Shape and depth solutions from moving average residual gravity anomalies

The least-squares minimization method can be used to determine the depth of a buried structure from moving average residual gravity anomalies separated from observed data using regionals of successive windows (Abdelrahman and El-Araby, 1993a). In the present study, we show that this method can be applied not only to extract depth, but also to simultaneously define the shape of the buried structure. For a fixed window length, the depth is determined for each shape factor. The computed depths are plotted against the shape factor representing a continuous window curve. The solution for the shape and depth of the buried structure is read at the common intersection of window curves. The method is tested on two theoretical examples and a field example from the United States.