A free-geometry geodynamic modelling of surface gravity changes using Growth-dg software

Abstract

Abstract Globally there is abundant terrestrial surface gravity data used to study the time variation of gravity related to subsurface mass and density changes in different geological, geodynamical and geotechnical environments. We present here a tool for analysing existing and newly acquired, 4D gravity data, which creates new findings from its reuse. Our method calculates in an almost automatic way the possible sources of density change responsible for the observed gravity variations. The specifics of the new methodology are: use of a low number of observation points, relatively small source structures, low signal/noise ratio in the data, and a free 3D source geometry without initial hypothesis. The process is based on the non-linear adjustment of structures defined by aggregation of small cells corresponding to a 3D section of the sub-floor volume. This methodology is implemented in a software tool, named GROWTH-dg, which can be freely downloaded for immediate use, together with a user manual and application examples.