A simple formula for shape and depth determination from residual gravity anomalies

This paper presents a simple method for shape and depth determination of a buried structure from residual gravity anomalies along profile. The method utilizes the anomaly values of the origin and characteristic points of the profile to construct a relationship between the shape factor and depth of the causative source. For fixed points, the depth is determined for each shape factor. The computed depths are then plotted against the shape factor representing a continuous monotonically increasing curve. The solution for the shape and depth of the buried structure is then read at the common intersection point of the depth curves. This method is applied to synthetic data with and without random errors. Finally, the validity of the method is tested on two field examples from the USA.