GEOPHYSICAL INVERSION PRACTICAL 1

Angad Yadav
18MC0071
MSc.Tech(5thsem)
Practical 1: Earth's mass (M) and moment of inertia (I) are given as,
M = 5.974×1024 kg and I/a^2 = 1.974× 1024 ; radius of the earth (a)=6371 Km ;
radius of the core (c) is 3485 Km. From the given data, estimate (i) average
density of the earth (ii) average density of the core and mantle using
leastsquared inversion method. (iii) Estimate data resolution
(RD=G(G T G) -1G T ) and model resolution matrix ( Rm = (GTG)-1GTG ).

The estimation of density from mass is a linear inverse value problem. The model
can be represented as d = Gm where d is data matrix and m is the model
parameter i.e. the mean density 𝜌𝑚 . The relation between data and model is :
M = 4/ 3 π𝑎3 𝜌𝑚 ;
𝐼
𝑎2
= 8 /15 π𝑎3 𝜌𝑚 ;

The data matrix:

𝑀
d = [ 𝐼 ]
𝑎2

Kernel operator:
4
π𝑎3
3
G= [ 8 ]
3
π𝑎
15

Final matrix relation d=Gm, this can be written as:

4
𝑀 π𝑎3
3
[ 𝐼 ]=[ 8 ][𝜌𝑚 ].
𝑎2 π𝑎3
15

We can approach this linear inverse problem by using least square method. We
require a model solution such that the error between the observed data and the
predicted data is least. Using this method, the estimated model can be
determined by using the following relation:
𝜌𝑚 = (𝐺 𝑇 𝐺)−1 𝐺 𝑇
Following is the MATLAB code
%Average dinsity of earth
M= 5.974*10^24; %kg
C=1.974*10^24;%I/a^2
a=6371000;
c=3485000;
d=[M ; C];
G=[(4/3)*pi*(a)^3;(8/15)*pi*(a)^3];
GT=(G)';
G1=GT*G;
G2=inv(G1);
rho=G2*(GT*d)
RD=G*G2*GT % data resolution matrix
RM=G2*GT*G % model resolution matrix
OUTPUT:
Mean density of Earth is = 5.3838 g/cc.
RESOLUTION MATRIX
RD =
0.8621 0.3448
0.3448 0.1379
RM = 1
2. Now let us assume the density of the core as ρ1 and the density of mantle as ρ2. Then the total
mass of the Earth in terms of Mass and Moment of Inertia can be written as:

M = (4/ 3 )π𝑐 3 𝜌1 + ( 4/ 3 )π(𝑎3 −𝑐 3 )𝜌2;

𝐼
𝑎2
= (8 /15) π(𝑐 5 /𝑎2 )𝜌1 + (8 /15) π((𝑎5 −𝑐 5 )/𝑎2 )𝜌1 ;

D=Gm can be written as:

4
𝑀 (4/ 3 )π𝑐3 𝜌1 + ( 4/ 3 )π(𝑎3 −𝑐3 )𝜌2 𝜌1
[ 𝐼 ]= [ 3 ][ ].
𝑎2 (8 /15) π(𝑐5 /𝑎2 )𝜌1 + (8 /15) π((𝑎5 −𝑐5 )/𝑎2 )𝜌1 𝜌2

MATLAB code:
% Average density of core and mantle

G3=[(4/3)*pi*(c)^3 (4/3)*pi*((a)^(3)-(c)^3);(8/15)*pi*((c)^5/a^2)
(8/15)*pi*((a)^(5)-(c)^5)/(a)^2];
GTT=(G3)';
G11=GTT*G3;
G4=inv(G11);

rho1=G4*(GTT*d)
RD1=G3*G4*GTT % data resolution matrix
RM1=G4*GTT*G3 % model resolution matrix
OUTPUT:
Core density is = 12.509g/cc.
Mantle density is = 4.416g/cc.
Data Resolution matrix:

1.0000 0.0000
0.0000 1.0000
Model resolution matrix:

1.0000 0.0000
0.0000 1.0000
The values of density obtained from the least square method matches with the
theoretical value. The data resolution matrix describes how well the predictions
match the data.