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GEOL30005 Applied Geophysics
Lecture 9: Magnetic processing
Data processing methodology
Required to remove ‘noise’ and other errors in data, and correct for other
survey parameters.
• Verifying and editing the raw data;
Locating the data in x and y.
• Locating the data in x and y.
• Parallax corrections;
• Removing diurnals;
• IGRF removal
• Levelling the data;
• Micro‐levelling ‐ removal of any residual levelling errors;
• Gridding and contouring
• Reduction to the pole
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Data processing methodology
• This lecture will step through the process required to take raw mag
readings, and convert them into a processed magnetic anomaly map
Raw magnetic data Processed magnetic data
Survey location
• South of the Lambert Graben.
• Previous Russian magnetic data
exists further to the north.
• Ground gravity data also exists in
the north and around the Lambert
the north, and around the Lambert
Graben (LGB traverse).
• However no previous gravity data
(ground or airborne) exists over the
PCMEGA grid.
The Antarctic example is
ideal since the extreme
diurnal helps
demonstrate the effects
of each processing step
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Cross‐over points
• Cross‐over points occur where flight
lines cross tie‐lines
• The magnitude of the magnetic
intensity should be the same at
intensity should be the same at
cross‐over points since we’re
measuring mag intensity at the same
place – but it never is…
• Measuring the difference at cross‐
over points tells us something about
the errors in our dataset, but more
importantly, it provides a means to
process the data
Cross‐over points are imperative
to magnetic processing
Cross‐over points
Cross‐over errors
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Raw Magnetic Data
Not quite raw since the IGRF has been taken out
GrafNav GPS processing software
Pre‐processing
Locating data in X and Y
• Once GPS data has been checked and
processed it can be merged with the
magnetic data in order to locate the position
of magnetic data within the survey.
Verifying and editing raw data
• Raw data must be visually inspected for
spikes, gaps, instrument noise and other
irregularities.
• Ideally, this verification
procedure should be
carried out in the field so
carried out in the field so
that any errors
attributable to data
acquisition can be
corrected in the survey
aircraft.
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Pre‐processing
• Each flight is cut up into lines and ties. Ie. there may be 15 flights for the survey, but you
might get 4 lines and 1 tie (for eg) into a flight.
• Pre‐processing ‐ raw data is inspected for spikes, gaps, instrument noise or other
irregularities in the data
Parallax correction
• Corrects for the distance between
the GPS antenna and the
magnetometer (ie. the cable length)
• Particularly if the survey has been
carried out using a bird style
magnetometer, a parallax correction
is necessary to synchronise the
magnetic measurements with the
GPS data
• Parallax correction is done by using
the velocity of the aircraft at each
the velocity of the aircraft at each
point to adjust the navigation data
so it aligns with the magnetic
measurements
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Diurnal corrections
• Diurnals collectively refer to all time variations in the Earth’s magnetic field
caused by solar ‘winds’
• Both rapid and long term changes
• This variation is measured by a base station at a fixed location on the
d Th t th bt t d f th i
ground. These measurements are then subtracted from the aircraft ft
magnetometer readings.
• The process introduces an arbitrary base‐
shift in the magnetic data as the magnetic
field is stronger on the ground. However,
this effect is not important as interpretation
is based on local anomalies and not the
is based on local anomalies and not the
absolute value of the magnetic field.
Similar to gravity in that we’re
interested in the susceptibility contrast
Diurnal corrections
• Diurnal ‐ base station measurements are time stamped and
correlated with the data recorded on the aircraft.
• They are then subtracted from the aircraft measurements. Thus
d l d b l l f h
gives residual magnetic variations and not absolute values if the
magnetic field.
• An average or base value of the magnetic field (for the whole
survey) is added to the diurnally corrected magnetic readings to
produce diurnally corrected magnetic data
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Diurnal
variations
Try to fly during
the most
magnetically
quiet times
After Diurnal Correction Raw mag
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IGRF removal
Removing the Earth’s regional magnetic field
• This step involves removing the defined model of the Earth’s regional field, referred
to as the Geomagnetic Reference Field (GRF).
• Its possible to calculate the inclination, declination and intensity of the magnetic
field at any point and time using a GRF model
Animation of secular variation in geomagnetic
g g
total intensity for the last 400 years.
• The calculated GRF values are subtracted
from the survey data
• GPS navigation provides the (X, Y, Z)
position data of the GRF
• It is standard practice to use the mean
height of the aircraft above sea level for Z.
• There are various GRF models however
There are ario s GRF models ho e er
the International Geomagnetic Reference
Field 11 (IRGF11) is widely used
International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF)
• Mathematical description of the Earth’s main magnetic field
• Various models – IGRF 11 was released in 2009
C. C. Finlay, S. Maus, C. D. Beggan, T. N. Bondar, A. Chambodut, T. A. Chernova, A. Chulliat, V. P. Golovkov, B. Hamilton, M. Hamoudi, R. Holme, G. Hulot, W. Kuang, B.
Langlais, V. Lesur, F. J. Lowes, H. Luhr, S. Macmillan, M. Mandea, S. McLean, C. Manoj, M. Menvielle, I. Michaelis, N. Olsen, J. Rauberg, M. Rother, T. J. Sabaka, A. Tangborn, L.
Toffner‐Clausen, E. Thebault, A. W. P. Thomson, I. Wardinski Z. Wei, T. I. Zvereva. Geophys. J. Int., Vol 183, Issue 3, pp 1216‐1230, December 2010.
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International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF)
C. C. Finlay, S. Maus, C. D. Beggan, T. N. Bondar, A. Chambodut, T. A. Chernova, A. Chulliat, V. P. Golovkov, B. Hamilton, M. Hamoudi, R. Holme, G. Hulot, W. Kuang, B.
Langlais, V. Lesur, F. J. Lowes, H. Luhr, S. Macmillan, M. Mandea, S. McLean, C. Manoj, M. Menvielle, I. Michaelis, N. Olsen, J. Rauberg, M. Rother, T. J. Sabaka, A. Tangborn, L.
Toffner‐Clausen, E. Thebault, A. W. P. Thomson, I. Wardinski Z. Wei, T. I. Zvereva. Geophys. J. Int., Vol 183, Issue 3, pp 1216‐1230, December 2010.
International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF)
• Working in Australia, you will see ~54000nT a lot, however the Earth’s
magnetic field is variable
C. C. Finlay, S. Maus, C. D. Beggan, T. N. Bondar, A. Chambodut, T. A. Chernova, A. Chulliat, V. P. Golovkov, B. Hamilton, M. Hamoudi, R. Holme, G. Hulot, W. Kuang, B.
Langlais, V. Lesur, F. J. Lowes, H. Luhr, S. Macmillan, M. Mandea, S. McLean, C. Manoj, M. Menvielle, I. Michaelis, N. Olsen, J. Rauberg, M. Rother, T. J. Sabaka, A. Tangborn, L.
Toffner‐Clausen, E. Thebault, A. W. P. Thomson, I. Wardinski Z. Wei, T. I. Zvereva. Geophys. J. Int., Vol 183, Issue 3, pp 1216‐1230, December 2010.
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Levelling
• Even though we have subtracted out the diurnal (which is the time
varying part of the magnetic field) there is invariably a discrepancy at
each cross‐over point
Unlike most of the airborne gravity corrections where we specifically
• Unlike most of the airborne gravity corrections, where we specifically
calculate the gravitational effect of something (eg. accelerations
calculated from GPS measurements), and subtract it out – with mag,
we assume that the discrepancy at cross‐over points is error.
• Levelling is where we really make use of the cross‐over points.
• Levelling accounts for these errors by systematically modifying the
magnetic values along the line or tie.
• The levelling does not care why there is a difference at cross‐over
points – it accounts for them no matter what.
Levelling
• Many ways to do this (Luyendyk, 1997) :
Adjusting navigation data ‐ this involves changing the x/y
coordinates to obtain a match at the cross‐over point, but only
h h f h d h d f ll
within the error of the navigation data. Once this is done for all
cross‐over points, we can interpolate the corrections throughout
the rest if the data set.
Loop closure methods
Polynomial levelling ‐ the idea behind polynomial levelling is to
fit a polynomial to the intersection errors along the flight and tie
fit a polynomial to the intersection errors along the flight and tie
lines. These polynomials are then subtracted from the survey
data to minimise the cross over errors
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Levelling Blue dots are discrepancy magnitude at cross‐over points
31.00
29.00 Linear fit to cross‐over errors
27.00
25.00 Series1
23.00 Linear (Series1)
21.00
19.00
499000 501000 503000 505000 507000 509000 511000 513000 515000
31.00
29.00 2nd order polynomial fit to cross‐over errors
27.00
25.00 Series1
23.00 Poly. (Series1)
21.00
19.00
499000 501000 503000 505000 507000 509000 511000 513000 515000
31.00
29.00 4th order polynomial fit to cross‐over errors
27.00
25.00 Series1
23.00 Poly. (Series1)
21.00
19.00
499000 501000 503000 505000 507000 509000 511000 513000 515000
Levelling
• We could just fit one very high order polynomial curve to fit the
points at cross‐overs, but this would result in ONLY removing errors at
cross‐over points.
Using lower order polynomials forces us to modify the data along the
• Using lower order polynomials forces us to modify the data along the
whole line – this has much better results.
31.00
29.00
27.00
25.00
Series1
23.00
21.00
19.00
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Levelling
• Levelling is seen as more of an art than a science because its very difficult to know
for sure whether you're removing errors out of the data or true geological signal
• Geosoft have special plug‐ins specifically for levelling mag data
• Airborne gravity is also often levelled to improve the data quality
• There is an overview of the
levelling process in the
appendix of today's reading.
Only read it if you're
interested in the process ‐
just understand what
levelling does, and what data
levelling does and what data
looks like that hasn't been
levelled (eg. prominent flight
line effects).
http://www.geosoft.com/media/uploads/resources/brochures/OM_GL_fs_2009_10_web.pdf
After levelling After diurnal
Notice the
scale has
changed
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Micro‐levelling
• After standard levelling, most obvious errors have been removed
(ie. Anything that looks like it is associated with flight lines)
• Micro‐levelling is the removal of any residual errors in aeromagnetic
data after standard processing and levelling.
• Often these errors are difficult to detect so generally micro‐levelling
involves filtering a grid of data to detect residual errors
• Methods for micro‐levelling vary from company‐to‐company. Most
contractor’s regard micro‐levelling methodology as proprietary
• A process for micro‐levelling is described by Luyendyk (1997).
After Micro‐Levelling
• De
De‐spiking
spiking
• Diurnal and IGRF corrected
• Levelled
• Microlevelled
• Low pass filtered
• Sun angle cast from NE
S l f NE
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Reduce to the pole
• Reduction to the pole (RTP) is the last step which could be
considered part of the processing phase. After this, it's really
the beginning if image enhancement (next lecture ‐ 10)
lf b l
• RTP simplifies magnetic interpretation because it not only
moves the anomaly to lie directly over the source, but it also
changes the geometry of anomalies to be much more
representative of the source
• RTP is particularly difficult at low latitudes (less than 15
degrees) because of the need to divide the spectrum by a
very small term
Reduce to the pole
I=60°
• Transforms the magnetic response to that
which would be observed at I=90° (ie.
Magnetisation vector vertical or at the
pole).
I=90°
I=30°
• Peak response over the “centre of the
body”.
• Maximum gradients close to the edge of the
body. I=15°
• The overall magnetic map/ image should
reflect the subsurface structure.
I=0°
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St Arnaud Reduced to pole (RTP)
• Recalculates the observed magnetic field to what it would look like at the magnetic
pole where the Earth’s magnetic inclination is vertical.
• Removes the asymmetry of the TMI anomaly, and places the peak response directly
over the magnetic bodies – however need to be careful of remanent magnetism.
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Gridding ‐ how do we make an image?
Data presentation
Various ways to present the data for
Various ways to present the data for
interpretation
• Line data
• Contours
• Images
Images made of pixels –
made of pixels most
most
common
Data presentation
Line data
Data is presented as profiles along the survey
lines in which it was collected.
The data is relatively unprocessed.
Not very practical for interpretation but
useful for filtering
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Data presentation
Contours
• Preferred media for interpretation of data
until the early 1990’s
• Good for recognising
g g ggradient information
in the data
• Requires “gridding” of the data
Data presentation Regional gridded magnetic dataset
Images
• Preferred media for
interpretation of data since
the early 1990’s
• Requires “gridding” of the
data
• Shows a lot more information
about the amplitude and Individual
pixels
gradients in the data
• Can be used in conjunction
with contours
with contours
• Easier to manipulate (process)
• Data is presented as “PIXELS”
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Gridding
• Gridding involves a process of taking the semi‐
randomly distributed survey data and
interpolating the data onto a regular grid.
• Sampling during the gridding process results in
apparent smoothing of the data. For example:
• Much of the data collected at ~7m along lines, is
thrown away when the grid is created (7m along
lines vs grid cell size of 1 fifth of the flight line
spacing = 40m for a 200m spaced survey).
• Gridding cannot honour both and in fact, both
are decimated.
are decimated
• Gridding essentially “butchers” your data
Gridding
• So, we lose heaps of data collected along the
flight‐lines during gridding since we must align
the frequency content of the data along lines
so its comparable to data perpendicular to the
flight line
flight‐line.
• It's important to go back to the flight line data
and consider the detail during aeromagnetic
interpretation
• Once a grid has been produced it can be
displayed as an image or a contour map.
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Gridding – Interpolation parameters
There are 3 main interpolation parameters:
1 – Grid cell size
2 – Number of points to use in calculation OR a search radius
(ellipse in some cases)
3 – Interpolating method
p g
Gridding – Cell Size
• Cell size should be relative to the flight line
spacing
• Cell size of 1 third of the line spacing gives a
smooth geophysical image
• C ll i f 1 fifth f th li i i
Cell size of 1 fifth of the line spacing may give
more geological resolution
• Object is to portray the original data
• If cell size too small however, this will obscure
local anomalies and create a pill‐box effect.
pill box effects smoother image
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Gridding interpolation – Nearest neighbour
• Nearest neighbour – use nearest points to node
• All points within a given radius are used.
• The radius can be replaced by an ellipse during kriging for
l h d( ld l ) k
example when trend (spatial data correlation) are taken into
account.
Observation Points
The larger the number of
Search Area observations points, the
smoother will the image be
Point to estimate
(on the grid)
Gridding – Minimum curvature
• A minimum curvature surface is the smoothest possible surface that
will fit the given data values within a given tolerance
• The process first estimates grid
values for a coarse grid (ie. 8
ti th fi l id ll i )
times the final grid cell size).
• An iterative method is
employed to adjust the grid to
data points.
• After an acceptable fit is
achieved, the coarse cell size is
divided by 2 and then the data
divided by 2 and then the data
points are fitted again using the
coarse grid as a starting surface.
• This is repeated until the grid
reaches the final cell size.
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Gridding – Inverse Distance Weighted
• Inverse distance weighted gridding uses weighted moving averages within
a zone of influence (defined by a search radius).
• The simplest method uses weights that are inversely proportional to the
distance between the point to estimate and the observation points.
p p
• This method does not usually honour data points
Sample Points
di wi zi
Z =
wi
where zi are the data points
Point to estimate within the search area and wi
are the weight = 1/di
This lecture’s reading…
Luyendyk, A.P.J., 1997. Processing of airborne magnetic data. In Gunn, P.J. (editor), Airborne
magnetic and radiometric surveys, AGSO Journal of Australian Geology and Geophysics 17, 31‐38.
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