Gravity: planetary and exploration on a small scale

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 Inertial and Gravitational Mass
There are two kinds of mass define by the m in their equations:
inertial (F=ma) and gravitational ( g=Gm/r2 ).
Should the two mass (m) be the same ?
But we now know that the two mass kinds are the same (relativity).
A detail is that force, momentum, and velocity are vectors in 3-space.

Inertial mass is define as m = F/a. This mass can be measured by applying a

force to an object and measuring its acceleration. This mass is thus a measure
of the inertia of an object. And, inertia is the FACT that masses remain at rest
or in straight-line constant velocity motion UNLESS acted upon by an
unbalanced force. And a force is defined as a change in an object velocity
vector (momentum: p=m*v).

Gravitational mass is defined as m = g(r)*r2 / G. This mass can be measured

by measuring the gravity field at a distance r and knowing the value of big-G.
This mass is thus a measure of the gravitational acceleration field made by
ALL objects (mass).
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 Gravitational force law and Inertial force Law
m1 m2 m
F (r ) G 2
Newtons ( kg 2 )
r s
m m
g1 ( r ) G 21 ( 2 ) Fm1 on m2 m2 g1
r s
m2 m
g 2 (r ) G 2
( 2
) Fm2 on m1 m1 g 2
r s

The two Forces (F) is the magnitude of the force

applied by mass 1 on mass 2 AND the force of
mass 2 on mass 1.

The direction of the two force is equal and

opposite in direction.
This unbalanced force will cause each mass to
accelerate in inverse proportion to its mass: a =
F/m.
The little mass accelerates much more than the
big mass, but the forces magnitudes are the
same!
So when I drop a ball, the ball
accelerates down at 9.8 m/s*2yes.
And, the earth accelerates upwards
towards the balls mass.yes.
Why dont we notice the earths
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upward acceleration?
Result:

The considerable inward

directed force of
gravitational attraction of
the earth on the moon
balances the centrifugal
force of the moon orbiting
around the earth. The
gravitational force bends
the straight line trajectory
(inertial law) into a circle.

The force also cause the

ocean tides as the earth
spins daily underneath the
moon (moon takes 28 day
to go around the earth).

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 Inverse square laws result from spherical area scaling

1/r*2 fall-off

The area of a spherically symmetric field increase as the radius squared; therefore,
for the field energy to be conserved (as it must), then the field energy must
decrease as the radius squared: e.g., the gravity law, coulomb electrical force law.

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 Calculate
m1 m2
F (r ) G N
r2
m1 m
g1 (r ) G 2
( 2) Fm1 on m2 m2 g1
r s
m m
g 2 (r ) G 22 ( 2 ) Fm2 on m1 m1 g 2
r s
Assume G=1 m1=1 m2=2

Calculate all five term values for r=1 and r=4.

Does the force of mass-1 ON mass-2 equal the force of mass-2 ON mass-1 ?

Which mass make a greater gravitational acceleration field?

Using the inertial force law F=ma, which mass accelerate more and why ?

How can the gravity fields for the two masses be different, BUT the forces on
each mass has the same magnitude (albeit opposite direction) ?
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Gravitational force field around spheres

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 Calculating gravity for general shapes

Problem: how to calculate gravity field between a point mass (m2)

and a general mass distribution on left side (i.e., earth, asteroid)?

Easy, divide the general shape into little squares (2-d) or cubes (3-d)
and label them (I and J) and then add up the vector forces applied by
all the little cubes on mass m2.

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 Calculating gravity of perfect spheres
When an objects geometry can be
approximated as a sphere, we integrate
(add-up) the spheres gravity using
spherical shells that extend over a small
radial distance.
In doing this integration, we find that the
symmetry of the sphere makes the
spheres gravity field to be the same as if
ALL the mass was concentrated at the
center of the sphere!!
One caveat: the ability to treat a spheres mass
distribution as a point is true ONLY IF the ms
mass is outside the radius of the sphere.
This theorem found by Newton greatly
simplifies the mathematics by treating the Me
spherical mass as a point!
Easy to apply to solar system as all the masses
are near spherical. On the other hand, it is the
Earths non-spherical ellipsoidal shape that
makes the moon recede from the earth about
3.8 cm/yr and the earths rotation to slow by
0.002 s a day.
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Calculate gravity directly above a spherical
mass anomaly

The gravity signal directly above a sphere whose

center is at 100 m depth and has a density
contrast of 0.3 Mg/m3 is +1.048e-6 m/s2 .

But, let us convert that answer to Mgal units.

1 mGal 105 m / s 2 +1.048e-6 m/s2 * 1 Mgal/(10-5 m/s2 ) = 0.1 Mgal

That is an large enough signal to be measured

with a decent gravimeter.
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Densities of Rocks and liquids
Notice we are not using the MKS mass
units of kilo-grams (kg) for density.

Mass is being reckoned in mega-grams

which is a thousand (103 ) grams.

Note that in general the substances

density increase as follows: liquids,
unconsolidated sediments, sediments,
igneous/metamorphic rocks,
minerals/ores.

Density is defined by the Greek letter

rho as:

mass

volume
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 Calculating gravity at different points on surface
To calculate the gravity effect of the
irregular body above at point P1 ,
the body is divided into small
squares (parcels) and the many
gravity vectors from all the parcels
are added up to get the total
gravity. Do the same analysis to get
the gravity at the other points.
An important detail. The gravity field is a vector
quantity (has magnitude and direction). When
measuring the gravity of the above situation,
both the pull of rest of Earth and the total pull
of excess mass of body are measured. Note that
with respect to point P, the Earth and the body
pull at different directions. When can ignore this
detail, because the Earths pull is so much
greater, and just assume we are measuring the
vertical component of Fb . 12
Gravity field of a sphere on the 2-d surface

If we measured the gravity at every point in the 45 km square plane and reduce it to
bouguer gravity, this is what the gravity field would look like for a buried spherical
mass.

What is the sign of the mass difference between the spherical mass anomaly and the
background material ?
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Gravity anomalies of a sphere a cylinder

The y-axis is the gravity anomaly (mgal) and the x-axis is distance from the center of
the sphere/cylinder (m). These graphs are cross-section through these 3-d objects.
The cylinder extends to +/- infinite in and out of the page. This is why, for the same
depth object and mass anomaly, the cylinder and sphere anomalies are different.

Important: Note that the peak amplitude reduces and the anomalies half-width
widens as the anomaly is placed deeper. This is just a consequence of gravity being
an inverse square law.
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 Gravity anomalies of dipping narrow mass sheets
Note three gravity effects:

As the depth to the top of the

anomalies increases the peak
amplitude of the anomaly
decreases.

As the sheet anomaly dips to one

side, the anomalys peak value
moves to that side.

As the sheet anomaly dips to one

side, the anomaly has a long-
tail on that side, and a short
tail on the other side.

From these effects, we can

determine the dip of the sheet
anomaly.
What is the sign of the mass anomaly?
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 Gravity of Infinite Horizontal sheet

Why is gravity not infinite for a 2-d infinite sheet?

Bouguer gravity reduction equation

The gravity anomaly of an infinite horizontal sheet at depth d and width t provides an
interesting rendezvous with infinity. First, note that the sheet depth d is NOT in the
equation. Second, even though the mass sheet anomaly extends to infinity, the gravity
is finite because of the inverse square law. Third, the gravity effect is the same
everywhere as demonstrated above where it can be seen that the gravity at points P1
and P2 are the same. Thus, an infinite sheet anomaly makes the gravity everywhere
change by the same values as given by Eqn. 8.6. Therefore, one cannot detect an infinite
mass sheet. But, we will use this concept to calculate the Bouguer gravity correction.
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 Gravity effects of half-sheets
Note two effects:
1. The deeper sheet has a
smaller peak anomaly.
2. The deeper sheet has a wider
anomaly half-width.
What happens if the mass
anomaly sign is reversed ?
Figure (a) shows a stratigraphic section with
different layer densities that has be offset by a
vertical fault.
Figure (b) shows the layer densities changed into
density contrasts so that we can easily calculate
the total gravity anomaly associated with the
variable vertical distribution of density. From this
the relative motion of the fault can be
determined. What is it ? 17
 Measuring gravity with a gravimeter

In a simple sense, a gravimeter measures gravitational variations by using Hookes Law of

elasticity that states that the force required to extend a spring is

F = k * dx where k is the spring stiffness and dx is a small displacement of the spring from
equilibrium position.

So, as the force of gravity applied to the mass (m) varies as one moves the gravimeer
around a survey, the mass position changes (dx) proportional to the spring stiffness (k).
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Note: we are only measuring relative variations, not the absolute value of gravity.
Measuring gravity redux
In practice, measuring gravitational
variations requires a very precise
instrument that costs >40,000 dollars.

1. The temperature must be keep stable

to <1 C using thermistors and
heaters.

2. The beam must be very accurately

engineered so that the change in force
associated with the change in the
spring-beam angle is compensated.

A modern instrument can measure

changes in gravity to one part in a
million (i.e., 1 inch height variation!).

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 Gravity Corrections
As is true of most all measurement of physical properties, there are always
effects that change the measured values that we are NOT interested in and that
we desire to remove (or correct for) as accurately as possible.

In the case of gravity , there are five gravity effects to correct for:

1. Latitude
2. Free-air: Distance above mean sea-level (or another datum).
3. Bouguer: extra masses gravity associated with changes from datum.
4. Topography: the irregular gravity pull of the mountains and valleys.
5. Eotvos: moving E-W with a non-zero velocity (airplane or boat) adds or
subtracts to the earths Centrifugal force.

An important point is that we measure gravity at whatever value our gravimeter

reads, and THEN we correct that data for these different effects that we are
not interested in. The resulting correct gravity fields are called:
Free-air gravity
Bouguer gravity
Isostatic gravity

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 Latitudinal gravity corrections
Gravity varies from 9.78 m/s2 at the equator (lat=0) to 9.83 m/s2 at the poles (lat: north = +90; south =
-90). This is a huge change: a 0.052 m/s2 variation equals 5200 mgals! This is much larger than other
gravitational effects. The gravity varies with latitude for two reasons:

The Earth is not a sphere, but a flattened spheroid with an equatorial radius of 6,378 km and a polar
radius of 6,356 km (21 km different). Thus, the gravity is LESS at the equator because it is FARTHER
AWAY from the Earths center of mass.

The Earth is a non-inertial reference frame because it is a rotating body that spins once per day. At
the equator any object has a rotational velocity of 465 m/s, whereas at the poles the rotational
velocity is zero! Physics requires that a rotational reference frame has non-inertial (fictitious) forces
such as the outward directed centrifugal force. The centrifugal force is the force that any mass
rotating with the planet feels in response to the centripetal force that the planets gravity field
provides to continually curve an objects path on the earth intoa circular path. Recall Newtons first
law says that all masses go in a straight line in a INTERTIAL reference frame unless acted on by an
unbalanced force (it is gravity that provides the unbalanced force as a centripetal acceleration).

The International gravity formula that describes latitudinal () gravity variations in m/s2 units is:

g ( ) 1 (1 2 sin 2 3 sin 2 2 ), 1 9.78031, 2 5.3024e3 , 3 5.900e6 .

An approximate latitudinal equation

when survey is small. 21
 Topographic corrections

The free-air correction using sea-level as a datum is 0.3086 Mgal/m. If gravity is

measured above ones datum the effect is added and if gravity is measured below ones
datum the effect is subtracted. Why did we define the sign of the correction this way?

The Bouguer correction uses the infinite sheet gravity equation to approximate the
gravity of the material above or below sea-level. The relevant quantities are the
thickness of the sheet (h), the sheets density, and the sign of h (positive if above base
station negative if below base station).

Combining the free-air and Bouguer

gravity effects gives Eqn. 8.11
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 All together: adding or subtracting the
gravity corrections
It is very important to keep physical track of the sign of the corrections; if you do not,
you will get the wrong answer. Remember, we are correcting the measured gravity data
to remove unwanted effects.

The free-air effect is added if you are above sea-level and is subtracted if you are below
sea-level.

The Bouguer effect is subtracted if you are above sea-level (+h) and added if you are
below sea-level (-h).

Total Bouguer correction : Bouguer = observed latitude +/- free-air +/- Bouguer

Total correct to Free-air: Free-air = observed latitude +/- free-air

The sign of the free-air and Bouguer correction depends on whether the measurements
was made above or below ones datum.

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Regional and residual anomalies
Note that there are three different structures
- dyke, granite, dipping strata - associated with
mass anomalies that create different
gravitational effects.

Often, we surveying at a small scale (e.g., for

the dyke and granite bodies), we are NOT
interested in the larger scale regional gravity
effects (e.g., the dipping strata).

Thus, we reduce the data by subtracting an

eyeball estimate of the regional gravity trend
The dotted lines show two possible regional
trends.

After subtracting the regional gravity trends,

we can more easily see the short scale
residual features we are interested in
studying.
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Gravity model non-uniqueness (the inversion problem)

Note that in (a) that three different gravity (mass) models make the same gravity!

Note in (b) that two different gravity (mass) models make the same gravity!

Why is the modeling of gravity measurements non-unique ? 25

 Another gravity non-uniqueness example

A positive mass excess on the left side make the same relative gravity profile as a negative
mass excess on the right side!

Remember we are NOT measuring absolute gravity. If we were, the sign of the mass
anomaly would be detectable. Why is this?
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 Depth/half-width rules for
different geometry mass anomalies
Note systematic variations
between the depth to bodies
and the half-width of the
gravity profiles.

(a) Sphere.
(b) Horizontal cylinder.
(c) Steeply dipping sheet.

For the Irregular body, the

peak anomaly and
maximum slope value
are required.

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 Modelling a basin
To model irregular shapes like
a basin, a set of rectangular
mass anomalies can be used
to approximate the geometry
of the basin. Then, the total
gravity effect of the basin is
found by adding up all the
gravity from the rectangles.

Estimating the excess and total mass anomaly (mass=gold=money)

Volume is the TOTAL volume

(area) under the 2-d gravity
profile!
If you know, the density of the body and
its surroundings, the mass of the anomaly
maybe calculated (e.g., weight of gold!).
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Basin gravity modelling

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United states bouguer gravity map

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Wyoming isostatic and bouguer gravity

Isostatic

Bouguer
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 Colorado Bouguer/Isostastic gravity

Isostatic

Bouguer

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CREST project

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Chicxulub K-T Impact crater Bouguer gravity:
Yucatan, Mexico

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Free air gravity from Satellites

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Temporal gravity variations

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Mars Free Air Gravity

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