Inversion of residual gravity anomalies using neural network

A new approach is presented in order to interpret residual gravity anomalies from simple geometrically shaped bodies such as horizontal cylinder, vertical cylinder, and sphere. This approach is mainly based on using modular neural network (MNN) inversion for estimating the shape factor, the depth, and the amplitude coefficient. The sigmoid function has been used as an activation function in the MNN inversion. The new approach has been tested first on synthetic data from different models using only one well-trained network. The results of this approach show that the parameter values estimated by the modular inversion are almost identical to the true parameters. Furthermore, the noise analysis has been examined where the results of the inversion produce satisfactory results up to 10% of white Gaussian noise. The reliability of this approach is demonstrated through two published real gravity field anomalies taken over a chromite deposit in Camaguey province, Cuba and over sulfide ore body, Nornada, Quebec, Canada. A comparable and acceptable agreement is obtained between the results derived by the MNN inversion method and those deduced by other interpretation methods. Furthermore, the depth obtained by the proposed technique is found to be very close to that obtained by drilling information.