Weighted averages of magnetization from magnetic field measurements: A fast interpretation tool

Abstract

Magnetic anomalies may be interpreted in terms of weighted averages of magnetization (WAM) by a simple transformation. The WAM transformation consists of dividing at each measurement point the experimental magnetic field by a normalizing field, computed from a source volume with a homogeneous unit-magnetization. The transformation yields a straightforward link among source and field position vectors. A main WAM outcome is that sources at different depths appear well discriminated. Due to the symmetry of the problem, the higher the considered field altitude, the deeper the sources outlined by the transformation. This is shown for single and multi-source synthetic cases as well as for real data. We analyze the real case of Mt. Vulture volcano (Southern Italy), where the related anomaly strongly interferes with that from deep intrusive sources. The volcanic edifice is well identified. The deep source is estimated at about 9 km depth, in agreement with other results.