Interpretation of residual gravity anomaly caused by simple shaped bodies using very fast simulated annealing global optimization

• Interpretation technique is developed for residual gravity anomaly.
• Model parameter of isolated bodies is optimized.
• Ambiguities in the interpretation are analysed.
• Very fast simulated annealing global optimization is utilized in the study.

A very fast simulated annealing (VFSA) global optimization is used to interpret residual gravity anomaly. Since, VFSA optimization yields a large number of best-fitted models in a vast model space; the nature of uncertainty in the interpretation is also examined simultaneously in the present study. The results of VFSA optimization reveal that various parameters show a number of equivalent solutions when shape of the target body is not known and shape factor ‘q’ is also optimized together with other model parameters. The study reveals that amplitude coefficient k is strongly dependent on shape factor. This shows that there is a multi-model type uncertainty between these two model parameters derived from the analysis of cross-plots. However, the appraised values of shape factor from various VFSA runs clearly indicate whether the subsurface structure is sphere, horizontal or vertical cylinder type structure. Accordingly, the exact shape factor (1.5 for sphere, 1.0 for horizontal cylinder and 0.5 for vertical cylinder) is fixed and optimization process is repeated. After fixing the shape factor, analysis of uncertainty and cross-plots shows a well-defined uni-model characteristic. The mean model computed after fixing the shape factor gives the utmost consistent results. Inversion of noise-free and noisy synthetic data as well as field data demonstrates the efficacy of the approach.

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