certain a priority assumptions, where all anticipated models lie in a limited domain of a priori errors. Interpretation goes further by considering “outside” possibilities in the broadest sense. Neglecting any possibility carries the risk of significantly impacting the interpretation.

Gravity interpretation relates to broader questions such as the shape of the Earth, the nature of the continental and oceanic crust, isostasy, forces and stresses, geological structure, finding useful resources, climate change, and more. The terms “interpretation,” “modeling,” and “inversion” are frequently interchanged to describe the process of transforming observations into model representations.

Interpretation situates the results of inversion within a wider geological or economic context and within the framework of science and humanity. Models hold a central role in science. They represent phenomena of the physical world, acting as images or metaphors that allow the human mind to describe observations and relationships through abstract mathematical means. Models have served as tools for orientation and survival in a complex, sometimes invisible physical and social environment.