Terrain correction computations using digital density model of topographic masses

Abstract

This paper presents the determination of terrain correction by the means of the Digital Density Model (DDM) of topographic masses (Earth’s crust mass above the geoid) for the territory of Serbia. The DDM is determined using the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) with the resolution of 30 m, basic geological map of Serbia, and a set of hypotheses on the density of the Earth’s crust masses. The assumption that the general lithosphere density over the territory of Serbia ranges between 2200 kg/m3 and 2800 kg/m3 was adopted. Terrain correction is determined at 5765 points, with relatively uniform distribution over the territory of Serbia. The calculations had also included comparing the values obtained therein to the terrain corrections obtained when accepting the hypothesis of constant lithosphere density of 2670 kg/m3. Results of comparison highlight that the differences of terrain correction values ranging from –1.31 mGal to 0.73 mGal, along with 98 % of differences falling within the range of ±0.2 mGal.

Keywords

• gravity
• density
• topographic masses
• terrain
• terrain correction
• Serbia