Identification of sources of potential fields with the continuous wavelet transform: Complex wavelets and application to aeromagnetic profiles in French Guiana

Pascal Sailhac (1) , Armand Galdeano (1) , Dominique Gibert (2) , Frédérique Moreau (2) , Claude Delor (3)

1 IPGP - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
2 GR - Géosciences Rennes
3 BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)

A continuous wavelet technique has been recently introduced to analyze potential fields data. First, we summarize the theory, which primarily consists of interpreting potential fields via the properties of the upward continued derivative field. Using complex wavelets to analyze magnetic data gives an inverse scheme to find the depth and homogeneity degree of local homogeneous sources and the inclination of their magnetization vector. This is analytically applied on several local and extended synthetic magnetic sources. The application to other potential fields is also discussed. Then, profiles crossing dikes and faults are extracted from the recent high-resolution aeromagnetic survey of French Guiana and analyzed using complex one dimensional wavelets. Maps of estimated depth to sources and their magnetization inclination and homogeneity degree are proposed for a region between Cayenne and Kourou.

Keywords: Exploration Geophysics: Computational methods; potential fields; Exploration Geophysics: Magnetic and electrical methods; Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism: Magnetic anomaly modeling; Mathematical Geophysics: Inverse theory

Domains: Earth Sciences

Pascal Sailhac, Armand Galdeano, Dominique Gibert, Frédérique Moreau, Claude Delor. Identification of sources of potential fields with the continuous wavelet transform: Complex wavelets and application to aeromagnetic profiles in French Guiana. Journal of Geophysical Research : Solid Earth, 2000, 105, pp.19,455-19,475. ⟨10.1029/2000JB900090⟩. ⟨insu-03596933⟩