Total horizontal derivatives of potential field three-dimensional structure tensor and their application to detect source edges

Abstract

Edge detection of the geological structures horizontal position is the vital task of the potential field interpretation, and some traditional edge detectors have poor ability in delineating edges clearly and accurately. Some people made efforts to purpose new methods which can balance the weak and strong anomalies simultaneously. In this paper, we purposed new edge detection methods based on directional total horizontal derivatives of three-dimensional structure tensor for the causative sources. In order to balance weak and strong amplitude anomalies simultaneously, we used the vertical derivatives of potential field to normalize the new defined filters. For the complex geological situation with positive and negative gravity or magnetic anomalies, we introduced a new strategy to reduce the false edges. The presented filters were tested on synthetic and real potential field data to verify its feasibility. All of the results have shown the new edge detection methods can not only display the sources edges precisely and clearly, but also bring out more geological subtle details.